European Composition Award
A fundamental part of the festival since its beginning has been the promotion of contemporary and, above all, young composers, who consistently bring topical themes and musical influences from their home countries to Young Euro Classic through their works.
One of the special highlights of Young Euro Classic is the presentation of the European Composition Award. Presented by the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, this was the 26th time that the best premiere or German premiere at the festival has been honoured. In 2025 Jay Capperauld from Scotland was awarded the European Composition Award for the work “Galvanic Dances”.
This year, 15 premieres and German premieres will be performed throughout the festival. The decision on who will receive the prize, worth 5,000 euros, is made by a ten-member jury of volunteers.
Composer and musician Michael Essl will chair the audience jury for the European Composition Prize 2026.
The Composition Prize will be presented on 16 August 2026 at the beginning of the second half of the Young Euro Classic closing concert, featuring the AYSO – Accademia Youth Symphony Orchestra. The award will be presented by Mr. Falko Liecke, State Secretary for Youth and Family.
Join the public jury!
Would you like to be part of the jury? From June onwards, you’ll find all the information you need on how to apply here.
These works are in competition for the European Composition Award 2026
Michael Essl (b. 1991 in Stuttgart) is a composer based in Berlin. His oeuvre includes orchestral works, operas, chamber music, choral and solo pieces as well as works for jazz formations and silent films. From 20024 to 2024, he was composer in residence at the Dortmund Young Opera, where he wrote a children’s opera based on Marc-Uwe Kling’s Das NEINhorn. He has worked with orchestras such as the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Berlin’s Komische Oper and the German Radio Philharmonic. His works are regularly performed in Germany, the USA, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Michael Essl is also an experienced arranger who has received commissions from ARTE, the Cinémathèque française and the Komische Oper Berlin. He originally studied jazz piano performance in Stuttgart and Boston and then composition and music theory with Andrew List, Hanspeter Kyburz, Veli-Matti Puumala and Jörg Mainka in Boston, Berlin and Helsinki.
Previous winners
Since the festival was founded, 38 works have been honoured with the European Composition Award.
In 2025, the work "galvanic dances" by the Scottish composer Jay Capperauld received the European Composition Award.