Federal competition Youth making music” 2026: Regensburg in music fever!

Federal competition Youth making music” 2026: Regensburg in music fever!

Music lovers in Germany can rejoice, because the national competition “Jugend musiziert” is returning to Bavaria in 2026! An important event for the promotion of young musicians takes place over the Pentecost days in Munich and afterwards in Regensburg. This is the first time the competition has been held in this state since 2013, which has increased the anticipation for the event enormously. The whole thing takes place between May 28th and June 1st in the historic city of Regensburg, which is known for its long tradition of musical education. [Regensburg.de].

Regensburg can look back on a proud musical tradition that begins with the founding of the singing school in 1910 and the music school in 1971. Every year the city honors talented young musicians with its own music prize, which underlines the support of young musicians. Between 10,000 and 15,000 young musicians from all over Germany take part in the national competition every year, with around 2,000 participants from all federal states and German schools in other European countries expected for the upcoming competition. All competition games are short public concerts that are open to everyone with free admission - a great offer for families and music enthusiasts!

New rules and transparency

But what's new in the national competition? Thanks to a decision by the supervisory board of the Deutscher Musikrat GmbH, new rules were introduced for 2026, which are based on suggestions from the federal-state conference “Youth Make Music”. An important innovation is that there are no upper limits, quotas and option lists in the tender. This is viewed by Jugend musiziert as a step towards more transparency and reliability for the young talents. In order to take part in the competition, 25 points must be achieved at the state level in the solo categories (e.g. piano and vocals), while the ensemble categories (such as duo and chamber music) require a score between 24 and 25.

The special federal competition also sees itself as the “youth making music finale” of top-level funding and focuses on making music together. These new regulations, which initially apply until 2028, will be evaluated upon completion. A supervisory committee consisting of twelve members, including representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education and Culture, ensures that the new regulations are implemented in practice.

The anticipation for the lively atmosphere of this event is growing, and while the young musicians make their final preparations, the audience can also look forward to an eventful time with lots of music and talent.