International Nikolaus-Fheodoroff-Composition-Prize: Organ + 1

The composer, conductor, pianist and sound engineer Nikolaus Fheodoroff has had a significant influence on musical life in Carinthia over several decades – not least as co-founder and long-standing chairman of the Carinthian Summer Music Festival. In recognition of his achievements, every two years since 2013, the province of Carinthia has been awarding a composition prize in his name, encompassing various categories. The competition is intended to encourage composers to develop new tonal languages and thus expand standard concert repertoire with contemporary contributions. For this year’s award, composers of any nation and any age were invited to submit works for the Instrumentation Category Organ + 1 (one organist (excepting keyboard instruments) or one singer). The winner was Ji-Young Oh, a composer born in South Korea and living in Salzburg, with her work Licht ins Chaos (Light in the Chaos) for organ and cello. The piece was written during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic and musically deals with feelings of grief and despair, but also of safety and confidence. In the dialogue between the two instruments, crisis-like chaos unfolds, in which, however, hope also shines like a light. In addition to Ji-Young Oh’s new composition, this concert will feature other works, including some by György Ligeti and Max Bruch as well as improvisations by Elisabeth Hubmann and Simon Lefebvre.