Recently, the highlight of the 2024 Shanghai International Digital Music Festival—the 3rd “YIN CHUANG Cup” Global Game Music Composition Competition ended.
This competition attracted over 300 participants from 22 countries, who were divided into the Professional Group and Student Group. The finalists composed game soundtracks based on the assigned themes specified by the organizing committee and submitted their audio recordings and full orchestral scores within the required timeframe. After the preliminary and final rounds, 16 works emerged as the winners of the first, second, and third prizes in both groups. These award-winning compositions were performed on November 11 at the Shanghai Opera House by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of renowned conductor Zhang Liang.
This competition brought together leading music professionals and industry experts from multiple countries to form a diverse and highly professional judging panel. The panel includes Sean McMahon, Dean of the Screen Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music; renowned American composers Igor Nemirovsky and Thomas Parisch; as well as Japanese composers Yasuharu Takanashi, Sachiko Miyano, and Noriyuki Iwadare, among others. Additionally, the panel comprises composers from prestigious arts colleges and universities, professional musicians within the industry, and executives and experts from the gaming industry.
He Xingyu, a graduate student from our school, represented the Communication University of China in the competition. His work, “The Stargazers”, due to its subtle writing techniques, implicit internal tension, and seamless integration with the game, received unanimous praise from the experts, earning him the First Prize in the Professional Group and the opportunity for a live performance by the orchestra. The youngest winner, Wei Yuchen, aged only 19, is a student in the Class of 2023 majoring in Composition and Theories of Composition (Electronic Music) at our school. His work, “The View of Fontaine”, avoids straightforward depiction and uses music to guide listeners in exploring the virtual world of the game, earning him the Third Prize in the Student Group. The 16 award-winning works that were presented demonstrate the vibrant creativity and innovative composition techniques of the new generation of musicians. The Shanghai International Digital Music Festival aims to foster the global exchange and development of digital music by strengthening cooperation between enterprises and schools, as well as promoting collaboration between schools, thereby nurturing the next generation of digital music creators.
▲ He Xingyu’s work presented on stage
( Editor: Zhu Binger )
