The George Enescu International Competition has announced the winners of the Composition Section for its 19th edition.

Brisbane-based Alexander Voltz won the Symphonic Music Prize of €10,000 (approximately $16,300) for his 20-minute orchestral work Dunrossil Elms. He is the first Australian to win this category.

Voltz is a graduate of The University of Queensland where he studied viola and composition. His music has been performed and supported around Australia, including by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Queensland, Australian National Academy of Music and Camerata, where he was the 2022 Emerging Composer-in-Residence.

Alexander Voltz. Photo supplied

The winning composition takes its name from the heritage-listed elm trees that line Dunrossil Drive, the road leading up to Government House in Canberra, Australia. It is the latest work in an ongoing symphonic cycle by Voltz that takes inspiration from Canberra’s landmarks.

Voltz’s win was announced by the chair of the competition’s international jury, Zygmunt Krauze, at the Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest on 31 August.

Founded in 1958, the George Enescu Composition Competition is recognised as one of the world’s most prestigious composition competitions. A cultural project funded by the Romanian Government, it is patronised by the...