25. Kompolize Winter 2026
The jury of the Lietzeorchester has made its decision: Winner of the 25th International Composition Competition Kompolize Winter 2026 is Jack Smith. The world premiere of his compositiion Space Cowboy Sozzled (2025) will take place on February 20, 2026, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and on February 28, 2026, at the Concert Hall of the Berlin University of the Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
Jack Smith, born 2004, is a composer based in London, UK. Currently, he is in his final year of completing a bachelor’s degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, where he is studying with Alex Paxton, Errollyn Wallen and Deirdre Gribbin. He is interested in working across both acoustic and electronic spaces and often combining the two – drawing from his love of sampled and popular music.
Recently, Jack Smith has been commissioned by ensembles such as the London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO), who he performed electronics alongside, and the TL Shapeshifter Ensemble, performing in venues such as the Barbican Centre Hall, Peckham Levels, and the Old Royal Naval College.
Aside from music for concert, Jack has close relationships with many interdisciplinary artists, particularly in dance, who he collaborates with often. Recent works include music/sound design for Hey Stop!!!, which premiered at the Resolution Dance Festival and subsequently at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Jack Smith writes about his piece Space Cowboy Sozzled:
Space Cowboy Sozzled is a short piece for orchestra, which serves as a joyous, yet festering theme for a drunken space cowboy. The piece is loosely structured like patchwork, with sections that are sown together and extended upon as the piece progresses, with a motif acting as the thread – in a fashion similar to film music. I wanted to pay particular attention to presenting clear, contrasting sections of colour against each other, placing lush sonorities alongside more frantic, bubbling textures. The piece concludes with a fanfare-like segment, that, to me, felt well-intentioned, but intensely unstable.
