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Rebecca Saunders Awarded €150,000 Wihuri Sibelius Prize
The Berlin-based British composer joins a distinguished list of recipients of the Finnish award, recognising an international career centred on the physical possibilities of sound.
Rebecca Saunders has received the 2026 Wihuri Sibelius Prize, an international composition award worth €150,000.
The selection committee highlighted the sculptural character of her music and its combination of delicacy and intensity. Saunders, born in London in 1967 and based in Berlin, works across orchestral, ensemble, chamber and stage forms.
The award follows her 2019 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize and 2024 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. Her first opera, Lash — Acts of Love, premiered at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2025.
Established in 1953, the Wihuri Sibelius Prize was first awarded to Jean Sibelius himself. Its recipients include major twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers; Tristan Murail received the preceding award in 2023.