ZFF honours Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared
The ZFF is honoring the celebrated composer and Oscar winner Gabriel Yared with the Career Achievement Award. He will be presented with the Golden Eye for his life’s work during the “Cinema in Concert” gala on October 1, 2026. This marks the sixth consecutive year that the ZFF has honored an Oscar winner from the world of film music. Yared will also serve as jury president for the 14th International Film Music Competition (IFMC). He is one of the most influential figures in international film music. For his score to THE ENGLISH PATIENT, he was awarded an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and a BAFTA.
Gabriel Yared © Laurent Koffel
Each year, the Zurich Film Festival presents honorary awards to outstanding filmmakers whose work has shaped the international cinematic landscape. With the Career Achievement Award, the ZFF this year celebrates the multifaceted lifetime achievement of Gabriel Yared. With Yared, the Festival honours an Oscar winner for the sixth consecutive year – a remarkable testament to the award’s international prestige and growing significance within the world of film music. «Gabriel Yared belongs among the giants of film music. His compositions evoke profound emotions that linger long after the final note.
«Gabriel Yared belongs among the giants of film music. His compositions evoke profound emotions that linger long after the final note. Since the 1980s, Yared has left an indelible mark on cinema through his extraordinary ability to give the great films of his time a distinctive musical identity. His body of work is characterised by remarkable cultural breadth – from iconic films such as THE LIVES OF OTHERS and BETTY BLUE to epic love stories such as CITY OF ANGELS and THE ENGLISH PATIENT. His richly atmospheric scores are shaped by influences from the Middle East, his time in Brazil, and European musical traditions. It is precisely this artistic diversity that makes him a role model for generations of composers. It is a great honour for us to present Gabriel Yared with our Career Achievement Award», says Reta Guetg, Festival Director of the ZFF.
Gabriel Yared says: «I am proud and honored to receive the Career Achievement Award from the Zurich Film Festival, as well as to be invited to be the president of the Jury of the International Film Music Competition, which gives young film composers the opportunity to have their work performed and heard.»
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Gabriel Yared was born in Beirut in 1949 and moved to Paris in the early 1970s, where he studied composition with, among others, Henri Dutilleux and Maurice Ohana. From 1973 onwards, he established himself as an arranger and musical director within the French music scene, collaborating with artists such as Jacques Dutronc, Johnny Hallyday, Charles Aznavour and Françoise Hardy.
Yared’s career as a film composer began in 1979 with the scores for SAUVE QUI PEUT (LA VIE) by Jean-Luc Godard and MALEVIL by Christian de Chalonge. His international breakthrough followed in the 1980s through his collaborations with Jean-Jacques Beineix, including BETTY BLUE. Over the following decades, Yared became one of the leading voices in international film music, working with directors such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Robert Altman and, most notably, Anthony Minghella.
His music for THE ENGLISH PATIENT in particular remains widely regarded as a landmark achievement in modern film scoring.
Alongside his work for cinema, Yared also composed music for ballet productions at the Paris Opera and the Royal Opera Ballet in London. In recent years, he has collaborated with Xavier Dolan on IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD and THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN, as well as with Angelina Jolie and Rupert Gould. In 2020, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards during Film Fest Gent.
The Zurich Film Festival and the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich in collaboration with Forum Filmmusik, are hosting the International Film Music Competition. Emerging composers from around the world are invited to create a new orchestral score for the nine-minute short film THE SHYNESS OF TREES, directed by Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D’Argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras and Bingqing Shu.
An international jury chaired by Gabriel Yared will select three finalist compositions from all submissions. These works will receive their world premieres on 1 October 2026 during the «Cinema in Concert» Gala at Tonhalle Zurich, performed by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the direction of Frank Strobel. «We support young composers, raise the profile of their work and provide them with a platform through the International Film Music Competition and a first-class orchestra», says Marc Barwisch, Head of Artistic Department at Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich.
At the 'Cinema in Concert' gala, the scores of the IFMW finalists will be performed live. © Lucia Hunziker
The jury, chaired by Gabriel Yared, will select the winning composition on the same evening and present the Golden Eye for «Best International Film Music 2026», endowed with CHF 10,000.
The professional jury of the 14th IFMW consists of:
Gabiel Yared (Composer, Jury President, Paris)
Frank Strobel (Conductor and Musician, Germany)
Martina Gedeck (Actress, Germany)
The International Film Music Competition remains open until 2 June 2026. Full details about the competition, registration and submission requirements can be found at filmmusikwettbewerb.ch. The competition is organised by the Zurich Film Festival, Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich AG and Forum Filmmusik.
Special thanks go to the Else v. Sick Foundation and the Freundeskreis of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, as well as Fondation SUISA, SWISSPERFORM and the Stiftung Phonoproduzierende
