The City of Vienna's Arnold Schoenberg Prize will be awarded this year to Mirela Ivičević. This award honors "a composer who has shaped contemporary music far beyond Vienna," said City Councillor for Cultural Affairs Veronica Kaup-Hasler on Thursday. "Arnold Schoenberg dared to take the musical step into the unexpected – an attitude that Mirela Ivičević also embodies."

Mirela Ivičevič

The composer, born in Split, Croatia in 1980, lives in Vienna. The jury stated that she impresses with an uncompromising artistic stance and is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music. "The artist questions boundaries, taboos, and the seemingly unambiguous, and revolves around themes such as self-empowerment, identity, and her own biography." Her music not only develops a suggestive urgency, "it is both rebellion and a dream of possibility.".

The Arnold Schoenberg Prize was established in 2024 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Vienna-born composer's birth. The award, endowed with €10,000, is presented every two years. It honors individuals for their lifetime achievements in contemporary music who contribute to Vienna's significance as a vibrant center of music. The first recipient was the composer and sound artist Peter Jakober.

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