BenHjertmann

2014 Barlow Winners Announced

The panel awarded Ben Hjertmann the $12,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for saxophone quartet. In addition, the endowment granted a total of $62,000 to ten composers who will write works for the following ensembles and musicians. They are…

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NewMusicBox Staff

Ben Hjertmann

Ben Hjertmann

The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University has announced commission winners for 2014. After reviewing 280 composer applications from 30 countries worldwide, the judging panel awarded Ben Hjertmann of Chicago, Illinois (now living in North Carolina and teaching at Appalachian State University), the $12,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for saxophone quartet. The panel also granted Steven Bryant of Durham, North Carolina, the distinction of honorable mention in this competition.

In considering nearly 100 applications in the general and LDS commissioning programs, the endowment granted a total of $62,000 to ten composers. (Composers who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as any composer willing to engage LDS subject matter, may apply to the LDS commissioning program.)
The winners will write works for the following ensembles and musicians:

GENERAL COMMISSION RECIPIENTS
Dan Trueman (So Percussion and Jack Quartet)
Mikel Kuehn (Spektral Quartet)
Peter Van Zandt Lane (EQ Ensemble)
Christopher Fisher-Lochhead (Spektral Quartet)
Ted Hearne (Roomful of Teeth)
Mark Engebretson (Bent Frequency)

LDS COMMISSION RECIPIENTS
Chad Cannon (Farallon Quintet)
Steven Ricks (Manhattan String Quartet)
Matthew Nielsen (BYU Singers)
Curtis Smith (Bryan Lew/violist)

The judging panel included the endowment’s board of advisers: Todd Coleman, Stacy Garrop, Christian Asplund, James Mobberley, and Leilei Tian. Ethan Wickman served as a guest judge in most of the deliberations. Zachary Shemon, Stephen Page, and Ryan Janus represented the PRISM, ZZYZX, and United States Air Force saxophone quartets respectively in selecting the Barlow Prize. These ensembles form the endowment’s performing consortium that will premiere the new work in 2016.
Next year’s Barlow Prize will feature a new work for orchestra. Details for this commission will be available soon.

(–from the press release)