Talent Awards
Since its early days, the Festival has invited international emerging musicians to perform on its free stages. Since 2018, the Talent Awards focus on the jazz of tomorrow, emblematic of a cultural mix and daring to use new instruments. The Talent Awards showcase different ways of imagining virtuosity and jazz in all its forms, blending different cultures and sounds. Every year, 16 artists are selected by the programmers of the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Their demos are then evaluated by a committee whose members are established artists and close to the Festival. Lastly, two public and professional juries evaluate the live performance of these musicians. The solo artist Talent Award and the band Talent Award recognize those who obtained the most votes after this assessment process.
TALENT AWARDS 2021
While the pandemic still prevented many artists from traveling in July 2021, we chose to invite less artists to participate in the Talent Awards program. Nevertheless, we kept an international representation of the emerging music scene. Therefore, 8 bands or solo artists performed during the Montreux Jazz Festival. The public could discover the musical universe of: Mimon (CF/ DE/ AU) 03.07, Klein (LU) 04.07, Meskerem Mees (BE) 08.07, Linda Vogel (CH) 09.07, Beharie (NO) 10.07, Cosma Joy (UK) 15.07, Emile Londonien (FR) 16.07 and May the Muse (DE/ US) 17.07.
The Laureate
MONTREUX JAZZ TALENT AWARDS 2021
Meskerem Mees
Read moreTALENT AWARDS 2019
In 2019, the 16 bands or solo artists selected to perform during the Talent Awards were the following ones:
Madison McFerrin , Afra Kane, Gjon’s Tears, Festen, Giulia Dabalà, Notilus, Brekky Boy, Trio Mezcal, Run Logan Run, Robocobra 4tet, Baris Demirel – Baristik Mi, Gwen et Tiana, Ariwo, Atna, Arthur Hnatek, Luciano Supervielle.
The members of the Talent Awards have been evaluated by an artistic committee bringing together Carl Craig, Chilly Gonzales, Stanley Clark et Chucho Valdès.
The laureates
montreux jazz talent awards 2019

TALENT AWARDS 2018
In 2018, the 16 bands or artists solo selected to perform during the Talent Awards were the following ones:
MTMBO, Koqa Beatbox, Building Intrument, Julie Campiche, Islandman, Vels Trio, Noiserv, Emma-Jean Thackray, Nik West, Opal Ocean, Ork, Jalen N’Gonda, MercuryCarter, Jean-Michel Blais, Luciano Supervielle, HØJDE.
The members of the Talent Awards have been evaluated by an artistic committee bringing together Aloe Blacc, Richard Bona, Derrick Hodge and Bugge Wesseltoft.
The laureates
Montreux jazz talent awards 2018
MONTREUX JAZZ COMPETITIONS
For more than 15 years, three competitions have taken place during the Montreux Jazz Festival: the Solo Piano Competition, the Voice Competition and the Guitar Competition.
Established one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, their main aim was to encourage talented artists from Eastern Europe to participate and to reveal them in Montreux.
Quickly recognized in the music world, the competitions have always aroused great interest among young musicians whose applications came from all over the world. Every year, talents from various cultural backgrounds, many of them attending top music schools, came to Montreux to take advantage of this internationally renowned springboard.
After observing a paradigm shift in the music industry, we redefined the profile of the selected musicians and the format of the competitions to better fit with the rules of the music business.
The three Montreux Jazz Festival Competitions have revealed many talents. Several of them have been invited to take part in prestigious projects :
- Pedro Martins (Brazil), winner of the 2015 Guitar Competition. He was chosen by the president of the jury Kurt Rosenwinkel. Following their meeting, the American guitarist and composer produced his album Vox.
- Tigran Hamasyan (Armenia), winner of the 2003 Solo Piano Competition. He is making an international career. He was chosen by the Armenian government to be the official composer and conductor of the Yerevan State Choir during a world tour commemorating the genocide (2015). The prestigious ECM label recorded this project and broadcast it (2014).
