New York-based Australian composer Kitty Xiao has been awarded of one of three Composer Prizes in the 2026 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, receiving €35,000 (approx. $60,000 AUD) and a digital recording release.

Welsh composer Bethan Morgan-Williams and Armenian-born, Berlin-based composer Hovik Sarsaryan have also earned Composer Prizes. Past Composer Prize recipients include Thomas Adès, Chaya Czernowin, Mark Andre and Rebecca Saunders (who, in 2019, was also awarded the Music Prize).

Kitty Xiao. Photo supplied

Xiao’s practice expands across chamber, electroacoustic and multimedium work, exploring timbral gesture and the subjective experience of space. Currently a doctoral candidate in Music Compostition at Columbia University, she has collaborated with groups including Ensemble Modern, the Mivos Quartet and Elysium Dance.

In Australia, her works have been performed by groups including Ensemble Apex, Syzygy Ensemble and at the Adelaide Festival, Melbourne Festival and ANAM Set Festival. She is the recipient of a 2022 APRA Professional Development Award, the 2020 Belle S. Gitelman Award and the 2019 Howard Hanson Large Ensemble Prize.

With a focus on contemporary classical and art music, the annual Ernst von Siemens Music Prize awards a total prize pool of €3.5 million to...