The Tōru Takemitsu Composition Award (武満徹作曲賞, Takemitsu Tōru sakkyoku-shō) is a music competition for young composers organized in Tokyo, Japan.
The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (annual competition of orchestral composition), which is an international composition award following Toru Takemitsu's principle "Prayer, Hope, Peace", continues since 1997 to encourage younger generations of composers who will shape the coming age by creating new musical works.
The nucleus of this award is in its uniqueness that each year only one judge is responsible for its outcome. For the first 3-year cycle, Takemitsu himself chose the following three composers to head the competition : Henri Dutilleux (1997), György Ligeti (1998), and Luciano Berio (1999). Then, after Takemitsu’s passing, the three successors, Louis Andriessen (2000 recommended by Berio), Oliver Knussen (2001 recommended by Dutilleux) and Joji Yuasa (2002 recommended by Ligeti) were nominated by the initial judges.
For the third 3-year cycle (2003-2005), George Benjamin (2003), Magnus Lindberg (2004) and John Adams (2005 • cancelled) were nominated by recommendation from the Advisors (Hiroyuki Iwaki, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ohno, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Hiroshi Wakasugi) and preceding judges.
For the fourth 3-year cycle (2007-2009), the selection by the Advisors Committee members and the previous judges were Akira Nishimura (2007), Steve Reich (2008) and Helmut Lachenmann (2009).
Tristan Murail (2010), Salvatore Sciarrino (2011) and Toshio Hosokawa (2012) have been appointed as judges for the new 3-year cycle.
The nominated pieces are performed at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall.
Fifty different composers have been nominated for this prize since its inception in 1997. (updated as of 2011 Prize)
Winners: Year – Judge – Prize:
1997 – Henri Dutilleux – First Prize: not awarded. Second Prize: ZÉULA by Massimo Botter and Mabuni-no-Oka – by Hideki Kozakura.Third Prize: PAGAN II by Marc kenneth Yeats.
1998 – György Ligeti – no prize awarded
1999 – Luciano Berio – First Prize: Uninterrupted Song by Katsuji Maeda. Second Prize: DINAMORPHIA by Ken Ito. Third Prize: Polychrome by Toshiya Watanabe.
2000 – Louis Andriessen – First Prize: L'été-L'oubli rouge by Jun Nagao. Second Prize: AWAKENINGS by Joe Cutler. Third Prize: Pulsating by Sho Ueda.
2001 – Oliver Knussen – First Prize: AQUILO by Arlene Elizabeth Siera and Gebilde-Gegenbild by René Mense. Second Prize: 5 pieces for orchestra by Luke Bedford. Third Prize: Stein/Stern by Ryuji Kubota.
2002 – Joji Yuasa – First Prize: Canticum Tremulum by Royuki Yamamoto and Tenunan II by Tazul Tajuddin. Second Prize: FEEDBACK by Panayiotis Kokoras and Scene for Orchestra by Theodor Pauss. Third Prize: Tzolkin by Michael John Wiley.
2003 – George Benjamin – First Prize: Allégories by Joël Mérah. Second Prize: Calling Timbuktu by Dai Fujikura. Third Prize: Nights Bright Days by Phillip Neil Martin and Da/Fort by Vittorio Zago.
2004 – Magnus Lindberg – First Prize: Fantasia on a Theme by Vaughan Williams by Paul Stanhope. Second Prize: Phenomenon by Narong Prangcharoen and Focal Distance II by Sho Ueda. Third Prize: YU-HYUN by Soonjung Suh and TALKING by Marius Baranauskas.
2005 – John Adams – The competition was cancelled
2006 – There was no competition
2007 – Akira Nishimura – First Prize: Never Stand Behind Me by Sho Ueda. Second Prize: CUBE by Andrea Portera. Third Prize: AQUA by Man Fang, Reminiscence of a dream by YiMing Wu and In Killing Fields Sweet Butterfly Ascend by Jonas Valfridsson.
2008 – Steve Reich – First Prize: What dou you think about the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? by Yuichi Matsumoto. Second Prize: La Noche de Takemitsu by – Tomás Barreiro. Third Prize: God in the Machine by Damian Barbeler and 16_1/32_1 by Toru Nakatani.
2009 – Helmut Lachenmann – First Prize: Hexagonal Pulsar by Kenji Sakai. Second Prize: Creatura Temporale by Raffaele Grimaldi and ZAI by Kazutomo Yamamoto. Third Prize: Cronica Fisiologica Universal by Lucas Fagin and A Whirl of Endless Repetition – To the Chaotic Ocean by Masato Kimura.
2010 – Tristan Murail – First Prize: ...Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion by Roberto Toscano (Brazil). Second Prize: Aquarius by Andrej Slezak (Slovakia/Hungary) and Infinito Nero e Lontano la Luce by Ken Namba (Japan). Third Prize: Deux Presages by Chikako Yamanaka (Japan).
2011 – Salvatore Sciarrino – First Prize: "Flux et reflux" by Florent Motsch-Etienne (France). Second Prize: "Subliminal" by Bernd Richard Deutsch (Austria). Third Prize: "Parts II" by Jan Erik Mikalsen (Norway). Fourth Prize: "NAMOK" by Heera Kim (Korea).
2012 – Toshio Hosokawa – First Prizes: "Mano d'erba, per orchestra" by Federico Gardella (Italy) and "Une Œuvre pour l'Echo des Rêves (II), pour orchestra" by Ioannis Angelakis (Greece). Third Prizes: "I Do Hope to Sleep in the Silent Universe" by Masato Kimura (Japan) and "WARAI" by Shiori Usui (Japan).
2013 – Sir Harrison Birtwistle – First Prize: "SIGHS - hommage à Fryderyk Chopin" by Marcin Stańczyk (Poland). Second Prize: "The Lark in the Snow" by Sumio Kobayashi (Japan). Third Prizes: "Zwei Landschaftsbilder" by Huan Liu (China) and "'CLOSE' to You to 'OPEN'" by Nana Kamiyama (Japan).
2014 – Peter Eötvös – First Prize: "THE NORTHERN CAMELLIA - GRADATION OF SOUNDING AMITY No.2" by Kei Daigo (Japan). Second Prize: "Until the Sea Above Us Is Closed Again" Giovanni Dario Manzini (Italy). Third Prizes: "BLACK BOXES für drei Orchestergruppen" by Timo Ruttkamp (Germany) and "AWAKENING / SERENITY" by Siraseth Pantura-umporn (Thailand).
2015 - Kaija Saariaho - First Prizes: "Reachings for orchestra" by Sebastian Hilli (Finland) and "[difeʁãs] for orchestra" by Yiğit Kolat (Turkey/USA). Second Prizes: "cuadro de presencia for orchestra" by Fabià Santcovsky (Spain) and "loop-fantasy for orchestra" by Thomas Wally (Austria).
2016 - Toshi Ichiyanagi - First Prizes: "ARCHETYPE" by Michael Seltenreich (Israel) and "Let’s speak in Wondrous Words! for orchestra" by Hirofumi Mogi (Japan). Second Prizes: "triple sensibilities for orchestra" by Myunghoon Park (Korea) and "Nacres for Orchestra" by Alice Nakamura (Japan).