- Leandro Pellegrino (Brazil), winner of the 2013 Guitar Competition. He was chosen to record Dianne Reaves’ album, Beautiful Life, alongside Terri Lyne Carrington, Gregory Porter and Richard Bona. This album received a Grammy in the category “Best jazz vocal album” in 2014.
- Piotr Orzechowski (Poland), winner of the 2011 Solo Piano Competition. He plays classical repertoire with the Polish National Radio Orchestra. He also collaborates in contemporary music with Philip Glass and Steve Reich and plays alongside jazzmen such as Randy Brecker and Avishai Cohen.
- Isfar Sarabski (Azerbaijan), winner (1st prize ex aequo) of the 2009 Solo Piano Competition. He is a member of Dhaffer Youssef’s group. He also plays in a trio that bears his name.
- Beka Gochiashvili (Georgia), winner (1st prize ex aequo) of 2009 Solo Piano Competition. He is part of Stanley Clarke’s band.
- Diego Figueiredo (Brazil), winner of the 2007 Guitar Competition. He was George Benson’s favorite, president of the jury. Benson said: “Diego Figueiredo is one of the greatest guitarists I’ve seen in my whole life. The world needs to listen to his music.”
- Alfredo Rodriguez (Cuba), Solo Piano Competition 2006, is one of the musicians whose career is managed by Quincy Jones.

2017
PARMiGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Adisson Frei
Billy Test
Third Prize
Andrey Marukhin
2017
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION 2017
Alexander Lövmark
Sara Decker
Talie Monin
2017
SOCAR MONTREUX JAZZ ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPETITION
Kasper Agnas
Felix Lalanne
Sang Jun Ahn
2016
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Esteban Castro
Guy Mintus
Casimir Liberski
2016
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Arta Jekabsone
Erik Leuthäuser
Fabio Giacalone
2016
SOCAR MONTREUX JAZZ ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPETITION
Olli Hirvonen
Rob Luft
Tal Yahalom
2015
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
A Bu
Yakir Arbib
Krisztian Oláh
2015
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Alina Engibaryan
Vuyo Sotashe
Yumi Ito
2015
SOCAR MONTREUX JAZZ ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPETITION
Pedro Martins
Hector Quintana
Sebastian Böhlen
2014
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Lorenz Kellhuber
Jorge Luis Pacheco Campos
Mathis Picard
Evgeny Lebedev
2014
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Alita Moses
Laura Perrudin
Myriam Bouk Moun
2014
SOCAR MONTREUX JAZZ ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPETITION
Alexander Goodman
Andrés Corredor
Yoav Eshed
2013
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Jerry Léonide
Alexey Ivannikov
Claudio Vignali
2013
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Wojciech Myrczek
Anastasiya Volokitina
Kenny Wesley
2013
SOCAR MONTREUX JAZZ ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPETITION
Leandro Pellegrino
Tom Hasslan
Matthew Landon
2012
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Marialy Pacheco
Alex Pryrodyn
Cezara-Lucia Vladescu
2012
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Sarah Lancman
Elena Mindru
Marie Martin
2011
PARMIGIANI MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION
Piotr Orzechowski
Jeremy Siskind
Jerry Léonide
Emil Mammadov
2011
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION
Chiara Izzi
Sarah Marie Young
Luis Regidor
2010
MONTREUX JAZZ PIANO SOLO COMPETITION 2010
Nikolay Sidorenko
David Helbock
Logan Thomas
Zoltan Balogh
Tuomas Antero Turunen
2010
SHURE MONTREUX JAZZ VOICE COMPETITION 2010
Sanem Kalfa
Yuliana Rogacheva
2009
SOLO PIANO COMPETITION
Isfar Sarabski
Beka Gochiashvili
Franz von Chossy
2009
GUITAR COMPETITION
Roland Balogh
Akira Ishiguro
Rotem Sivan
2009
VOICE COMPETITION
Aubrey Logan