Competitions › Toru Takemitsu Composition Award
Toru Takemitsu Composition Award
Next edition
- Edition
- 2027
- Dates
- Final concert 30 May 2027
- Location
- Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial
- Registration deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Fee
- Free
Source: operacity.jp
Overview
An annual composition award for orchestral works founded in memory of Toru Takemitsu. A single guest composer serves as sole judge each year, selects scores anonymously and decides the prize after the finalist works are performed in concert.
- Organiser
- Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation
- Instruments
- Composition (orchestra)
- Category
- Orchestral composition
- Age limits
- Age 35 or under at the end of the year of the application deadline; any nationality
Rules & repertoire
Registration & fee
Two bound score copies with application form by post or in person (no email); title on score, no composer name; free of charge; instructions in English, French, German or Italian.
Rounds & time limits
- Preliminary score screening (anonymous)
- Final concert performance and award decision
Repertoire
Unpublished orchestral work (no concertos) of 10 to 20 minutes for one conductor within the listed instrumentation; no live amplification or recorded accompaniment.
Jury & prizes
Jury
- 2027: Sean Shepherd (USA)
- 2028: Bruno Mantovani
- 2029: Rebecca Saunders
- 2030: Tan Dun
Prizes
- Total cash award of JPY 3,000,000 per year (may be withheld or divided)
Past editions
- 2026 — Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial source
1st: Jaehyeok Choi (Korea), Supernova for orchestra; 2nd: Ziyi Tao (USA), If for orchestra; 3rd: Kenshi Matsuo (Japan), Variations for Orchestra; 4th: Zhehe Cui (China), The Last Gamble for orchestra - 2025 — Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial source
1st (shared): Suguru Wagatsuma (Japan), MATSURU for orchestra; 1st (shared): Nozomu Kaneda (Japan), The Play for Skin and Fabric for 2 orchestras; 2nd: not awarded; 3rd (shared): Jiaying Zhou (China), Tidal Lock; 3rd (shared): Francesco Mariotti (Italy), Diptych - 2024 — Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial source
1st: Jingyu Chen (Hong Kong SAR), Nebula; 2nd (shared): Jose Luis Valdivia Arias (Spain), Al-Zahra; 2nd (shared): Giovanni Liguori (Italy), Hypnos; 3rd: Alessandro Adamo (Italy), Parenthesis - 2023 — Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial source
1st: Michael Taplin (UK), Selvedge; 2nd (shared): Guillermo Cobo Garcia (Spain), Yabal-al-Tay; 2nd (shared): Koji Yamabe (Japan), Underscore; 3rd: Yuheng Chen (China), trace / trait - 2022 — Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall: Takemitsu Memorial source
1st: Takuto Muromoto (Japan), KEBESU - Circle of Flame; 2nd: Andrea Mattevi (Italy), Comune il principio e la fine del cerchio; 3rd (shared): Omar Hernandez Lazo (Mexico); 3rd (shared): Mehmet Ozkan (Turkey/Bulgaria), Intermezzo for Orchestra
Summarised from official sources, last checked 10 Nov 2026. Main source