Stefania Becheanu Awarded QuattroPole Music Prize

Following an evening of concerts on Wednesday 8 April 2026 in Metz (France), the jury of the QuattroPole Music Prize awarded the composer Stefania Becheanu for her work “Rencontrer l’ours”.

Supported by the cities of Luxembourg, Metz, Saarbrücken and Trier, the fourth edition of the QuattroPole Music Prize is the result of close collaboration between the cultural services of the four cities and the General Secretariat of QuattroPole. The prize for innovative musical creation has been awarded every two years since 2019 to musicians and composers of contemporary and experimental music (electronic, experimental, contemporary, etc.) who use innovative digital techniques, including visual effects and various performance forms. The winning artist is awarded a €10,000 prize by the QuattroPole network.

Hosted by Metz journalist Alicia Hiblot, the evening featured four performances of around twenty minutes each, interspersed with institutional highlights and exchanges with the artists. Philippe Brunella, Deputy Mayor for Culture of the City of Metz, representing François Grosdidier, Mayor of Metz and President of QuattroPole, opened the evening with an introductory speech. 

Interviews with the finalists, as well as a round table bringing together the music coordinators, also punctuated the event. The 2026 edition of the competition also welcomed two former winners: Hervé Birolini (2019) and Oleksii Rybak (2023). For 2026, the prize trophy was designed by artisan jewellers Maison Bianchi and was presented by its director Alexandre Bianchi. The design brings together the emblems of the four partner cities and symbols of contemporary musical creation.

The four projects presented to the cross-border jury each explored, in their own way, immersive and sensitive forms of contemporary sound creation.

Saarbrücken was represented by Maria Teresa Treccozzi, who presented “HörbarZelt II”, an electroacoustic installation-performance in which voice, music and space merge to create an intimate listening experience, questioning identity and cultural diversity.

Trier was represented by Bernd Thewes, who developed “CODE Figure sur paysage (Travestie)”, a piece for solo flute and multichannel sound projection, playing on perception between figure and soundscape in a tension-filled listening experience. 

Metz was represented by Stefania Becheanu, who presented “Rencontrer l’ours”, a performative work combining music and gesture, drawing on rituals to explore fear and collective dynamics in a hypnotic experience.

Luxembourg was represented by The Night FM - the alias of Yliana Paolini - with the project “Whispers from the Glitch.exe - Beauty - Tremors (THE NIGHT FM)”, which focused on emotions linked to digital environments, exploring forms of intimacy, desire and tension generated by our technological interactions.

Following deliberation, the jury, composed of Catherine Kontz and Cathy Krier (Luxembourg), Aurore Gruel and Gilles Sornette (Metz), Stefan Zintel and Jürgen Martin (Saarbrücken), and Wouter Padberg and Anne-May Krüger (Trier), chose to award the prize to Stefania Becheanu for her project “Rencontrer l’ours”.

The QuattroPole Music Prize is one of the cultural pillars of cross-border cooperation between the cities of the QuattroPole network. Its main objective is to strengthen cross-border networking of local cultural scenes in the cities and to increase the visibility of the QuattroPole city network in the Greater Region and beyond.