Composer Sérgio Azevedo, born in Coimbra in 1968, is the winner of the 2024 DSCH Schostakovich Ensemble Composition Award.

The Prize carries a monetary value of €6,000 and was established in 2019 by the DSCH Musical Association, with the support of the Directorate-General for the Arts of the Ministry of Culture, with the purpose of honoring a Portuguese composer for his or her body of work and artistic trajectory, and of encouraging and promoting outstanding contemporary Portuguese classical music creation.

Sérgio Azevedo was a disciple of Fernando Lopes-Graça at the Academy of Amateur Musicians and completed the Advanced Degree in Composition with top marks at the Lisbon School of Music, where he studied with Christopher Bochmann and Constança Capdeville. During his studies, he also attended courses with Jorge Peixinho, Emmanuel Nunes, Luca Francesconi, Louis Andriessen, and Tristan Murail, among others. He earned his PhD from the University of Minho (Institute of Child Studies) with a dissertation on music for children in the 20th century.

He has received numerous national and international awards, including the United Nations Prize and the SPA Authors’ Award (2010). His works are regularly commissioned and performed by prestigious performers and orchestras and are featured on approximately 60 CDs.               

He has published three books—The Invention of Sounds, Olga Prats – A Singular Piano, and Christopher Bochmann: Without Music Life Would Be a Mistake—and is currently working on A Young Person’s Guide to Musical Composition. He also writes for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and, since 1993, has created hundreds of programs for RTP Antena 2.

Since 1993, Sérgio Azevedo has been Professor of Composition, Orchestration, Analysis, 20th/21st-Century Music History, and Film Music History at the Lisbon School of Music. He has also served on numerous music juries, both in composition and performance, including—outside the realm of classical music—the presidency of the jury of the prestigious José Afonso Prize, a role he has held since 2010.

The DSCH Composition Prize is awarded by the renowned DSCH Schostakovich Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro. Previous winners include Luís Tinoco (2019), Eurico Carrapatoso (2021), and Andreia Pinto-Correia (2023).

Founded in 2006, the DSCH Schostakovich Ensemble is regarded as one of the most significant chamber music ensembles on the national and international scene. Its discography includes albums dedicated to Shostakovich and Beethoven, released and distributed by Paraty/Harmonia Mundi PIAS, which have received the highest distinctions from both national and international specialized critics.