2013 DEAN’S PRIZE COMPOSITION COMPETITION
 
Category A (Orchestra or Wind Ensemble, $500 prize):
Elliott Bark, YOOK-I-O, for orchestra

Category B (Chamber/Ensemble, $1000 prize and commission for a new work to be premiered by the New Music Ensemble in 2013-14):
Chris Renk, Cave Paintings

Category C (Undergraduate, $300 prize):
Evan Rees, Cabaret Songs

Category D (in honor of Morris and Sheila Hass: Electronic Composition, $300 prize):
Benjamin Taylor, Shipbreaking

Category A Honorable mentions:
Joshua Groffman, Music from Elsewhere, for orchestra
Melody Eotvos, Beetles, Dragons and Dreamers, for orchestra

__________________________________________________________________

2013 GEORGINA JOSHI COMPOSITION COMMISSION AWARD ($1000 prize and commission for a new work for voice and ensemble to be premiered by the NME in 2013-14):
Erik Ransom, The Cracked Bell

A vision of Louise Addicott-Joshi and made possible by a gift from the Georgina Joshi Foundation, the annual Georgina Joshi Composition Commission is awarded to a student composer in support of a new work for solo voice and instrumental ensemble to be premiered and recorded by the NME. The award is presented in conjunction with the annual Composition Department’s Dean’s Prizes, which celebrate the highest ranked student compositions of the year.

______________________________________________________________________

2013 MRS. HONG PHAM MEMORIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS FOR NEW MUSIC PERFORMANCE ($500, $300 and $200 prizes):

$500, Miles Edwards, cello
$300, Bridget Leahy, percussion
$200, Sam Wells, trumpet

The Mrs. Hong Pham Memorial Recognition Awards for New Music Performance are annual prizes awarded by the Composition Department to the performers who, through collaboration and performance, made the most significant overall contribution to the presentation of new music by student composers in the Jacobs School of Music during the academic year.

Our congratulations to all of the winners and, indeed, to all of our student composers for an excellent year!

Four IU-related winners, out of nine awards total, include current student Benjamin Taylor for his work Whiz-bang, alumna Joni Greene for her work Cameron’s Dream, alumnus Matthew Peterson for his work Reflections on the Death of the Beloved and composition faculty member Jeffrey Hass for his work All the Bells and Whistles.

In the words of renowned wind ensemble composer Frank Ticheli who sponsors the contest, “this year’s winners…are genuine standouts, having been selected from a field of over 300 entires from countries around the world.  It has been heartening to hear so much wonderful music, and exhilarating to identify the best works from this exceptional pool of entries.”  Each of these composers will receive a cash award and a publication contract from Manhattan Beach Music Publishers.

In addition, finalists for the award include current IU composition student Jess Turner for The Mountain Whippoorwill and  alumnus Justin Merritt for his work Inferno.

Nathan writes, “My Rome Prize project proposal is titled Multitude, Solitude, which is, in short, to compose two new works related in various ways to the these two themes.” The two proposed new works are a symphony and a song cycle for soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble for the NY-based Ensemble Meme, inspired by the correspondence of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson.  (from New Music Box)

His most recent work, a chamber orchestra piece entitled “In Memory,” was commissioned by the Orchestra of the League of Composers (NY) and is dedicated to the memory of his teacher, long-time IU Composition Department chair, Frederick Fox.

More information on Keith Fitch: http://www.keithfitch.com

A new chamber piece of Williams is being premiered in Germany (Hannover) by the “Plathner’s Eleven” ensemble at the Hannover Hochschule fuer Musik, Theater und Medien on 29 April.

The Terminus Ensemble (Atlanta) will be performing her “Five Bagatelles for Solo Piano” on Sunday, 19 May at the 2nd Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta at 3.00pm. This piece was also performed at UGA on 6 February (at the faculty composer recital in Ramsey Hall), by Ipek Brooks.

More information: http://www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org/judith-shatin-composer

The residency is part of the Five Friends Master Class Series and honors Robert Samels.

“The offering of the Five Friends Master Classes Series for Jacobs School of Music Students makes me so happy,” said Clayton Samels, father of Robert Samels. “I know that Robert would be happy, too. What a great way to honor these friends. What a wonderful opportunity for Jacobs School of Music students.”

“Having Joan Tower with us offers our students an exceptional opportunity to connect with one of the most influential composers alive today,” said Don Freund, chair of the composition department for the spring semester and artistic director of the New Music Ensemble concert. “Her breadth of knowledge of the field is impressive and we especially look forward to showcasing her inspiring compositions at the concert.”

Events during the residency open to the school and public:

Wednesday, April 17 at 4:00 p.m.
Guest Lecture in Ford-Crawford Hall

Friday, April 19 at 8:00 p.m.
News Music Ensemble Concert
Tower: Angels (String Quartet No. 4)
Tower: Copperwave (Brass Quintet)
Tower: Ivory and Ebony (Piano Solo)
Podgursky: As A Spell, Against Falling Objects
          (Dean’s Prize Commission, Premiere)
Britten: Sinfonietta, Op. 1

