In 2022, three emerging artists who could not be more different have won the third ricordilab international composers’ competition: Hannah Kendall, Alex Paxton and Diana Syrse. Ricordi Berlin publishes selected works by the laureates, supports the composers through expertise in the music business, and provides international promotion for the period of three years.

Celebrating the achievements and ongoing creative journeys of our esteemed laureates, this article presents the latest developments in their careers, new recordings, as well as an overview of upcoming commissions.

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Associated Partners

ricordilab owes a debt of gratitude to its network of associated partners that have agreed to feature the laureates during their tenure:

Bamberg Symphony, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestre National d'Auvergne, Ensemble Mosaik, Riot Ensemble, Beethovenfest Bonn, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn

Advisory Board

Ricordi Berlin was consulted by an advisory board of internationally renowned experts:

Heribert Germeshausen Intendant, Oper Dortmund; Paul Hughes Former Director, BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, BBC Singers; Mark Sattler Dramaturgy Contemporary Music at Lucerne Festival; Julia Wolfe composer

The laureates

Hannah Kendall

Hannah Kendall, born in London in 1984, has recently completed her Doctorate at Columbia University with Georg Friedrich Haas and George E. Lewis. She majored in vocal studies and composition at the University of Exeter and gained a master’s at the Royal College of Music. Kendall was the recipient of the 2022 Hindemith Prize, and in 2023, she was honored with the Best Large Ensemble Composition Ivor Novello Award for shouting forever into the receiver commissioned by Südwestrundfunk for Ensemble Modern. Known for her attentive arrangements and immersive world-building, Hannah Kendall’s music looks beyond the boundaries of composition: “Conjuring evocative imagery within dramatic constructs form the main components of my compositional style. I sometimes draw on aspects of my African-Caribbean-European heritage; finding ways to garner a deeper understanding of how musical engagement through cultural discovery might influence my music’s aesthetics.”

Upcoming world premieres include: He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing for the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and Musikkollegium Winterthur in summer/autumn 2024, a new work for Scottish Ensemble and Staatsorchester Stuttgart in winter/spring 2024/25, and a London Symphony Orchestra commission for spring 2026. A debut portrait album is due for release on NMC Recordings in 2025 .

Alex Paxton

Alex Paxton, born in Manchester in 1990, is a composer and improvising-trombonist. He studied jazz and composition in London at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. Awards include an Ivor Novello Composer Award, Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize, Paul Hindemith Prize, Claussen-Simon Composition Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize. Alex has released three critically acclaimed albums: “Music for Bosch People” (Birmingham Record Company/NMC Recordings), “ilolli-pop” (non classical) and “Happy Music for Orchestra” (Delphian). Alex describes his music “like minimal but loads more notes like video-games but with more song like jazz but much more gay like old music but more current like yummy sweet but more stick like paint but more scratch like tapestry but filthily like prayer but more loud like loud groove and more rude like fingers and faces too but somehow more smelly like smelly things cooking with more chew and change like louder prayers that groove with like stinking-hot-pink in poo-brown but even more desperate-like than that like drums and Dream Musics …”

Upcoming projects include new commissions for Klangforum Wien and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Wigmore Hall, Ensemble Modern (Now! Festival, Philharmonie Essen), as well as three new portrait albums with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta and Riot Ensemble.

Diana Syrse

Diana Syrse, born in 1984, is a composer and singer from Mexico. She finished her PhD in composition with focus on opera and Musiktheater at the University of Birmingham. Her sonic language often incorporates voice, electronics, and traditional instruments from Latin America to evoke powerful, theatrical images. In her urban soundscape, she deals with socially relevant issues and makes an artistic contribution to the discourses of our time. Syrse has worked as composer-in-residence in more than 15 Musiktheater/opera productions. She has obtained commissions by the Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Kammerspiele München and ensembles like Berliner Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Ensemble Via Nova, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería and Festival Présences. In 2022 she was invited as a guest artist and lecturer at the Juilliard School in New York. Among her awards and recognitions, she received the Music Prize of the City of Munich, Teatro la Fenice’s “Una Vita nella musica Giovani” award and the Counterpoint of Tolerance Project of Los Angeles.

Upcoming projects include commissions by Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier and La Súper Orquesta Filarmónica (Mexico).

Media partner

ricordilab is supported by the media and streaming partner IDAGIO, the world’s leading streaming service for classical music.