THE WINNER 2025
We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2nd Brusa Foundation Award for the year 2025:
ASADBEK TURGUNOV, from Tashkent Uzbekistan born in 2000, for his work “Maqom Simfoniya”.
We found Simfoniya a forceful and naturally musical work with very defined themes, fluidity and instrumentally colourful. The themes were rhythmically and harmonically full of forceful fantasy and included traits of a vivid cultural tradition and identity (similarly to Kachaturian’s Sabre Dance, Béla Bàrtok’s Romanian Dances or Tchaikowsky’s, Dvorak’s and Brahms’ Slavonic and Hungarian works etc ). We would also like to highlight how much we were impressed by the composers freedom of thought.
The Foundation Committee was thrilled to receive 48 scores from 18 countries.
The quality of many submissions was very high. A few compositions were immediately disqualified because they didn’t follow the rules. However, we were extremely happy to discover so many talented composers. For this reason we feel it necessary to publish the names and works of certain candidates whose compositions are also of merit.
The Foundation would therefore like to give Honourable Mentions to:
(in no particular order)
Jorge Tabarés for “Scherzo Artificioso” (Spain)
Luca Tiberini for “Scherzo Sinfonico” (Italy)
Jihang Dai for “Symphonic Elegy” (China)
Gianluca Piombo for “Tales from No Go Zone” (Italy)
Francesca Soana for “Videte et Exultate” (Italy)
We urge all eligible candidates to submit their compositions next year, even those who have already won or have been awarded an Honourable Mention. However, if you already applied before, we would ask you to please use a different pseudonym upon application. Information about the 3rd Award (2026) will be found on our website page and on the ‘Musical Chairs’ website from February. Please read and follow the instructions carefully to avoid disqualification.
The Brusa Foundation
Asadbek Turgunov
Composer, pianist, arranger, and founder of the pop-ghazal genre in his country.
Asadbek Turgunov is an Uzbek composer, pianist, and arranger, born in 2000, in Andijan, Uzbekistan. His music bridges the worlds of Eastern poetics and contemporary harmonic thought, forming a unique space where tradition and innovation meet in dialogue rather than opposition.
Turgunov received his professional education at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, where he studied composition under Professor Mirkhalil Mahmudov. He later completed his master’s degree at the Botir Zokirov Institute of National Pop Art, deepening his exploration of musical synthesis between academic and popular idioms.
In 2023, his music was featured at the opening ceremony of the World Boxing Championship held in Uzbekistan. Turgunov is also the author of original soundtracks for writer Madina Mummonova’s audiobooks “Doktor Chexahl” and “Anubis Maymunus.
In 2025, Asadbek Turgunov collaborated with French visual artist Ellie Oldman, composing original music for her international multimedia installation project.
Among his recent compositions is “Satis! (Bas qil)” (2025), a choral work.
ASADBEK TURGUNOV