Sean McClowry Age 26 - Rockford, Illinois. Parting The Waters for Solo Double Bass
13´
LEO KAPLAN AWARD WINNER 2004
Composer and double bassist, Sean
McClowry received his Master of Music Degree from
the Yale School of Music and his Bachelor of Music
Degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
He was commissioned by the American Guild of Organists
to compose a piece for organ and percussion for
Donald Sutherland. He has also written works for
the Yale Summer Cabaret, and Group435 String Orchestra,
of which he is a co-founder. Sean was a Fellow
at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in 2003
and has received awards from the Prix d'Ete
and Lee Ettelson Composition Competitions. He
has taught at Yale University, and the University
of Maryland. Sean is currently residing in New
York City, writing a new work for orchestra, and
performing concert and jazz music regularly.
Randall Bauer
Age 28 - Princeton, New Jersey. Box for Eight Cellos: 12´
Randall holds degrees from the
Peabody Conservatory of Music and Princeton University.
His compositions have received many awards and
have been performed internationally, with premieres
in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Rio de Janeiro, New
York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, by such groups as the Nash
Ensemble of London, Brentano String Quartet, New
Jersey Symphony, New Millennium Ensemble, Chicago
Ensemble, and the Talujon Percussion Quartet.
He has received fellowships and residencies from
the Atlantic Center of the Arts, the Ucross Foundation
and Yaddo. Randall divides his time between composing
chamber and orchestral music and performing as
a pianist in various improvisatory contexts, particularly
jazz. He is currently a Doctoral Fellow at Princeton
University.
Kyle Blaha
Age 22 - Belleville, Illinois Light (dark) for Full Orchestra: 4´
Kyle has just graduated from the
Eastman School of Music with a Bachelor of Music
with high distinction along with a minor in German.
While at Eastman, his work entitled Sections
was premiered by the Eastman Wind Ensemble in
April of 2003. The piece will also be performed
on the Eastman Wind Ensemble Asia Tour in the
summer of 2004, where he will also serve as the
bass clarinetist for the ensemble. His newest
work Soft, which was commissioned by
the University of Rochester Wind Ensemble under
Cindi Johnston-Turner, was premiered in April
of 2004. As a clarinetist, he has also performed
at the White House and Capitol building in Washington
D.C., and at Music 2003 and Music 2002, festivals
of new music at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory
of Music. He was also a guest performer at Pierre
Boulez's Festival A Tempo in Caracas,
Venezuela. Outside of music, Mr. Blaha was a recipient
of a 2003 summer study grant by the German Academic
Exchange Service (DAAD) for study at the Freie
Universität Berlin. In the fall of 2004,
Kyle will begin study for a Masters Degree at
The Juilliard School.
Michael Djupstrom
Age 23 - St. Paul, Minnesota
Piano Quartet: 12´
Michael received his Bachelor
of Music degree with highest honors in 2002 and
is currently a Regents Fellow at the University
of Michigan, where he is enrolled in the Masters
Program. He was a Composition Fellow at Tanglewood
in 2002 and The ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein
Fellow at Tanglewood in 2003. Performers of his
works have included the Tanglewood Festival Chorus,
the University of Southern California Wind Ensemble,
the Eastman Wind Orchestra, Brave New Works, and
the New Fromm Players. He is the recipient of
awards and scholarships from The ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, The American
Academy of Arts and Letters, the first ASCAP/CBDNA
Frederick Fennell Prize. He is part of a collective
of composers that creates music for theater, multi-disciplinary
arts, and film. His music is published by Bright
Press and Boosey & Hawkes.
Avner Dorman
Age 29 - Tel-Aviv, Israel Variations Without a Theme
for Full Orchestra: 15´
Avner is a C.V Starr Fellow in
the DMA program of the Juilliard School of Music,
Avenr holds an M.A. in both musicology and composition
from the Tel Aviv University and the Tel Aviv
Academy of Music. He was a recipient of the Tanglewood
Composition Fellowship. At the age of 25, Avner
became the youngest composer ever to win Israel's
prestigious Prime Minister's Award. Variations
Without a Theme was premiered this season
by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the
baton of Zubin Mehta. A ballet based on his String
Quartet No. 1 was performed by the Florence
Dance Company. He has been commissioned by Israeli
Camerata, Bat-Dor Dance Company and the
Peridance Ensemble. Avner's music is
featured on CDs released by Percadu and Giora
Feidman.
