Universität der Künste Berlin granted the 89-year-old composer an honorary doctorate — for contribution to the development of contemporary European compositional school.
Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) — Europe's largest arts academy — granted Valentyn Sylvestrov the honorary doctorate 'Dr.h.c. in Music' at a ceremony on 18 June 2026 in the Joseph-Joachim-Konzertsaal. This is the 4th UdK honorary award received by the composer in the last 5 years (previous ones — from Salzburg Mozarteum 2022, Juilliard School 2023, London RAM 2024). The grounds for the award were the UdK senate decision of 12 January 2026, which noted: 'Professor Sylvestrov's contribution to the development of the contemporary European compositional school through the concept of the «weak style», and the artist's civic position in wartime, exemplifying artistic resilience for European culture.' The laudation was delivered by Helmut Lachenmann — one of Germany's leading composers, a long-time friend of Sylvestrov. At the ceremony Sylvestrov premiered the benefit piano miniature 'Prayer for UdK' (3 minutes), written by him throughout March 2026. The performer was Samson Tsoy, South Korean pianist, Bösendorfer Competition laureate. All proceeds from the recording go to the Larisa Sylvestrova scholarship (the composer's wife, an art scholar, who passed in 2020) for Ukrainian composition students at UdK.
