ASCAP Announces 2010 Young Jazz Composer Awards Recipients

ASCAP Announces 2010 Young Jazz Composer Awards Recipients

A total of 22 young jazz composers, ranging in age from 15 to 29 and selected through a juried national competition, were recipients of the ASCAP Foundation’s 2010 Young Jazz Composer Awards.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the recipients of the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards. This program, established in 2002, was created to encourage gifted jazz composers from throughout the United States. The 22 recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 15 to 29, and are selected through a juried national competition. There were five additional composers who received honorable mention.

This year’s ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award recipients, ages 18-29, are:

  • Courtney Beadel, 23 (Cedar Falls, IA);
  • Jon Crowley, 27 (Brooklyn, NY);
  • Ben Darwish, 25 (Portland, OR);
  • Jesse Elder, 26 (Brooklyn, NY);
  • Tyler Gilmore, 29 (Denver, CO);
  • Alex Heitlinger, 29, (Jamaica Plain, MA);
  • Eric Hirsh, 25 (Durham, NC):
  • Florian Hoefner, 27 (New York, NY);
  • Josh Moshier, 23 (Chicago, IL);
  • Gabriel Santiago, 29 (Austin, TX);
  • Geoffrey Sheil, 22 (Tampa, FL);
  • Brandon Sherman, 25 (Newhall, CA),
  • Elijah Shiffer, 18 (Mount Vernon, NY);
  • Nathan Parker Smith, 26 (Brooklyn, NY);
  • Erica von Kleist, 27 (Brooklyn, NY).

The youngest ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composers, ages 15 to 17, are: Divya Farias, 17 (NJ); Phillip Golub, 16 (CA); Grace Kelly, 17 (MA); Chase Morrin, 16 (CA); Benjamin Rosenblum, 16 (NY); Matt Savage, 17 (NH); and Laila Smith, 15 (CA).

Composers receiving Honorable Mention are: Fabian Almazan, 25 (New York, NY); Anton DeFade, 17 (PA); Michael Hurwitz, 28 (Coral Gables, FL); Jonathan Russell, 14 (NY); and Alex Sugerman, 17 (NY).

The judges for the 2010 competition were ASCAP member composers Wycliffe Gordon, Rufus Reid, and Henry Threadgill. The awards are a program of the ASCAP Foundation, ASCAP’s charitable organization, with generous support from The Gibson Foundation, the philanthropic division of the Gibson Guitar Corporation.(—Condensed from the press release)