Kenneth Froelich
Age 26 - Chester, Pennsylvania Serendipitous Inventions for Solo Piano: 10´
Ken received his Doctoral Degree
in May from Indiana University, where he was an
Associate Instructor in Music Composition and
Theory. He was awarded first prize in the 25th
Anniversary NACUSA Young Composers Competition
for Blue Fire, a work commissioned by Jorge Montilla
for clarinet and string quartet. In 2003, Dance
of The Green Bird was performed and recorded
as part of a residency with the California EAR
Unit. He is the recipient of many awards and honors,
among them the Indiana Dean's Prize, Indiana IDEAS
Festival for Best Digital Music, and the Marilyn
K. Glick Young Composers Prize. Ken has also written
commercial music including Dragonlance Adventures
for computer game module, released in Spring 2004.
Judd Greenstein
Age 24 - New York, New York Beating for Flute, Bass Clarinet,
Vibraphone, Marimba, Celesta,
Violin, Viola and Violoncello: 21´
Judd was born and raised in Greenwich
Village and it was there where he began his compositional
life by writing hip-hop beats as a teenager. After
turning to classical music, he received degrees
from Williams College and the Yale School of Music.
Judd has attended the Bang on a Can Summer Institute
of Music, and will be a Fellow at Tanglewood this
summer. Recent awards and commissions include
a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters, and a First Music Commission
from the New York Youth Symphony. Judd is the
co-Artistic Director of NOW Ensemble and will
embark upon a Ph.D. in Composition at Princeton
University this fall.
Yotam Haber
Age 27 - The Netherlands Blur for Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, String
Quartet and Double Bass: 8´
Although born in Holland, Yotam
is a citizen of Israel and currently resides in
New York. He received his Doctoral Degree from
Cornell University. In 2003, Yotam received an
Aaron Copland House Award and a fellowship at
the Tanglewood Music Center. He is a prior recipient
of an ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer
Award (2002). Yotam was also a fellowship recipient
at the Aspen Music Festival. He has also been
in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Yotam was recently commissioned by Cornell University
to write a work for wind band.
Vincent Chee-Yung Ho
Age 28 - Alberta, Canada Dragon Realms for Full Orchestra: 10´
Vincent holds a Bachelor's Degree
from the University of Calgary and a Master's
Degree from the University of Toronto. He is pursuing
his DMA at the University of Southern California.
The winning work for this year's ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Competition was performed
by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in January
2004. Vincent is the recipient of awards and fellowships
from SOCAN and the Audience Prize at the Toronto
New Music Festival in 2000. He received a scholarship
to attend the Schola Cantorum Summer Composition
program and was a Resident at the Banff Centre
for the Arts. Vincent's works have been performed
by the Arditti Quartet, Land's End Chamber Ensemble,
the MATA Music Festival, Markham Music Festival
among others. His works are published by Alberta
Keys Publishing Limited.
Takuma Itoh
Age 19 - Menlo Park, California Sounds and Shapes for Flute, Clarinet,
Violin, Violoncello, Piano and Percussion: 8´
Born in Japan, Takuma and moved
to California in 1991. He began studying piano
when he was nine years old and studied percussion
and jazz during high school. Takuma also performs
as a jazz vibraphonist. He is a sophomore at the
Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in
Texas. Among recent performances of his work include
The Dock, a composition written for chamber
orchestra, first performed by the Woodlands Symphony
Orchestra in 2003. The work that won this year's
ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Competition,
Sounds and Shapes, received its premiere
performance by Speculum Musicae earlier this year.
It is divided into two movements: Spiral
and Pyramid. Among other ensuing projects,
Takuma will be busy this summer copying a horn
concerto by Pierre Jalbert.
Vera Ivanova
Age 26 - Moscow, Russia Night Music for Winds, Brass,
Percussion, Harp and Strings: 7´
Vera graduated from the Moscow
Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Honors in Composition.
She received a Master of Music with Distinction
in Composition from the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama in London and is pursuing a Ph.D. in
Composition at the Eastman School of Music at
the University of Rochester. She earned the 2003
Hanson Orchestra Prize from the Eastman School
for Variations on Chords: Distances for Large
Orchestra a work recently premiered by the
Eastman Philharmonia. Vera's music has been performed
at Weill Recital Hall, the Moscow International
Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music and Multi-Media,
Academic Academie Music Theatre of Opera and Ballet
in Russia, Moscow Cultural Center "DOM."
Her music has also been heard on Dutch National
Radio. She has received prizes from the International
Mozart Competition in Salzburg. Vera will attend
the Aspen Music Festival this summer. One of her
works, Un-Now for solo voice has been
published by Universal Edition, Vienna.
Jonathan Keren
Age 25 - Tel Aviv, Israel Septet for Flute, Oboe, Trombone, Piano,
Violin, Viola and Double Bass: 8´
Composer, arranger and violinist,
Jonathan is the Composer in Residence of the Fountain
Chamber Music Society. He is pursuing composition
studies at The Juilliard School. His works have
been performed by Lynn Harrell, the Tel-Aviv Trio,
The New Juilliard Ensemble and Caprisma Ensemble.
In 2003, The New Juilliard Ensemble commissioned
and performed his Cello Concerto at Lincoln Center's
Alice Tully Hall. Jonathan began his studies as
a violinist. He served for three years in the
Israeli Army as a member of the unit for outstanding
musicians. During that time Jonathan arranged
approximately 50 works for chamber and vocal ensembles,
all of which were performed by military bands
and the Israel Defense Force Educational Corps
Orchestra. He is a recipient of prizes and scholarships
from The Juilliard School, as well as the American-Israel
Cultural Foundation.
Caroline Mallonée
Age 29 - Durham, North Carolina Throwing Mountains for Bass Clarinet,
Violoncello, Double Bass and Piano: 8´
Caroline holds degrees from Harvard
College, Yale School of Music and is pursuing
her Ph.D. in Composition at Duke University. She
has received a Fulbright Fellowship to study composition
in the Netherlands. Her compositions have been
performed by the Alexander String Quartet, Baltimore
Choral Arts Society, Bowdoin Summer Festival,
Clogs, Contemporary Music Forum, Mendelssohn String
Quartet, Telluride Chorale Society, Virginia Pop
Symphony, Women Composers Orchestra, and Yale
Pro Musica. She will teach again at the Walden
School in New Hampshire this summer, where she
has taught courses in composition, musicianship
and minimalism for six summers. It is there that
she also directs the female choir. She has also
been commissioned by the Walden School and its
artists in residence, Non Sequitur and the Clogs.
An active violinist, Caroline belongs to pulsoptional,
a composer's collective based in Durham, North
Carolina. She is also a member of Gamelan
Nyai Saraswati, a Javanese gamelan ensemble.
Her music has been recorded by the Baltimore Choral
Arts Society and has been broadcast over Garrison
Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" on NPR.
Paula Matthusen
Age 25 - Tempe, Arizona the boojum tree remembered for Percussion,
Accordion, Violin,
Viola and Violoncello: 8'
Paula is a composer currently
living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She
received her Bachelor of Music degree from the
Madison School of Music at the University of Wisconsin.
She has studied composition at the Aspen Music
Festival and at the Das Treffen Festival in Bayreuth,
Germany. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. in
Music Composition at New York University, where
she is a MacCracken Fellow. She co-founded the
performance art ensemble 52 Splinters as well
as the SAI Rho Chapter-Women Composers Concert
Series. She performs with the piano/percussion
and laptop duo ouisaudei, the electroacoustic
improvisational ensemble Jesus Crisco and the
Creations of Lasting Musical Beauty, Groundwave
New Music Ensemble, and Gamelan Dharma Swara.
Recent projects include music for Communications
from the Lab (2004) an evening-long choreography
by Ivar Hagendoorn performed by the Ballett Frankfurt.
Her piece ...of one sinuous spreading...
(2003) for prepared piano and live processing
was recently performed in Istanbul at the International
Spectral Music Conference and in New York at the
First Performance Concert Series. She has also
performed in the operas Io and Her and the Trouble
with Him and Lunar Opera: Deep Listening For Tunes
by composer Pauline Oliveros and librettist Ione.
Recent performances will include presentation
of ...as on all these days, all this untellable
time... for percussion, string quartet, and
electronics at SEAMUS 2004 and the performance
of runon sentence of the pavement for
piano, ping-pong balls, and electronics at the
13th Annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival.
John Mayrose
Age 28 - Shelby, North Carolina What Hath God Wrought for Bass Clarinet,
Percussion, Electric Guitar, Piano, Violoncello
and Double Bass: 7´
John is a composer as well as
an active performer, having performed and premiered
new works for classical guitar, electric guitar,
electric bass, mandolin, banjo and MIDI guitar,
as well as more traditional performances on classical
guitar, and more recently, the tenor viola da
gamba. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in composition
at Duke University. His B.A. degree from the University
of South Carolina was in guitar performance. He
has also taken master classes in guitar at the
Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, studying with David
Leisner, and at the Aspen Music Festival, taking
master classes with Sharon Isbin. John's music
has been performed throughout North America, by
among others the Bang on a Can All-Stars, University
of North Carolina Wind Symphony, pulsoptional,
Milestones Festival, and the Durham Downtown Music
Festival. His work has also been commissioned
and broadcast over the Australian Broadcast Company.
He is the recipient of the William Klenz Prize
in Composition (2001) and currently holds the
Mary Duke Biddle Fellowship. Other projects include
Vivaldiana for baroque oboe and harpsichord,
Axiomata sive Leges Motus for singers,
harp, guitar and viola, based on Isaac Newton's
Laws of Motion, and String Theory for large ensemble.
John is a member of the new music ensemble pulsoptional,
a composer's collective based in Durham, North
Carolina. Among his most recent projects include
an exploration of the music of the late Russian
composer Alfred Schnittke.
Nathan Michel
Age 29 - Charleston, South Carolina Shelter for Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet,
Violin, Vibraphone and Piano: 11´
Nathan is a composer who makes
music in both the classical and rock traditions.
He has studied at Bowdoin College, at Yale University
and has also studied abroad in Amsterdam. He is
currently a Ph.D. composition fellow at Princeton
University. In 2002, Nathan received a Charles
Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters. In 2003 his record Dear Bicycle
was released on Tigerbeat6 Records. Aside from
abc def released by Tigerbeat6 in 2001, a forthcoming
project will encompass a new collection of songs
for the French label Skipp Records. Among Nathan's
output these last two years includes a set of
works for chamber proportions. These include:
Trebly (2003) for flute, clarinet, violin,
cello, vibraphone and piano; Little Piece
for Tin Whistle and Computer (2002); and
Little Piece in Two Parts (2002) for
2 marimbas.
Karola Obermueller
Age 26 - Seeheim, Germany Im Vorraum (In the Anteroom)
for Full Orchestra: 9´
Between 2001 and 2003 Karola studied
composition at the Saarland University of Music.
She also studied composition, conducting and computer
music at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 2002, Karola
was awarded the Bavarian Youth Prize for Composition,
with an award presented to her by Zubin Mehta.
Subsequently, as a scholarship holder of the Munich
India Institute, a research trip to Chennai and
Delhi ensued, this involving the study of Carnatic
and Hindustani music. In November of 2002 her
work Kalpa><Pralaya for bansari,
sitar, mridangam and orchestra was premiered by
the Arcis Ensemble in Munich. In 2002, Karola
spent two months in Venice on a scholarship, beginning
an artistic relationship that will continue into
the summer of 2005. For 2003-2005 she has been
invited to participate at the opera workshop offered
by the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg near Berlin.
There she will receive the opportunity to have
her new opera Dunkelrot performed. This
year Karola was also the recipient of an Association
pour la Création et la Diffusion Artistique
Paris award for her Acanthes 2004
and as a result, this new chamber work will be
premiered in July in Paris by the Ensemble
Intercontemporain. Karola's winning work
Im Vorraum received its first performance
in May 2002, within the framework of the Saarland
Radio Festival's Music in the 21st Century. In
the spring of 2003, after passing her Konzertexamen
with distinction at the Saarland, Harvard University's
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awarded Karola
a full scholarship to attend its Ph.D. program
with an emphasis in musical composition.
Daniel Ott
Age 28 - Neptune City, New Jersey Double Aria For Violin Alone: 11´
Although born in New Jersey, Daniel
was raised in the Pacific Northwest. He received
his B.M. degree from The Curtis Institute of Music
and a M.M. from The Juilliard School. He is currently
a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at Juilliard where
he also serves on the faculty of both the College
and Pre-College Divisions. Daniel is already the
recipient of a number of commissions from: the
National Symphony; the New York City Ballet's
New York Choreographic Institute; and the Northwest
Sinfonietta, where he served as Composer-in-Residence
for the 2000-2001 season, thanks to an NEA grant.
His tenure there also resulted in the premiere
of his orchestral song cycle On an East Wind
from the Wars. Daniel has been awarded the
American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives
Scholarship (1995). As a recipient of a 2004 ASCAP
Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award,
Daniel has been selected yet a third time by ASCAP.
