The International Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition

The 27 year old clarinettist won 2nd prize and DKK 100,000 at the International Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition. The Clarinet Competition was held in Odense from 30th May to 9th June. Mathias Kjøller also received the Jury's special prize of DKK 10,000 for best interpretation of Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto as well as Odense Symphony Orchestra's prize, also DKK 10,000.

In April 2013, Mathias Kjøller held his finishing concert from the advanced postgraduate programme at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he had studied with Lee Morgan. He was, already during his studies, selected as solo clarinettist in Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and 2nd solo clarinettist in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

The first prize of the Carl Nielsen Competition was won by Sergey Eletskiy from Russia, while 3rd and 4th prize was won by Innhyuck Cho from the Republic of Korea and Pierre Génisson from France. There were a total of 197 applicants from 43 countries of whom 40 clarinettists were selected to take part in the first round. Apart from Mathias Kjøller, Ingrid Meidell Noodt - student at RDAM - managed to get all the way to the semi-finals.

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