Gaudeamus Festival announces 2024 award winner

Utrecht’s new music celebration Gaudeamus Festival has announced that Yixie Shen has been chosen as the winner of its 2024 Gaudeamus Award. The Chinese-German composer received the prize during the closing evening of 2024 Festival in TivoliVredenburg Pandora.

The award, which consists of a commission to write a new work for a future edition of the festival is designed to support and encourage ‘young music pioneers’. Shen was chosen to receive the award by a jury including composers Maya Verlaak, Zaid Jabri and Joanna Bailie.

About their decision, the jury said: ‘Yixie creates subtle sound worlds and is not afraid to take risks in structure and instrumentation. She has a beautiful sense of timbre and colour. The way she weaves a narrative is refined and gripping. Her music stays with you.’

Shen was nominated for the award alongside four other composers: Cem Güven, Lucy McKnight, Patrick Ellis, Beniamino Fiorini and Shen. The five composers were selected from a total of 251 entries globally. The physical form of the Award was designed by visual artist Nuni Weisz, an instrument/sculpture called the Inner Voice Amplifier, which allows you to hear your own voice as it sounds when it leaves your body.

Shen adds this latest award to previous accolades including the Zwei Orgeln Plus Award from Musik 21 Niedersachsen (2024) and the Alexander International Music Award with the junge norddeutsche philharmonie (2023), among others. She is currently pursuing a Konzertexamen degree at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg.