The winners of the 5th Basel Composition Competition have been announced. At the final concert followed by the award ceremony in the Paul Sacher Saal at Don Bosco Basel, the jury, chaired by Michael Jarrell, honoured the following participants:
- 1. Prize: Nine Odes to the Night by Qianchen Lu
- 2. Prize: The Gaze of Nmemosyne by Erqing Wang
- 3. Prize: Bird in Space by Ramón Humet
An audience award was presented for the first time, in which viewers of the live stream worldwide were able to take part alongside the viewers in Basel. The more than 600 participants decided in favour of Nine Odes to the Night by Qianchen Lu.
Qianchen Lu was born in 2000 in Anhui, China. She is studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (2018–2023, Bachelor; 2024–ongoing, Master) under Qian Shen-Ying. Her compositions span a wide range of genres, including vocal and choral music, instrumental solos, chamber music, and large orchestral works.
“Qianchen Lu has succeeded in creating an exciting interaction between her musical ideas, the formal design and the temporal dimension of the composition. With a personal tonal language, she has created a work that deeply moved the jury with its emotional power. The musical construction and its architectural unity in particular left a lasting impression.”, so the president of the jury Michael Jarrell.
