Hanurij Lee wins Geneva Composition Competition and sweeps special prizes

The 20-year-old South Korean composer took first prize for Stuff #1, with Rafael Marino Arcaro and Sing-Yat Chen receiving second and third prizes.

South Korean composer Hanurij Lee has won the 2026 Geneva Composition Competition with his orchestral work Stuff #1. The result was announced following the final at Geneva’s Victoria Hall on November 11, where the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande performed the three shortlisted scores. Lee received CHF 15,000 and also won all the competition’s special prizes.

Brazilian composer Rafael Marino Arcaro received second prize, worth CHF 10,000, for invention in language of child, op. 22. Third prize, carrying CHF 5,000, went to Hong Kong composer Sing-Yat Chen for Shattered sky / remaining land.

A shared stage for composers and conductors

The concert brought together two disciplines: it served as both the composition final and the first final round of the conducting competition. Each finalist conductor was assigned one of the new scores by drawing lots.

Mats Thiersch conducted Lee’s winning work, while Gabriel Pernet led Arcaro’s score and Jacobus De Jager conducted Chen’s. The conducting competition concludes with a second final on November 13.

The composition jury was chaired by Unsuk Chin, alongside Toshio Hosokawa, Magnus Lindberg, Augusta Read Thomas and Katharina Rosenberger. The three finalists were selected from a record 188 applicants from 46 countries. This edition called for orchestral works lasting between 12 and 16 minutes, without soloists or electronics.

The composer behind Stuff #1

Born in Seoul in 2006, Lee studies composition at the Korea National University of Arts. His music has been presented at festivals including the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik and Verbier.

In his programme note, Lee traces the Stuff series to the repetitive architecture of Soviet-era apartment blocks and the gradual erosion of individual sensation within them. Stuff #1 moves towards images of dust, fur and a shaggy figure nodding its head, with repetition becoming an accumulation of sensory traces.

Beyond the cash awards, the composition laureates receive two years of support from Paris-based Sartory Artists, including career management, individual coaching and commissions.