Both top prizes at the “Bolko von Hochberg” International Art Song Competition have been won by duos featuring students and alumni of the Karlsruhe University of Music. First prize goes to the duo comprising the Chinese bass-baritone Bo Wang and Yuriko Watanabe (who completed her concert exam in art song performance under Dr h.c. Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll) on the piano. The pair can look forward to prize money of €6,000. This duo can be seen at Gottesaue Castle this Saturday during Yuriko Watanabe’s concert exam .
The second prize and €4,000 in prize money go to mezzo-soprano Katharina Bierweiler (Bachelor’s student, 7th semester, in the class of Prof. Christiane Libor and Prof. Stephan Klemm) and alumnus Jyri Mishukov, who completed his soloist examination in song interpretation with piano accompaniment in the class of Prof. Hartmut Höll.
The International Lied Competition "Bolko von Hochberg" offers young singers and pianists (duos) specializing in classical art song the opportunity to showcase their talent before a jury of experts and to meet like-minded individuals from around the world in the European city of Görlitz-Zgorzelec. In addition to cash prizes, winners and finalists have the chance to participate in concerts in Saxony and Poland. The song competition is conceived as a German-Polish and European collaborative project and takes place every two years in the border region. The jury and partner institutions connect the two neighboring countries of Germany and Poland.
Bo Wang, a bass-baritone from China who now also performs as a guest artist at the Vienna State Opera, studied at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music (ZJCM) under Prof. Weilong Tao from 2018 to 2023. He is currently completing his master’s degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, where he is mentored by Kammersänger Prof. Roman Trekel. In 2025, together with Yuriko Watanabe, he won the “Dublin Song Series Prize” for the best lieder interpretation at the 12th Stanisław Moniuszko International Vocal Competition, along with an invitation to a joint lieder recital in Dublin (Ireland) during the 2026/27 season.
Yuriko Watanabe, born in Tokyo and having moved to London at an early age, was accepted into the Purcell School of Music at the age of 13 and supported by a scholarship from the British Music and Dance Scheme. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in school music at Tokyo Gakugei University, she continued her studies with a Master’s degree in solo piano at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, supplemented by an ERASMUS+ year at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. She is currently studying for her concert exam in lieder performance at the University of Music Karlsruhe under Dr h.c. Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll.
Described as an “expressive pianist” (Stuttgarter Zeitung), she was mentored by Thomas Hampson as part of the Liedakademie at the Heidelberg Spring festival. In 2023 and 2024, she took part in Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall, New York. In 2024, she was invited as a scholarship holder of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme with Susan Manoff and Véronique Gens in Aldeburgh.
She is a prize-winner at renowned competitions, including the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, the 13th International Competition for Art Song in Stuttgart, the International Chinese Artsong Competition in Shanghai, the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, the Concours Musical International de Montréal and the 12th International Stanisław Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw. In addition to her concert career, Yuriko Watanabe teaches at the conservatoires in Weimar and Freiburg.
Katharina Bierweiler (born 2004) is a German mezzo-soprano. She is a scholarship holder of the Liedakademie at the 2024/25 Heidelberg Spring Festival, the 2024–2026 Germany Scholarship, the Riemschneider Foundation, the Dönkendorf Grant 2026 and the talent development programme “Lied the Future 2026”, an initiative of the Franz Schubert Society supported by the Banc Sabadell Foundation and the Ferrer Music Foundation.
At the age of 17, she began her early studies at the HfM Karlsruhe, where she has been studying for a BA in Opera Singing (class of Prof. Libor/Klemm) since 2023. She has received numerous awards, including 2nd prize at the 3rd ‘Bolko von Hochberg’ Lied Competition 2026, second prize and the Ehrbar Prize at the International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition 2025 (Vienna), first prize at the Junior Charles Wood Song Competition 2025, and the Fritz Wunderlich Prize 2025. Engagements have taken her to Brussels and Freiburg, among other places, in the role of Flora (The Turn of the Screw). In the 2025/26 season, she will sing Sœur Mathilde (Dialogues des Carmélites/Poulenc) and Countess Ceprano/Page (Rigoletto/Verdi) at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Her work is characterised by her art song repertoire as well as masterclasses with Hartmut Höll, Susan Manoff, Thomas Hampson and KS Brigitte Fassbaender.
Jyri Mishukov began his piano studies at the Joensuu Conservatory before joining Juhani Lagerspetz’s class at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. During the 2016–2017 academic year, he studied as an exchange student in Berlin with Prof. Birgitta Wollenweber and Prof. Konrad Maria Engel at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. After graduating from the Sibelius Academy, Mishukov began his lieder studies on the Konzertexamen course with Prof. Hartmut Höll and Prof. Dr. h.c. Mitsuko Shirai at the Karlsruhe University of Music. In addition, Mishukov supplemented his lieder studies by participating in various masterclasses, for example at the German Lied Academy in Trossingen, the Savonlinna Music Academy, and with Brigitte Fassbaender, Anne Sofie von Otter, Christoph Prégardien, Anne Le Bozec, Bernarda Fink, Richard Stokes and Wolfgang Holzmair. In May 2024, he was selected for the ‘Young Artists’ project of the Zeist International Lied Festival. In 2026, he was awarded second prize at the 3rd Bolko von Hochberg Lied Competition 2026, and in 2025 he received the second prize for pianists at the International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition in Vienna. Mishukov has been awarded a scholarship to take part in the ‘Lied the Future 2026’ talent development programme, an initiative of the Franz Schubert Society supported by the Banc Sabadell Foundation and the Ferrer Music Foundation. Mishukov’s studies and artistic work have been supported by numerous prestigious grants, including from the Pro Musica, Sibelius Academy, Finnish Cultural, Martin Wegelius and Jenny & Antti Wihuri Foundations. He is also a grant holder of Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now and the Brahms Society Baden-Baden.