Last weekend, the jury of the Basel Composition Competition selected twelve compositions that will be the finalists for the third Basel Composition Competition. All twelve compositions will be premiered in March 2021 by the three Basel orchestras – the Kammerorchester Basel, the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Basel Sinfonietta. The jury will then decide on the winners.
A total of eight works for symphony orchestra and four for chamber orchestra were selected from more than 355 submitted scores. Orchestral works that have not yet been performed and have not yet been awarded a prize were eligible to be submitted.
The compositions were selected by a top-class jury chaired by the Swiss composer Michael Jarrell. The jury is also comprised of the composers Usunk Chin, Beat Furrer and Andrea Scartazzini, the director of the Paul Sacher Foundation Dr. Felix Meyer, and three representatives of the participating orchestras.
The nominees are diverse in every respect:
Nicholas Gotch (UK) – “TENEBRAE”
Angel Hernández-Lovera (AUT) – “Nocturno Onírico”
Miguel Morate (ESP) – “COMME S’EN VA CETTE ONDE”
Hyeon Joon Sohn (KOR) – “PROSKUENEO”
Artur Akshelyan (ARM) – “Three Pieces for Orchestra”
Christina Bloquert (USA) – “Le Temps Qui Se Perd Dans Ses Yeux “
Fernando Garcia Marquez (ESP) – “ESPEJO DEL DOLOR”
Oliver Mattern (GER) – “… cum ex re …”,
Andrea Mattevi (ITA) – “Respiro sul lato dell’abisso”
Hiroshi Nakamura (JPN) – “Nue”
Eneko Vadillo (ESP) – “SCULPTEO”
Yiqing Zhu (CHN) – “Deep Grey”
The prize money is 100,000 Swiss Francs (CHF) and will be divided between three winners.
The concerts are open to the public and are recorded for Swiss Radio SRF as well as for the Basel Composition Competition’s own video streaming channel.