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South Korean composer Sangwon Lee, a 2018 DMA Composition graduate of the University of Illinois School of Music, was recently awarded the First Prize at the 2025 Música Viva International Electroacoustic Composition Competition in Portugal for his work “Torturing Piano.” This competition is one of the most prestigious global platforms for electronic music. The Jury of the Música Viva 2025 International Electroacoustic Composition Competition consisted of composers Manuella Blackburn (United Kingdom), Hans Tutschku (Germany) and Miguel Azguime (Portugal).
Sangwon Lee is a composer, sound artist, and educator with a PhD in Musical Arts in the field of Composition and Music Theory and a specialisation in Sound Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His compositions have been featured at world-renowned events such as the San Francisco Tape Music Festival, the MA/IN Festival, the Atemporanea Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the SEAMUS Conference.
Said Sangwon after winning: “The foundation for my compositional techniques used in this work was deeply influenced by my doctoral studies at Illinois. Even several years after my graduation in 2018, the training I received at UIUC continues to be the bedrock of my international career.”
Congratulations, Sangwon!
