2025 Composer Prizes to Ashkan Behzadi, Bastien David and Kristine Tjøgersen
16.1.2025
The 2025 Composer Prizes, each worth 35,000 euros, have been awarded to Ashkan Behzadi (Iranian-Canadian), Bastien David (France), and Kristine Tjøgersen (Norway). In addition to the Prize money, music productions are also part of the Prizes.
Ashkan Behzadi (b. 1983) grew up in Iran, where he initially studied architecture at the University of Tehran. After moving to Canada, he pursued composition studies in Montreal and New York, where he still resides. He earned his DMA in composition at Columbia University, where he studied with Fred Lerdahl, George Lewis, and Georg Friedrich Haas. His music demonstrates a grat attention to detail, conveying a miniturist and gentle lyrical landscape. By employing techniques of allusion and pastiche as the foundation of his craft, his music ultimately seeks to invoke the collective memory of folklore music.
Bastien David (b. 1990) studied composition with Gérard Pesson at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, among others. He has been a fellow at both the Villa Concordia in Bamberg and the Villa Medici in Rome. In his works, David explores the nuanced relationships between sounds, as well as their movement through time and space. He views his scores “as social environments in which sounds coexist, communicate, repeat, love, fight, and attract one another.”
Kristine Tjøgersen (b. 1982) first studied clarinet before transitioning to composition. She completed her studies under Carola Bauckholt at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz and is now an associate professor of composition and music theory at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Her music is rooted in the belief that wonder and awe are present everywhere, if you are willing to look. Her works are filled with fantasy and draw inspiration from her field research.