An instrument of the symphony orchestra, combined with the autograph of a fitting work penned by an Austrian composer, are the distinctive components of the “Musikland Österreich” stamp series named the most popular music stamp of 2022.
Since 2020, Viennese graphic artist Kirsten Lubach has designed an annual stamp for this series. She will be awarded the Yehudi Menuhin Trophy 2023 for the stamp depicting a trombone, issued on Feb. 16, 2022. It won the most popular music stamp election with 8.11 per cent of the votes cast.
Viennese graphic artist Kirsten Lubach.
Lubach was born in Troisdorf, Germany, in 1973. After graduating from high school, she trained as an engraver at the Drawing Academy in Hanau and then went to Lahti, Finland, on a scholarship for further study, passing the master engraver’s examination in 1999. After working for a few years for a specialized company in Vienna, she moved to the Austrian State Printing Office in 2003. There she was initially responsible for the correction and retouching of printing plates. The first Austrian stamp she engraved was the “Lynx” in the “Animal World of Austria” series in 2006.
In 2012 Lubach set up her own business as a designer, draftswoman and engraver, with her own studio for copper and steel engravings in Vienna. Since then, she has also designed numerous stamps for various postal administrations.
This year, 69 stamps from 55 postal administrations were selected as candidates. Collectors from 48 countries participated in the voting via internet or at the IBRA 2023 International Stamp Exhibition. With 7.59 per cent of the votes, the stamp designed by Alejandro Muntz featuring ballet dancer María Noel Riccetto took second place. The stamp was issued in Uruguay on Nov. 28, 2022 as part of the U.P.A.E.P. (Unión Postal Américas, España, Portugal) joint issue devoted to “Art”. Third place, with 7.08 per cent of the vote, went to the Greek painter and graphic artist Myrsini Vardopoulou for a stamp from the Greek set “100 years of the first urban refugee settlements”, issued Sept. 14, 2022.
The annual voting of the most popular music stamp is held since 1980 by music stamp collectors worldwide. The designer of the most popular music stamp is awarded with the “Yehudi Menuhin Trophy” by “Motivgruppe Musik”, the International Philatelic Music Study Group. The trophy is awarded in memory of the great violinist and conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin who was patron of the Philatelic Music Circle for 30 years from 1969 until he died in 1999.