Masterprize International Composing Competition
International symphonic composition award
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Masterprize International Composing Competition, informally known as Masterprize, was an international composing competition founded in April 1996 by author, investment banker and former diplomat, John McLaren.[2][4] The brief for the inaugural competition was "to find new and original works for symphony orchestra with artistic integrity with the potential for broad and lasting appeal".[1] Additional specifications were that the compositional entry should be of a duration of 8 to 12 minutes and that composers could be of any age or nationality.[7] For the 2001 competition, the submitted works had to have been scored for orchestral forces of between 50 and 90 players and have a duration of between 6 and 15 minutes.[8] Composers who were awarded first place received a monetary prize of either £25,000 for the 1998 competition, or £30,000 for the 2001 and 2003 competitions, respectively.[3][4][5]
| Masterprize International Composing Competition | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Orchestral composition |
| Sponsored by | Coutts & Co. (for 1998)[1] |
| Date | April 1996[2] |
| Venue | Barbican Centre, London[3] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Reward | GBP £25,000 (in 1998)[4] GBP £30,000 (in 2001)[2][5] GBP £30,000 (in 2003)[3] |
| Established | Founded by John McLaren[6] |
| First award | 1998 |
| Final award | 2003 |
| Website | https://www.masterprize.com  |
The first Masterprize competition which culminated in 1998 was supported by significant institutions, such as the European Broadcasting Union,[9] the BBC orchestras, BBC Radio 3, EMI Records, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Music Magazine and the Worshipful Company of Musicians.[10] The final round of the competition was held at the Barbican on 7 April 1998[1] where the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding performed the six finalist works in full.[11] The gala concert was attended by Cherie Blair who presented the winning composers with their prizes.[10]
Prize winners
| Masterprize Winners and Finalists | ||||||||
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Other finalists | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 |  Christopher Theofanidis[12] |
N/a |  Nicolas Bacri[13] |
 Bechara El-Khoury[14] |
Robert Henderson[15] |
 Arturs Maskats[16] |
 De:Anton Plate[17] | |
| 2001 | Pierre Jalbert[18] |
N/a |  Qigang Chen[18] |
 Alistair King[18] |
Anthony Iannaccone[18] |
Carter Pann[18] |
N/a | |
| 1998 | Andrew March[19] |
  Victoria Borisova-Ollas[20] |
 It:Daniele Gasparini[21] |
Stephen Hartke[22] |
Zhou Long[22] |
 Carl Vine[22] |
N/a | |
