The composer Kathrin A. Denner was honoured with the prestigious Heidelberg Women Artists' Prize 2024. This prize is one of the most important cultural prizes in the country and the only prize in the world to be awarded exclusively to female composers. Founded in 1987 by Roswitha Sperber, it has been awarded as a municipal music prize by the city of Heidelberg since 2007 and is organised by the Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra, which performs an orchestral work by the prizewinner as part of a philharmonic concert. Kathrin A. Denner's composition "aerify" for trumpet and orchestra was premiered on 28 and 29 February 2024 in the auditorium of the New University in Heidelberg.
Kathrin A. Denner first studied trumpet and music theory, then composition with Theo Brandmüller at the Saarbrücken University of Music, with Wolfgang Rihm at the Karlsruhe University of Music and in the masterclass with Johannes Schöllhorn at the Freiburg University of Music. She has won prizes at numerous competitions, including the German Music Competition (Deutscher Musikrat) (2013). In 2018, she was honoured with the GEMA German Music Authors' Prize, won first prize in the chamber music competition of the Weimar Spring Days for Contemporary Music and a highly endowed cultural scholarship from the city of Karlsruhe.
For a long time, she was supported by the Oskar and Vera Ritter Foundation and also received the Baden-Württemberg State Graduate Scholarship. She is committed to the interests of her fellow composers as a member of the board and the management team of the German Composers' Association's section for serious music and as a delegate of the affiliated and associate members of GEMA.
Her works have been performed by the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken/ Kaiserslautern, the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe, the Ballett Pforzheim, the Ensemble LUX:NM, the International Ensemble Modern Academy, Eduard Brunner, Reinhold Friedrich, Bruno Mantovani, Mayumi Miyata and others. Her catalogue of works includes solo works, chamber music, ensemble pieces, works for orchestra and computer music.