Toru Takemitsu Composition Award

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the 2018 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award ceremony. I am Unsuk Chin and it is my honour to serve as this year’s judge.

Toru Takemitsu was a giant of 20th century music. His works continue to have great eminence for composers, musicians and audiences around the world. Toru Takemitsu built bridges between East and West like no other. His music truly knows no borders. It is then of enormous symbolic significance that this wonderful international competition carries his name. Ever since its creation, Toru Takemitsu Composition Award has helped a number of excellent composers to be discovered and it continues to have a profound influence on young composers and on the development of the music of today.

For this year’s edition, 143 scores were submitted from 40 countries. Many of these were highly interesting, and it was a hard task to decide on the finalists. The following criteria were important for me: a strong sense of structure and form, craftsmanship, personality, distinct ideas, clarity of style, and the capability of writing for a symphony orchestra. In the end, I chose four works which seemed especially imaginative and accomplished. Beside, I was keen to make sure that all four scores would be different from each other and that the selection would result in an interesting concert programme.

Before announcing the prizewinners, I would like to say a few comments on each piece in entry order.

Quanta by Barnaby Martin
Here we have a very open-minded composer, who has studied natural sciences and early music, and who uses a number of different compositional approaches. The result is strongly his own and one is struck about the refined use of harmonies and the ability to command and develop complex structures, as well as the use of orchestral colours.

Quantum Vacuum by Lukas Hövermann-Köper
This work reflects a strong will and the great courage to create new musical world. Each single tone has great intensity and is being featured as its own universe. At the same time, all these single tones grow into a dense texture of enormous energy. The composer does not care about traditional musical parameters; the form is being created by different degrees of density.

SLEEPING IN THE WIND by Bo Li
This is very musical, vivid and idiomatic orchestral music with great contrasts and a developed sense of dramatic line. It has an immediate visual impact, the composer has a keen ear and full control over what he writes. The use of the orchestra is imaginative, both in terms of details and the macroscopic dimension.

STARING WEI JIE TO DEATH by Paulo Brito
This work consist of four very different movements. I am struck about its compactness: there is no unnecessary information, everything has been finely tuned. At the same time, however, the music is highly expressive and each movement brings something new. Despite the texture being condensed, the composer succeeds in taking full advantage of the potential of a symphony orchestra.

Now I will announce the prizewinners of the 2018 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.

The third prize will not be awarded.

The second prize will be awarded to Quantum Vacuum by Lukas Hövermann-Köper and SLEEPING IN THE WIND by Bo Li. Each composer will receive an honorarium of ¥600,000.

The first prize will be award to STARING WEI JIE TO DEATH by Paulo Brito and Quanta by Barnaby Martin. Mr. Paulo Brito will receive ¥800,000 and Mr. Barnaby Martin will receive ¥1,000,000.

I wish this remarkable competition and all the prizewinners all the very best for their future, and would like to thank the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation for their hospitality and wonderful organization. Thank you very much.

Edited by Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation