Jury

The Italian-Swiss composer Oscar Bianchi completed his musical training in composition, choral conducting and electronic music first in Milan and Bologna, and later at IRCAM Paris and Columbia University in New York. His oeuvre includes works for ensembles of various sizes, orchestral, vocal and stage works as well as solo pieces.

He collaborates internationally with various ensembles that perform his works. Bianchi’s compositions and recordings have been awarded numerous prizes, such as the Gaeudeamus Prize and the German Record Critics’ Prize.

Composer JiYoun Doo, born in Seoul, is the director of the ensemble Tempus Konnex, which she founded in Leipzig in 2015. Since successfully completing her post-graduate studies in composition (Meisterklassenexamen) at the HMT Leipzig, she has represented a part of the Leipzig/central German music scene with Tempus Konnex on international projects in Xi’an, Antwerp and Paris, and supported young composers by providing them with the opportunity to have their pieces performed nationally.

JiYoun, together Thomas Chr. Heyde (FZML), initiated the international Ensemblefestival and is responsible for handling the artistic, conceptual and organizational aspects of the festival. In addition, she acts as the head dramaturge for FZML projects.

Zurich-born conductor Titus Engel studied musicology, philosophy and conducting in Zurich, Berlin and Dresden. He is the initiator of the Akademie Musiktheater heute, the Deutsche Bank Foundation and the Ligerzer Opernwerkstatt. He is also the editor of several publications on current opera. He made his opera debut in 2000 at the Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik (Dresden Days of Contemporary Music). Following an invitation by Gerard Mortier to the Teatro Real in 2011, he began his international career, which took him to various opera houses in Europe.

In addition to recording works for radio and television, Titus Engel has also recorded diverse CDs and made first recordings of historical and contemporary silent film music in cooperation with ZDF-ARTE. He conducted the world premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s opera »Infinite Now« in 2017, which was voted »World Premiere of the Year« in a survey of critics in the Opernwelt. Most recently, in the 2019/20 season, he took on the role of musical director for Modest Mussorgsky’s »Boris Godunov« and Sergei Nevsky’s »Secondhand Time« at the Stuttgart State Opera.

Thomas Christoph Heyde is a composer, media artist and curator. He studied composition and electro-acoustic music in Leipzig and Basel and was a Meisterschüler at the Berlin Academy of the Arts. He has worked as a visiting lecturer at the Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) and the University of Leipzig. Heyde is known as a passionate interpreter of contemporary artistic forms of expression at the interface of music and media art.

As a freelance curator, dramaturge and the managing artistic director of the Forum Zeitgenössischer Musik Leipzig [FZML], he has initiated and directed numerous international festivals and concert series, such as »Heimat Moderne«, »Macht-Musik« and »CAGE100«.

Source: Kulturstiftung des Bundes

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, born in Mannheim, has been a professor of composition at the HMT Leipzig since 2005. He studied composition, music theory, piano, musicology, philosophy and sociology. As a composer, he has received numerous international prizes and awards and was instrumental in founding the Society for Music and Aesthetics.

Mahnkopf is an editor of the journal »Musik & Ästhetik« as well as the book series »New Musik and Aesthetik in the 21st Century«. He has also written over 150 essays and numerous books. His musical oeuvre includes works in all genres, which have been performed internationally by renowned orchestras.