Noh Seung Ju awarded Theodor Körner Prize
The Theodor Körner Fund supports emerging scholars and artists through the Theodor Körner Award, which carries a prize of €5,000. The award recognises outstanding projects and provides recipients with direct financial support that can be used at their own discretion. This year, one of the awards was presented to a doctoral candidate at Mozarteum University: composer Noh Seung Ju.
Noh Seung Ju:
Shape: A Reexamination of the Conceptual Nature of Composition
Shape: Eine Neubetrachtung der Konzeptualität des Komponierens (Shape: A Reexamination of the Conceptual Nature of Composition) transforms piano-roll-like “shapes” – contours plotted on a grid of time (x-axis) and pitch (y-axis) – into a work for chamber ensemble. Written for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, viola and cello, the piece orchestrates lines and blocks in such a way that their visual outlines remain perceptible through register, dynamics and timbre.
Developed in close collaboration with local musicians, the project explores the relationship between notation and auditory perception. Introductory talks and workshops led by the composer bring the underlying sketches to life while offering insights into the compositional process. Conceived as a work of artistic research, the project investigates the interplay between visual structures and musical form while promoting cultural participation through transparency and accessibility.
Noh Seung Ju (b. 1997, Seoul) is a Salzburg-based composer and artistic researcher working in the field of composition. As a composer, he draws not on external source material but on sounds that emerge from within, creating music characterised by turbulence, rupture, energy and rhythmic intensity. As an artistic researcher, he examines how media such as scores, software and compositional tools act as regulators that shape what can be composed. By making these often invisible influences visible, he seeks to redefine the composer as a designer of protocols that determine the conditions under which sound emerges.
These two strands of his work converge in a shared artistic approach: rather than expressing inner sounds in a traditionally Romantic sense, he places intuition and subjectivity within the compositional framework itself, making them a fundamental part of the creative process.
He has been selected for the Lucerne Festival Composer Seminar, received the Theodor Körner Award and a one-year scholarship from the State of Salzburg, and collaborated with Ensemble Modern, PHACE, and Ensemble Multilatérale, among others. He is also a recipient of the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal awarded by the International Mozarteum Foundation and won second prize at the Bartók World Competition.
Noh Seung Ju studied composition and creative writing (literary criticism) at Chung-Ang University before completing a master’s degree in composition at Mozarteum University Salzburg. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Arts degree at Mozarteum University, where he conducts artistic research in the field of composition. He studied composition with Prof. Johannes Maria Staud; his doctoral project is supervised by Prof. Laure M. Hiendl and Prof. Johannes Maria Staud. He also serves as a teaching assistant in the field of aesthetics of contemporary music.
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The Theodor Körner Fund was established in 1953 by the Vienna Chamber of Labour to mark the 80th birthday of Austria’s then Federal President, Theodor Körner. Since its founding, the Fund has supported outstanding achievements across a wide range of disciplines. The awards are presented annually at a ceremony held at the Vienna Chamber of Labour’s Education Centre and are traditionally conferred by the Chair of the Board of Trustees together with the President of Austria.
