With the work for voice and piano, Invocazioni delle Creature, the composer Adrian Mocanu won the first edition of the Saint Francis of Assisi competition.

Adrian Mocanu is a Romanian-Ukrainian composer born in Kyiv in 1989. He is a graduate of the National Music Academy of Ukraine and pursued postgraduate studies in electroacoustic composition at the Katarina Gurska Higher Center in Madrid.

His works have received awards in several competitions: 38th Frederic Mompou International Award (Barcelona, 2017); 5th Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition (Vienna, 2022); XXXIII Young Composers Award SGAE-CNDM (Madrid, 2022).

Mocanu was the composer-in-residence for Juventudes Musicales de España for the 23/24 season and received the “Weltoffenes Berlin” scholarship from the Berlin Senate in 2024.

His career includes artistic residencies at various institutions, such as: Casa de Velázquez - Academy of France in Madrid; The Green Room for Performing Artists (Cologne); Schleswig-Holsteinisches Künstlerhaus otte1 (Eckernförde).

He has also participated in international programs like "Odyssée" (French Ministry of Culture), "Gaude Polonia" (Polish Ministry of Culture), and "Postcolonial Recherche" (Goethe-Institut).

Mocanu's compositions, which include chamber, vocal, orchestral, and electroacoustic music, have been premiered in Europe and North America. His work has been performed by ensembles such as Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Recherche, Maulwerker, IEMA-Ensemble, Ensemble Mosaik, PinkNoise Ensemble, Barcelona Modern, Continuum XXI, Bilbao Sinfonietta, and the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Special mention for Rebeca Santiago Martínez, for the work for mixed a cappella choir Laudes Creaturarum.

Guitarist and composer, she completed her higher education studies specializing in guitar at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Badajoz under the guidance of Evaristo Valenti, graduating with the highest honors. She also studied Counterpoint, Fugue, Composition, and Voice with professor María Coronada Herrera.

Her works have been programmed in numerous festivals and concert series of national and international renown, including: COMA, Festival After Cage, Madrid Actual, [Inter/Cliclo], Festival SOXXI, the Seville Guitar Festival, Superweek, the José Tomás International Guitar Festival, Pas Percussion Week, the Malaysian Concert Series, and the Strasbourg International Festival of Contemporary Music. Her music has been performed in countries such as France, Portugal, Switzerland, Malaysia, China, Denmark, Germany, and the United States.

She has received several awards for her compositional work. In 2022, she won First Prize at the 7th Manuel de Falla International Composition Competition with her work Sobre el concepto de impermanencia, commissioned by the Snow Mask Composers’ Group and included in the upcoming recording project by Igor Klokov. In 2025, she was awarded First Prize at the Vienna Forum Gitarre Composition Competition.

Great satisfaction for the Comisión Nacional para los Centenarios Franciscanos, due to the high level of participation, the international scope, and the quality of the submitted works. The jury examined over seventy works from various countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa.