Raphaëlle Aoun honored with 2026 DAAD Prize
Lebanese composition student Raphaëlle Aoun has been awarded this year’s DAAD Prize from the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. Raphaëlle Aoun is 22 years old and is pursuing her bachelor’s degree at the Eisler School under Prof. Samir Odeh-Tamimi. Several of her works have already received their world premieres, performed by renowned ensembles and soloists. Beyond her artistic commitment, she pursues a wide range of interests and actively advocates for social diversity and dialogue.
“My compositional work deals intensively with questions of identity as well as with current political and social developments. (…) I see my artistic practice as serving as a bridge between a music and cultural scene that is often Eurocentric and non-European perspectives,” says the composer. In doing so, she aims to challenge and bring to light existing stereotypes in aesthetic and social discourses.
Arabic poetry and contemporary music are at the heart of her current project with the French ensemble Offrandes and the Moroccan philosopher Arafat Sadallah. She is active in the Kühlspot Social Club collective, which invites international musicians to promote alternative ways of working and thinking in the music world and to provide a stage for contemporary classical music as well as free improvisation and free jazz. At the Kühlspot association, she performs numerous volunteer roles in public relations and event management.
Since October 2024, Raphaëlle Aoun has been studying composition at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. She has also deepened her knowledge and skills under the guidance of renowned composers such as Helmut Zapf, Marc Sabat, Carola Bauckholt, Milica Djordjević, Gordon Kampe, Oscar Bianchi, Arnulf Herrmann, and others. At the Hamburg Contemporary Academy in 2025, she explored, through her compositions, the budget cuts in Germany’s cultural and musical sectors.
Intercultural encounters shape her artistic and social engagement within international networks. Compositions by Raphaëlle Aoun have been performed by the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble LUX:NM, the MotoContrario Ensemble, United Instruments of Lucilin, Art Percussion Ensemble, Celloduo Abele-Manaev, and Duo Tocar, among others. She has been selected to participate in festivals and residencies such as the Klangwerkstatt Festival Berlin, the Mixtur Festival, the Rainy Days Festival, the Young Composers Meeting 2026, and the Precept.Concept.Percept. XIII residency program. Raphaëlle Aoun received awards at the 2nd International “Randspiele” Competition in Zepernick and at “Jugend Komponiert Deutschland.”
The university’s DAAD Prize, worth 1,000 euros, is awarded once a year to international students for outstanding artistic achievements and social or intercultural engagement. The award aims to put a face to the large number of international students at German universities and to highlight the mutual enrichment that comes from international exchange.
Raphaëlle Aoun received a Deutschlandstipendium Scholarship to study at the Eisler in 2025–26 and will receive a scholarship from the Lucia Loeser Foundation starting in October 2026.