Anna Korsun wins Gaudeamus Music Prize

Last night, Ukrainian composer Anna Korsun (1986, Donetsk) won the coveted Gaudeamus Music Prize in TivoliVredenburg. This consists of a cash prize of €4550, which serves as an honorarium for a new composition that will have its world premiere in a subsequent instalment. The international jury, consisting of composers Vanessa Lann (Netherlands), Oscar Bianchi (Switzerland) and Wim Hendericx (Belgium) chose her unanimously from the five nominees. (Besides Korsun, they were Benjamin Scheuer, Anna Poleukhina, Fransisco Trigueros and Hikari Kiyama).

In the jury report we read among other things: 'Anna Korsun's music has touched us deeply; despite being firmly rooted in contemporary music, her work - which has historical references ranging from Gabrieli's Venetian double choirs to Cage's pieces for prepared piano - is somehow free of all that. Corsun's striking open-mindedness and great devotion to both material and form are the constant factor in her stylistically wide range of compositions'. 

[Tweet "Whew, such lyrics are gefundenes Fressen for modern-music haters."] A pity, because Korsun's music is highly communicative and will manage to touch the hearts of even the unsuspecting layman. I myself heard some of her pieces in Utrecht's Geertekerk on Thursday 11 September, performed with great dedication and precision by the Asko|Schönberg and Silbersee led by young conductor MaNOj Kamps. Especially the Schumann-inspired Wehmut was breathtaking. In it, Korsun elicits an array of extraordinary sounds from the singers, ranging from explicit inhales and exhales to fierce exclamations and mysterious whispers, wonderfully underscored by subtle interjections of the instruments.

Remarkable was the echo that resounded from the soprano's preaching. This valued mysteriously around the church and encompassed the entire audience. Initially, this spirit apparition seemed to be electronically induced, but gradually so many ingenious deviations from the main part sounded that very sophisticated electronics had to be involved. After some poking around, we eventually discovered a second soprano at the back of the church, acting as a shadow of her colleague on stage. The languorous exchange between the two ladies, the other singers and the ensemble made the title Wehmut perfectly straight.

Although the jury indicated that the entries from all five nominees were "diverse and of high quality", the average sound image was mainly one of the time-honoured type sound exploration. Of the other nominees, only Kiyami managed to surprise with his loud, punky and sometimes hilarious raids. Last night, for instance, the musicians of the in-character ensemble Looptail transformed into his new piece ??????? to ferocious leathernecks, who attacked their instruments and trampled wooden planks with unaccountable violence.

If we may judge from this edition of the Gaudeamus Competition, it seems as if young composers (60 entries from 28 countries) take little notice of music history and think they are inventing a wheel that has been turning in the same circles for several decades. Korsun stood head and shoulders above her peers with her surprising, introspective and communicative music. We are definitely going to hear more from her.