The winner of the 2012 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition has been named as Alexandre Bloch. The 27-year-old Frenchman received his £15,000 prize following a public concert on Sunday September 30 at the Barbican, during which he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in Weber’s Overture to Der Freischütz, the 'Dialogue du vent et de la mer' from Debussy’s La mer and three scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

As part of his prize, Bloch will work as LSO assistant conductor for one year, collaborating with principal conductor Valery Gergiev and president Sir Colin Davis. He will also participate in LSO Discovery events.

Bloch is currently completing a masters degree in conducting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In March 2012, he became junior fellow in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, working with the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata. He has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Festival String Lucerne Orchestra, the Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre d’Auvergne and the Janáček Philharmony (Ostrava). He founded the Orchestre Antipodes in 2011.

This year’s biennial Donatella Flick-LSO Conducting Competition received over 180 applications, which were whittled down to 20 shortlisted candidates. Also taking part in Sunday’s public performance were finalists Ben Gernon and Stamatia Karampini.

The competition final will be broadcast on Classic FM on October 15 on 'The Full Works Concert' from 8-10pm.