The Hindemith Prize honors outstanding contemporary composers as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. This year, the 34th Hindemith Prize will go to the British composer Alex Paxton.  

Like minimal but loads more notes, like old music but more current, like prayer but more loud – that's how Alex Paxton describes his music and ends with the words: »....but you have to listen to it tbh.« His compositions are influenced by classical music and jazz as well as folk music traditions or video game soundtracks. This stylistic diversity and the composer's multi-perspective language also convinced the jury of the Hindemith Prize 2023: »Alex Paxton is a champion of musical co-existence and has developed an extremely modern and forward-looking style. His craftsmanship is particularly evident in the way he orchestrates his works. His sound, which always remains varied in itself, in combination with his sense of humor, has completely inspired us,« said Dr. Christian Kuhnt, artistic director of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, explaining the decision.

Alex Paxton felt extremely honored: »I feel most lucky, and privileged to receive this award. My music means the world to me so I’d like to gratefully thank the jury and the Schleswig-Holsten Music Festival for this considerable support for my work.«

Paul Hindemith was committed to young musicians and was especially known for his efforts in music education. In his spirit, the Hindemith Prize promotes outstanding young, contemporary composers. Since 1990, the prize has been awarded as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. It is sponsored by the Hindemith-Stiftung (Blonay/Switzerland), the Rudolf und Erika Koch-Stiftung, the Walther und Käthe Busche-Stiftung and Gerhard Trede-Stiftung, the City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Recent winners include Matthias Pintscher (2000), Thomas Adès (2001), Jörg Widmann (2002), Lera Auerbach (2005), Anna Clyne (2016), Samy Moussa (2017), SJ Hanke (2020), Mithatcan Öcal (2021) und Hannah Kendall (2022).

The jury consists of Dr. Astrid Bernicke (Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media), Prof. Dr. Andreas Eckhardt (Fondation Hindemith), Prof. Rico Gubler (Musikhochschule Lübeck), Dr. Christian Kuhnt (SHMF), Prof. Jan Philipp Sprick (Gerhard Trede Stiftung and HfMT Hamburg) and Dr. Willem Strank (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the State of Schleswig-Holstein).

Ceremony of Hindemith Prize 2023

Mo, August 14, 2023 | 7.30 PM | Kiel, Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kesselhaus