Lied the Future announces the 10 winners of the 2026 scholarships
The Fundació Ferrer de Música contributes to making possible the new edition of Lied the Future, a programme promoted by the Franz Schubert Association, which has already selected the five duos that will take part in its 2026 edition. The ten selected musicians will receive top-level training with internationally renowned faculty and will have the opportunity to perform at leading local and international festivals and venues.
The selected duos come from Spain, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Italy: Katharina Bierweiler (Germany) and Jyri Mishukov (Finland); Alba Valdivieso and Carlos Bujosa (Spain); Jasperina Verheij and Willem van den Dool (the Netherlands); Marta Esteban and Adrià Crespo (Spain); and Klara Brockhaus (Germany) and Rodolfo Focarelli (Italy). It is worth noting that three of them (Alba Valdivieso, Carlos Bujosa and Marta Esteban) were previously awarded Ferrer-Salat Scholarships to pursue their studies at the Conservatori Liceu. This is a source of great satisfaction for us and confirms the value and purpose of such initiatives, which provide the financial support young musical talents need in order to focus fully on their artistic development.
The jury highlighted the duos’ high artistic level, interpretative maturity and strong musical rapport between singer and pianist. Throughout the programme, the scholarship recipients will receive first-rate artistic and professional mentoring and will be part of the programme’s network of paid concerts, enabling them to present their work on a variety of stages and further develop their professional experience.
A succesful international call
For the first time, Lied the Future opened an international call, which received an outstanding response: 146 artists from 31 countries submitted applications, confirming the growing international interest in and prestige of the programme.
The selection committee, made up of the mentors of the Schubertíada Academy 2026 —Wolfram Rieger, Wolfgang Holzmair and Olaf Bär— together with the Artistic Director of the Schubertíada, Sílvia Pujalte, and pianist Francisco Poyato, placed special emphasis on interpretative quality, the artistic coherence of the duos and their potential for development within the programme.
Consolidation of the concert network
With this new edition, Lied the Future strengthens its network of paid concerts, one of the programme’s core pillars, ensuring real professional projection for the selected young performers. To date, the programme has collaborated with more than twenty festivals and institutions, including La Rioja Festival, l’Esperança Coronada de Dénia, Festival Ciutat de Clàssica, Círculo del Liceu, Joventuts Musicals de Banyoles, Sociedad Filarmónica de Lugo, Nits de Clàssica a Valls, Leeds Song Festival and Boyne Music Festival, among others, and continues to expand the scope and impact of the programme.
About Lied the Future
Since its creation, Lied the Future has established itself as a benchmark platform that bridges the pedagogical and professional spheres. Participants work with internationally renowned artists such as Matthias Goerne, Christiane Karg, Wolfram Rieger and Dorothea Roschmann, and perform concerts at the Schubertíada de Vilabertran as well as at local and international festivals and institutions.
The programme follows a learning by doing methodology, offering a practical and real learning experience that facilitates young musicians’ entry into the professional lied circuit. More than forty young performers who have taken part in the programme continue to develop active and internationally recognised careers.
At the Fundació Ferrer de Música, we are proud to contribute to this project, which fully aligns with our mission: to foster musical excellence and social transformation through music.
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