Music director Lee Hanurij on Aug.12 speaks at a roundtable interview for the musical "And So the Wind Blew and I Ate Two Brothers" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Sejong Center)

By Yoo Yeon Gyeong

Composer Lee Hanurij, 20, has won the top honor for composition at the Geneva International Music Competition of Switzerland along with six special awards.

The competition on Nov. 11 said Lee won the composition category at Victoria Hall in the Swiss city with his orchestral work "Stuff #1." The runner-up was Rafael Marino Arcaro, 36, from Brazil and third place went to Chan Sing-yat, 25, from Hong Kong.

"Stuff #1" drew inspiration from the repetitive structure of Khrushchevka, or mass-produced apartment blocks built throughout the former Soviet Union, and how individual sensibilities gradually fade away within such spaces.

Lee also swept the Audience Prize, Young Audience Prize, Student Prize, Nicati-de Luze Prize, Basel Sinfonietta Prize and Primeurs Musicales Prize.

The Nicati-de Luze Prize involves a commission for a new 7–10 minute work for a solo instrument or voice. The Basel Sinfonietta Prize allows the performance of the winning work, while the Primeurs Musicales Prize includes a commission for a new piece for a string ensemble to premiere at a festival in fall next year.

Born in 2006, Lee attended Yewon School in Seoul and is majoring in composition at the Korea National University of Arts. Last year, he was named the first composer-in-residence for the Seoul Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra.

In 2024, he was the youngest winner of the composition category at the JoongAng Music Competition and won the Bartok International Composition Competition in Hungary.

Launched in 1939, the Geneva event is a prestigious global music competition whose composition contest is every two years. Previous Korean winners in this category include Cho Kwang-ho (2013), Choi Jae-hyuk (2017) and Kim Shin (2022).

dusrud21@korea.kr