2010 BMI Student Composer Awards Announced
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The recipients of the 58th annual BMI Student Composer Awards were presented with plaques and cash prizes totaling $20,000 at a reception held at the Jumeirah Essex House in New York City on May 14, 2010. The eleven composers, ten born in the United States and ranging in age from 13 to 26, were all present to receive their honors. After introductory remarks from BMI President and CEO Del Bryant and BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson, Awards Chair Ellen Taaffee Zwilich announced the awardees and their award-winning compositions which were selected from over 500 manuscripts submitted to the competition from throughout the Western Hemisphere:
(b. 1985 in Pittsburgh, PA, currently resides in La Jolla, CA):
Garden of Forking Paths for electric guitar, alto saxophone, marimba, and piano
(b. 1983 in Santa Rosa, CA):
Gradus for solo cello
(b. 1987 in Honolulu, HI):
Clarinet Concerto for clarinet and symphonic band
(b. 1984 in Wilmington, DE):
Ritual Dances for percussion quartet
(b. 1988 in Trenton, MI):
Passacaglia for string quartet
(b. 1997 in Chapel Hill NC, currently resides in East Stroudsburg PA):
Symphony for orchestra
(b. 1988 in Campinas, Brazil, currently lives in The Hague, Netherlands):
Transformations for large orchestra
(b. 1984 in Grand Forks, ND, currently attending the Gotland Tonsättarskola, in Visby, Sweden):
Reflections on the Death of the Beloved for symphonic band
(b. 1986 in Absecon, NJ):
Darvišha for six alto saxophones
(b. 1984 in Baltimore, MD):
ISH for two tenors, barintone, bass-baritone, and keyboard
(b. 1984 in Nyack, NY, currently attending McGill University in Montreal, Canada):
Kolokol for two pianos and electronics
Yeeren I. Low was additionally singled out with the Carlos Surinach prize, awarded each year to the youngest winner in the competition, an honor the 13-year old Low first received previously in 2008 at age 11. In previous years, a William Schuman Prize is also awarded to the score deemed the most outstanding. But this year a consensus could not be reached by the jury on one work and so the Schuman Prize was not given.
The members of the jury for the 2010 competition were John Luther Adams, Richard Danielpour, Mario Davidovsky, Cindy McTee, and Christopher Rouse. The preliminary judges were David Leisner, Shafer Mahoney, and Bernadette Speach.
—FJO
Happy Birthday!