In 2003 he was recognized for his orchestral work
Firebrand; and in 1999 for his String
Quartet. Daniel's residencies have included
the 2000 Kyoto International Music Festival, where
he was the composer representative from the United
States, and the Aspen Music Festival, which he
attended on a fellowship.
Norbert Palej
Age 26 - Krakow, Poland Sinfonietta I "Cracoviana"
for Full Orchestra: 17´
Hailing originally from Miechów
in Poland, Norbert currently resides in New York
City. He is about to complete his M.M. degree
in Composition at The Juilliard School. After
initial studies in psychology and philosophy at
the Jagellonian University in Kraków, he
began to concentrate upon music composition at
the Academy of Music. In 1998-99 he began undergraduate
studies in the United States and spent the year
at Central Washington University as a recipient
of the Farrell Merit Scholarship. He then attended
the New England Conservatory of Music, where he
earned his B.A. in 2002. While at New England,
he was awarded the Benjamin Britten Memorial Fellowship
for the Tanglewood Music Festival (2000). Aside
from earning other teaching fellowships, both
at the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard
School, he was awarded the Toru Takemitsu Award
from the Japan Society in Boston in 2002. His
work, 1940 – Their Finest Hour
(2003) has been recorded by the Central Band of
the Royal Air Force in London. Also a pianist,
Norbert was a scholarship student at the Clara-Schumann
Conservatory in Dusseldorf and recipient of a
number of prizes during his study there. Last
summer Norbert's Duet for Violoncello and Piano
was performed at the Caramoor Music Center in
Katonah, New York, with the composer as pianist.
This August he will begin his doctoral studies
at Cornell University.
Joshua Penman
Age 24 - Brookline, Massachusetts Aevum for 2 Sopranos, 2 Tenors,
Baritone, Bass, Flute, Viola,
Violoncello and Double Bass: 45´
Josh has been the recipient of
a number of awards and his music has been performed
at: the Gaudeamus Festival; the Music at the Anthology
Festival; the Forum of the Nouvel Ensemble
Moderne; and the American Composers Orchestra
Reading Sessions. His music has been performed
by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Montreal,
the Pianoduo Post en Mulder in Amsterdam, the
String Orchestra of New York City (SoNYC) in New
York, All Rivers at Once in Ann Arbor, Gamelan
Galak-tika in Boston and Connecticut, Arraymusic
in Toronto, and the American Composers Orchestra
in New York. His music has been played by trance
DJs all around Europe. As a performer, he has
played various Balinese percussion instruments
with Gamelan Galak-tika, mixers and effects
processors with the experimental techno band rgb/ifbg
and on his own radio show in Amsterdam. He received
his BA, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa,
in Mathematics and Music from Yale University
in 2001. He is now finishing up the Masters of
Music program at the University of Michigan, and
will be starting a DMA in composition in the fall
at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His
composition for violin and guitar was the
sky as liquid has been recorded by the Duo46
and has been performed throughout the United States
and Europe. This summer Joshua will be a composition
fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Huang Ruo
Age 27 - Hainan Island, China Confluence Concerto No. 4 for Fifteen Players
for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet,
Trombone, Percussion, Piano, Harp and Strings:
17´
In his native China, Huang Ruo
was awarded many national prizes. By 15, he already
finished his first orchestral work, Expression
& Imagination, and at 19 was awarded
the 1995 Henry Mancini Award at the International
Film and Music Festival in Switzerland. His work
has been spotlighted on NPR, Radio Amsterdam,
Radio Canada, and Radio Shanghai, and presented
at noted festivals, conferences and symposia throughout
Europe and America. His music has been performed
by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the American Composers
Orchestra, the Chicago Pro Musica, the Cleveland
Chamber Symphony, the Dale Warland Singers as
well as the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam among
many others. He has worked with artists such as
Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin and Steve Tenenbom.
Huang holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music and an M.M. from
the Juilliard School, where he is currently a
D.M.A. candidate. As a conductor and promoter
of new music, he was a co-founder of the International
Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). His Violin Concerto
was premiered this spring with the Queens Symphony
Orchestra, violin soloist Cho-Liang Lin. In 2005
the Naxos record label will release his chamber
concerto cycle, and Universal Edition will begin
publishing his music. Future commissions include
new works for the Albany Symphony, Sejong International
Soloists, and the American Brass Quintet among
others. As scholar and author, his book Selection
of Classic Chinese Folk Songs has been published
by the Zhong Shan University Press.
