Jascha Graf Von Der Goltz

German conductor JASCHA GRAF VON DER GOLTZ attracted the focus of the international attention after winning First Prize at the 2021 Jorma Panula International Conducting Competition. Two years earlier, he received Second Prize at the Jeunesse Musicale conducting competition in Bucharest. He was born in Freiburg in 1994 into a family of specialists in early music. A talented pianist, he also plays cello and percussion. He has extensive experience as an orchestral player. Focused until the age of 16 on percussion, he won several first prizes at the renowned "Jugend Musiziert" competition in Germany and the "Young Artist of the Year" award at the "Zelt-Musik-Festival". As a member of the "Landesjugenorchester" Baden-Württemberg, inspired by the orchestra's leader Christoph Wienecken, he decided to pursue a career as a conductor. After a year of social volunteer service in Nicaragua, in 2015 he began studying music and conducting at the Freiburg Conservatory under the composer Massimiliano Matesic and conductor Scott Sandmeier. He continued on with a one-year exchange program at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Ole Kristian Ruud. There, in addition to exploring his Norwegian roots, Jascha nurtured his passion for Scandinavian classical music and its influences. He was assistant conductor of the Orchestra Musikkollegium Winterthur (2021 - 2023) under Roberto González-Monjas, and in 2023 he completed a master's degree in orchestral conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts under Johannes Schlaefli. He attended masterclasses by Paavo Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Jaap Van Zweden, Manuel Hernandez Silva and Nicolás Pasquet. He has conducted the Sudwestrundfunk Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Slovenian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, Transylvania State Symphony Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Saint Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta and Vaasa City Orchestra in Finland, etc.