Zara Ali (CC '18) has won the 2023 Gaudeamus Award. She received the prize on Sunday September 10 during the final night of the Gaudeamus Festival 2023 in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. The jury had this to say about her composing: "Zara Ali is a composer who writes visions of the contemporary. She has a potential to get to alien places that are foreign and not easy to decipher. She has a very rich array of directions to develop and we are looking forward to seeing where her path will lead her."
Five composers were nominated for the award: Zara Ali, Aya Yoshida, and three Columbia composers from the DMA program—Artun Çekem, Uri Kochavi and Saad Haddad. The five were selected from a total of 229 applications. Many of the pieces they submitted were performed at the festival, and the five finalists each wrote a brand new piece for ensembles Moving String or hand werk ensemble. For more information about the award and the other finalists, visit the Gaudeamus Award's website.
Congratulations Zara!