Wonhee Shin
Age 25 - Seoul, Korea Playing for Two Pianos: 6´
Currently enrolled at the University
of Cincinnati, Wonhee was born in Korea. She started
to play the piano at age 7. In 1997 she entered
the Sungshin Women's University and received her
Bachelor's Degree in 2000. After graduating, Wonhee
worked in music publishing as an editor. During
that time, she continued composing and in 2002
she was awarded a 2nd prize from the Contemporary
Music Society of Seoul. Her orchestral work Expansion
(2002) received a performance last year in Korea,
and she is now looking forward to a performance
this summer of a recently written work for solo
cello, My Life in America. Other works
in her output include: Invention for
piano; playing for two pianos; Chaos
for violin and piano; Kang Mountain for
soprano and piano; String Quartet No. 1; Seung
cheon for chorus; Suite for woodwind quintet;
Em-wha for soprano, violin, clarinet,
violoncello and piano, as well as a work of that
same title in a reduction for soprano and piano.
David Stovall
Age 24 - Fairfax, Virginia Through Water and Blood for 2 Violins,
2 Violas and Solo Violoncello: 10´
David began his musical training at age 13
with the electric guitar and at 16 started studying
the violin as well. At age 18 he was awarded a
presidential scholarship to enroll as a violin
performance major at the University of Texas at
Austin. He soon became equally devoted to composition
and after graduating from the UTA in 2001, David
began graduate work in the composition program
at Yale University and received his M.A. in 2003.
He is continuing his studies at Yale in the Artist
Diploma program as the first recipient of the
Jacob Druckman Composition Scholarship. David
currently divides his time between the electric
guitar, composition, teaching, and collaborating
on multimedia projects with other Yale artists.
Future plans include close contact with dance,
electronics, film, and theatre scoring, and exploring
the potential of the electric guitar in a classical
context. His works have been played by the Yale
Philharmonia and Collegium, the University of
Texas Symphony and the American Composers Orchestra.
Zhou Tian
Age 22 - Hangzhou, China Morning after the Deluge for Violin,
Piano and String Quartet: 12´
Zhou's music has been performed by a variety
of chamber ensembles and orchestras, including
the Arditti String Quartet, the New Fromm String
Quartet, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Symphony
Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music and
the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. He has received
many awards and honors, including first prize
in The Kathryn Thomas International Composition
Competition for Flute (2000), honorable mention
for the 1999 Jazz Composer's Alliance / Julius
Hemphill Composition Awards. He also received
an honorable mention at the 2002 ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composers Competition. He has
been selected as a member of the Sonic Convergence
Project, a composition project involving the United
States, the People's Republic of China, and Sweden.
As a professional pianist, he has performed publicly,
including premiering most of his piano and ensemble
works. His Iris and Butterfly for small
mixed chorus and string quartet received its premiere
in Tanglewood in 2002. In March of 2003 his Pictures,
a work for full orchestra, was first performed
by the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute
of Music. Zhous's winning work for this year's
ASCAP Foundation, Morton Gould Young Composer
Competition, Morning after the Deluge
received its premiere in February 2004. In 2001
Zhou came to the United States to pursue his Bachelor's
degree at the Curtis Institute of Music. He is
currently working on a flute sonata, commissioned
by the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Wang Xi
Age 25 - Shanghai, China Autumn Poem for Flute/Alto Flute/Piccolo,
Violin, Violoncello Percussion and Piano: 8´
Before commencing her Doctoral Degree at Cornell
University, Wang Xi graduated with top honors
in composition from the Shanghai Conservatory
in China in 2001. Aside from this year's ASCAP
award, she was also awarded an ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2002 for
her piano quintet The Original Firmament.
Her percussion quartet Stepping received
an award at the 2002 University of Missouri Kansas
City Chamber Music Composition Competition. Wang
Xi's piece for five players, Snowbound River
won the first prize of the 2002 Music from China
International Composition Competition and received
its premiere at Merkin Hall in October 2002, conducted
by the composer. As a pianist, she performed with
the Music Nova ensemble while at the University
of Missouri Kansas City. In the summer of 2002,
she was accepted as a composition fellow at the
Composers Conference at Wellesley College, Pacific
Music Festival, held in Sapporo Japan. In the
summer of 2003, she was accepted as a composition
student at the Aspen Music Festival and the Norfolk
Chamber Music Festival. Her music has been spotlighted
on BBC and Radio-Shanghai.
