Rain of prizes for HfMT composition class

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There are four successes to report from Prof. Gordon Kampe's HfMT composition class:
Jonas Otte was awarded the "Composition Prize Winner of Deutschlandfunk" as part of the renowned German Music Competition 2025 sponsored by the German Music Council Link:
Marta Kowalczuk performs the work "Licht und Schatten" as a composition commission at the Oranienburger Schlosskonzerte Link and also receives the ad-libitum prize Link;
and finally Alexander Schweiß finalist in an opera competition organized by the Landesbühnen Sachsen Link

Biographies

Jonas Otte began his training in piano and composition in his home town of Chemnitz. In 2012, he was awarded 1st prize in the national Jugend musiziert competition, a special prize in the Lions Music Competition in 2013 and the Jugend komponiert sponsorship prize in 2017. From 2012 to 2018, he was a scholarship holder of the Saxony State Association of German Music Schools, and since 2021 he has been a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation. In the same year, his piece "Ennu" was selected for the "Touching Sounds" project of the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music.
2018 to 2023 he studied composition with Prof. Jörg Birkenkötter and piano with Hwa-Kyung Yim in Bremen. Since 2024 he has been studying composition with Prof. Gordon Kampe in Hamburg. He also regularly premieres contemporary piano works.

Marta Kowalczuk studied composition with Michael Obst in Weimar, with Gordon Kampe in Hamburg and baroque violin at the University of Music in Wrocław.
As a composer and baroque violinist, she builds a bridge between past and present. Her focus is on combining baroque instruments with historical performance practice, experimenting with different sounds and textures. Inspired by spectral music, she expands the tonal possibilities of her compositions. Her portfolio includes instrumental, choral, vocal, theater, opera and film music.

Alexander Schweiß studied musicology and theater studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and composition at the University of Music and Drama Hamburg. He currently holds a scholarship from the Claussen Simon Foundation, which supports outstanding artistic personalities. He has also received grants from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation and the German Music Council. His work has been recognized in numerous competitions and has been nominated for the RING AWARD and the Reinhold Otto Mayer Prize for a comic opera at the Hessisches Staatstheater 2025, among others.