New European Ensemble winners of the Nieuw Geneco Fair Practice Award 2025
12 September 2025
Nieuw Geneco, the professional association of Dutch composers, is committed to strengthening the position of composers in the Netherlands and focuses on themes such as fair practice, fee guidelines and good commissioning practices in new music. With the annual Nieuw Geneco Fair Practice Award, the association seeks to draw positive attention to organisations or ensembles that are dedicated to a fair and sustainable practice in the music sector.
This year, one of the two prize winners was the New European Ensemble (NEuE). The ensemble’s mission is to tell stories through the power of new music, often in collaboration with film, literature, theatre, dance and visual art. Founded in 2009 in the Netherlands, the ensemble has collaborated with, among others, Opera2Day, Het Nationale Theater, Amnesty International and War Child. NEuE is renowned for its imaginative programming and high level of performance, and in 2019 it received the prestigious Kersjes Prize. The ensemble performs in leading venues and festivals in the Netherlands and abroad, and works closely with young composers and musicians from the Royal Conservatoire The Hague and beyond.
The jury offered the following words of praise during the award ceremony:
“The jury is enthusiastic about the New European Ensemble as the winner in the category of larger subsidised initiatives. The ensemble has shown consistent commitment to fair practice over many years, and confirmed this once again in the nominated project Seasonal Quartet. Composers Seung Won Oh and Sara Zamboni emphasise the clear and fair agreements, based on the fee guidelines, and the generous artistic freedom they were given. In addition, active work was done to foster an open dialogue and equal collaboration, enabling trust and creativity to flourish.”