Joan Tower

During a career spanning more than fifty years, Joan Tower has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States as composer, performer, conductor, and educator. Her works have been commissioned by major ensembles, soloists, and orchestras, including the Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir quartets; soloists Evelyn Glennie, Carol Wincenc, David Shifrin, and John Browning; and the orchestras of Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC among others. Tower was the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission of sixty-five orchestras. Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony recorded Made in America in 2008 (along with Tambor and Concerto for Orchestra). The album collected three Grammy awards: Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral Performance. In 1990 she became the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Silver Ladders, a piece she wrote for the St. Louis Symphony where she was Composer-in-Residence from 1985-88. Other residencies with orchestras include a 10-year residency with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (1997-2007) and the Pittsburgh Symphony (2010-2011). Tower studied piano and composition at Bennington College and Columbia University. Her earliest works were serial in concept, but her music soon developed the lyricism, rhythmic drive, and colorful orchestration that characterize her subsequent works. She co-founded the Da Capo Chamber Players in 1969 as pianist — its accolades included the 1973 Naumburg Chamber Music Award — but also wrote several well-received pieces for the ensemble. She is currently Asher Edelman Professor of Music at Bard College, where she has taught since 1972. Her music is published by Associated Music Publishers.

Robert Samels

Robert Samels taught as an AI in the Jacobs School of Music Department of Music Theory. He was in charge of T231 (a sophomore aural skills course) and was loved and admired by his students. As a bass-baritone Samels appeared as Mr. Gibbs in the world-premiere of Our Town by Ned Rorem, as Marco in the collegiate premiere of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, as well as Joseph and Herod in the collegiate premiere of El Niño by John Adams. In the spring of 2005, he was selected as a semi-finalist in the annual competition of the Oratorio Society of New York and, in September of that year, he conducted the premiere of his own opera Pilatvs. Samels began his vocal studies with Alfred Anderson at the University of Akron and Andreas Poulimenos at Bowling Green State University. He was a doctoral student in choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and studied voice with Giorgio Tozzi and Costanza Cuccaro.

IU Alumnus Colin Sorgi premieres “Arcade Glitch”, for violin and tape, commissioned by Colin, on April 5th, and on April 9th Kay Stern, concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and SFOO members perform Gold Rush, presented by Composers, Inc.

Made into the movie Angel Heart in the 1980s, Falling Angel is the classic genre-crossing novel by William Hjortsberg part mystery, thriller, horror, and hard-boiled detective story.  Harry Angel is a private investigator in 1950s New York City. Hired by a mysterious stranger to find a Big Band crooner named Johnny Favorite, wildly popular during World War II but wounded in an air raid during the early years of the war.  Institutionalized for a time in upstate New York, Favorite has disappeared, and no one has seen him for more than a decade.   As Harry Angel follows the leads, it seems Favorite is right behind him, cleaning up loose ends.  From old jazz musicians, to secret lovers and forgotten daughters, Favorite eludes Angel until coming face to face “the hunter and the hunted”in a climax of cinematic horror in this opera noir.

In the Center for Contemporary Opera’s thirty year history, this is only the third opera it has commissioned.  We are delighted to commission this important new opera and look forward to bringing it to life through our development series leading to the premiere, said CCO’s General and Artistic Director, Jim Schaeffer.  I have previously worked with both composer and librettist and know how talented they are. This opera promises to be something special.

“To be among that handful of American composers commissioned to write opera is a great honor,” said Scearce.  “CCO’s reputation for promotion and dissemination of American opera makes this an exceptional opportunity.

Founded in 1982, The Center for Contemporary Opera is the leading proponent of new opera in the United States. Based in New York City, the company focuses on producing and developing new opera and music theater works and reviving rarely seen American operas written after the second World War. The Center for Contemporary Opera has staged the premieres of over seventy works and released five commercial recordings. It has toured Austria, Latvia, Hungary and France and its productions have been viewed by hundreds of thousands across Europe.  In addition to its productions, an important part of its work is the development of new operas. Works are presented at all stages from libretto readings, ateliers, concert versions, to full productions. In line with its mission to promote an interest in new operatic and music-theater culture among the American public, the company presents colloquia and publishes the magazine New Music Connoisseur which is one of the very few periodicals in the world devoted to contemporary classical music.

J. Mark Scearce is one of our nation’s most recognized and performed composers. Recipient of the 2010 Raleigh Medal of Arts and the 2009 International Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Music Composition, Scearce has sixty active titles in his catalogue, including musical settings of more than two hundred texts by forty poets. Scearce’s many works for orchestra, band, chorus, opera, chamber, and ballet have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. The recipient of five advanced degrees in music, philosophy and religion, including the doctorate in composition from Indiana University, Scearce has won six international music competitions and his music is available on seven commercial recordings. Having taught on the music faculties of the Universities of Hawaii, North Texas, and Southern Maine, he is presently Director of the Music Department at NC State University where he is a tenured professor in the College of Design.

Lucy Thurber is the author of ten plays performed across the country. She was the recipient of the 2000-01 Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship. She was a guest artist at Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre twice and was one of three playwrights in residence at The Orchard Project, summer 2007. She is published by Dramatists Play Service. Thurber is a member of New Dramatists, 13P, MCC Playwrights Coalition. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, and she is currently writing a new play under a commission from Yale Rep. Thurber was also the librettist for the opera Faustine by Arlene Sierra which was presented by CCO as part of its Development Series. She is the recipient of the 1st Gary Bonasorte Memorial Prize for Playwriting 2008 and a proud recipient of a Lilly Award. Lucy currently teaches at NYU and Sarah Lawrence College.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, named after its founder, who died in 2010, commissions new works in opera, symphony, theatre and dance, as well as supporting selected performing arts organizations in Florida, Ohio, New York and nationally. The foundations other programs include supporting children and youth and the provision of health care.