Chilean Composer Wins the Busoni Composition Prize for 2024

Maximiliano Alejandro Soto Mayorga receives the €6,000 cash prize

Chilean composer Maximiliano Alejandro Soto Mayorga has been named as the recipient of the Busoni Composition Prize for 2024. Administered by Germany's Akademie der Künste, the prize carries a value of €6,000, and is awarded every 2-3 years to young composers who are not yet well known among the public.

Originally from Santiago, Chile, Soto Mayorga studied composition with Rafael Díaz Silva and Jorge Martínez Ulloa, before receiving his master's degree in Germany, where Johannes Schöllhorn was his teacher. He has received scholarships from the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Neustart Kultur, and Residencia Ibermúsicas, and took part in masterclasses at the SWR Symphony Orchestra in 2024. 

His works range from scenic miniatures through to chamber music and larger-scale orchestral pieces.

A smaller sponsorship award of €2,500 is also available, and in 2024 it went to the American composer Lauren Siess, who lives in Germany. Siess studied viola performance at The Juilliard School as a Kovner Scholar, and is currently completing her master's degree in composition at the Dresden University of Music.

The two composers will be honored at a ceremony on November 30 at the Academy. Ensemble Mosaik will perform their works, as well as music by the prize's first donor Aribert Reimann (who died in 2024) and the prize's namesake composer, Ferruccio Busoni.

In 2024, the jury comprised three members of the Academy's music department: Chaya Czernowin, Hanna Hartman, and Cornelius Schwehr.