Composer Hanurii Lee wins Geneva Competition...sweeps all six special prizes

[Financial News] Composer Hanurii Lee, 20, won the composition category of the 80th Geneva International Music Competition with the orchestral work “Stuff #1.”
According to the competition’s official website on the 12th, Hanurii Lee took first place in the final of the composition category, held at Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 11th local time. The winner’s prize is 15,000 Swiss francs.
Hanurii Lee also swept the special prizes, winning all six prizes offered in this year’s composition category: the Audience Prize, Young Audience Prize, Student Prize, Nicati-de Luze Prize, Basel Sinfonietta Prize and Prix Musique.
Composer Unsuk Chin, who is based in Berlin, Germany, chaired the jury for this year’s composition category. The jury reviewed scores submitted by 188 applicants and selected three finalists. The competition assignment was a symphonic work, 12 to 16 minutes long, composed after March 2024. 
For the first time in the competition’s history, this year’s composition final was combined with the conducting final. The three conducting finalists performed the composition finalists’ works, assigned to them by draw, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Hanurii Lee’s work was conducted by German conductor Mats Tiersch.
Born in Seoul in 2006, Hanurii Lee is studying composition at Korea National University of Arts.
Founded in 1939, the Geneva International Music Competition alternates among several instrumental and vocal categories, while its composition category is held every other year. World-renowned musicians including Martha Argerich and Georg Solti have been among its past laureates.
[email protected] Shin Jin-a Reporter