Emerging Composers Competition

Emerging Composers Competition

2022-2023 Emerging Composers Competition

MYO is thrilled to announce the prizewinners of our 2022-2023 Emerging Composers Competition! Thank you to all our applicants for sharing your most excellent Symphony Orchestra scores with special guest panelist Dr. Daniel Ott!


Orchestral – Division I (Ages 8 – 17)

1st Prize: Charlie Zhong, Like a Single Star in the Night Sky
2nd Prize: Zachary Jarvis, Baobabs
3rd Prize: Elaina Stuppler, Illuminations
Honorable Mention: Silvan Friedman, To Uncertainty
Honorable Mention: Annika Joshi, Amphitrite 

Orchestral – Division II (Ages 18 – 24)

1st Prize: Jackson Waters, Defending Greenwood 
2nd Prize: Coral Douglas, Terror Management 
3rd Prize: Jonah Cohen, Romp 
Honorable Mention: Evan Erickson, Two Pieces in Minimalism 
Honorable Mention: Sami Seif, Harp Concerto 

Awards

Prizewinners in each Division received a cash award and may have their composition performed by one of our MYO ensembles in future seasons.
First Prize: $500
Second Prize: $200
Third Prize: $100

While there is no prize money attached to an Honorable Mention, it is an opportunity to recognize these talented composers by name.

2021-2022 Emerging Composers Competition

MYO is thrilled to announce the prizewinners of our 2021-2022 Emerging Composers Competition! Thank you to all of our applicants for sharing your brilliant SATB Choir and Symphony Orchestra scores with special guest panelists Dr. Brandon Boyd (Choral) and Dr. Daniel Ott (Orchestral)!


Choral – Division I (Ages 8 – 17)

1st Prize: Elisa Johnson, On Being Enough
2nd Prize: Linden Figueroa, The Gift to Sing

Choral – Division II (Ages 18 – 24)

1st Prize: Ethan Soledad, When I Rise Up
2nd Prize: Abbey Monreal, One Nation
3rd Prize: Christopher Jessup, Astronomia

Orchestral – Division I (Ages 8 – 17)

1st Prize: Yuri Lee, From the Darkness
2nd Prize: Niyayesh Bagheri, The Ebony Horse
3rd Prize: Chase Morrison, El Dorado
Honorable Mention: Sophie Niemann, Mount Olympus Suite
Honorable Mention: Orion Edwards-Wilson, Legend of Spider Cave

Orchestral – Division II (Ages 18 – 24)

1st Prize: Benjamin Rieke, The Evening Redness in the West
2nd Prize: Yi-Fan Chen, Just Tell Me Who It Was
3rd Prize: Kian Ravaei, Chorale Fantasia
Honorable Mention: Sami Seif, Harp Concerto
Honorable Mention: Jackson Waters, The Greenwood Symphony


Special Guest Panelists

Dr. Brandon A. Boyd enjoys a versatile career as a conductor, in addition to appearing regularly as a composer-in-residence, collaborative pianist, and presenter for conferences, conventions, collegiate choirs, church choirs, choral symposiums, and festivals. He is the Assistant Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at the University of Missouri, where he conducts the MU Glee Club and Concert Chorale. In addition to his conducting duties at the university, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral conducting and choral music education.
As a proponent of choral singing to build community, his research interests include organizing choirs for the homeless, identifying the social and physical effects of choral singing on senior citizens, creating authentic field experiences for music therapy and choral music education students. For three years, Dr. Boyd co-directed three choral community partnerships in Florida: The Tallahassee Senior Choir, RAA Middle School Partnership Choir (university students and middle school singers), and the MTC Women’s Prison Glee Club (university students singing with women housed in a correctional facility).

 

Daniel Ott is a 2013 recipient of the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received commissions from the National Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, the Chiara Quartet, and Bargemusic, among others, and has been honored multiple times by the ASCAP Foundation. His music has been set to dance by some of the world’s leading choreographers, including Larry Keigwin, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. Ott’s music has been heard all over the world, most notably at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Sadler’s Wells, the Musée du Louvre, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva in Mexico. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and currently serves on the faculty of both Juilliard and Fordham University, where he is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition.

 

2020-2021 Emerging Composers Competition

Congratulations to our prizewinners of the 2020-2021 MYO Emerging Composers Competition!


Emerging Composers Competition Winners

CHORAL – DIVISION I (Ages 8 – 17)

First Prize: Elisa Johnson, As I Journey Through My Life
Second Prize: Samantha Crush, Heaven’s Little Tune
Third Prize: Irene Calderon, Selene and Endymion
Honorable Mention: Jaclyn Petrelli, Roses

CHORAL – DIVISION II (Ages 18 – 24)

First Prize: William Geiler, The House of Dreams
Second Prize: Willie Cornish Jr., Maria
Third Prize: Alex Barsom, When I Rise Up
Honorable Mention: David Caldarella, And Music Flows Anew
Honorable Mention: Kian Ravaei, A Litany in Time of Plague

ORCHESTRAL – DIVISION I (Ages 8 – 17)

First Prize: Noah Tan, The Day of Reckoning
Second Prize: Lucy Chen, The Magic Forest at Night
Third Prize: Jake Juliano, Babylon
Honorable Mention: Cassi Chen, Misty Morning
Honorable Mention: Grace Ma, Ocean Waves

ORCHESTRAL – DIVISION II (Ages 18 – 24)

First Prize: Quinn Mason, A Joyous Trilogy
Second Prize: Jorge Tabarés, Scherzo Artificioso
Third Prize: Kari Watson, Morning Music for Fish
Honorable Mention: Zachary Mezzo, What we keep


2019-2020 Emerging Composers Competition

Congratulations and thank you to all of this year’s applicants! The level of artistry, musicianship, and creativity was extremely high and choosing winners from such a talented group of composers was very difficult. Please continue the excellent music-making and I hope you will consider applying again in the future!

~Daniel Ott, Special Guest Panelist


Emerging Composers Competition Winners

ORCHESTRAL – DIVISION I (Ages 8 – 17)

First Prize: Noah Stein, Forest – A Rotation of the Earth
Second Prize: Maxwell Lu, Industrial Nature
Third Prize: Noah H. Tan, On the Open Range
Honorable Mention: Ian Barnett, Tempestas
Honorable Mention: Ethan Fisher-Chaves, H.E.R.O.
Honorable Mention: Grace Miedziak, Seereise

ORCHESTRAL – DIVISION II (Ages 18 – 24)

First Prize: Benjamin S. Beckman, Occidentalis
Second Prize: Conrad Asman, Igniting Kites & Flying Fireworks
Third Prize: Aaron Mencher, Monologues
Honorable Mention: Aiyana Braun, Practical Water
Honorable Mention: Lazar Liebenberg, For Madmen Only
Honorable Mention: Julio E. Quiñones Santiago, En el principio…

CHORAL – DIVISION I (Ages 8 – 17)

First Prize: Julian Misut, Oh, Wearisome Condition of Humanity
Second Prize: No Award
Third Prize: No Award

CHORAL – DIVISION II (Ages 18 – 24)

First Prize: Kian Ravaei, Blue
Second Prize: Heng Yang, Sonnet 8
Third Prize: Noah Magnus, “The Cantor” from SAND


Competition Winners Featured in MYO Concerts!

2017-2018 Emerging Composers Competition winner Christopher Fludd had his work Wishful Thinking performed by the Nassau Chamber Chorale, led by Music Director Edward P. Norris III on Sunday, March 24, 2019 at the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center.

2018-2019 Emerging Composers Competition Winner Jack Frerer had his work On-Again, Off-Again performed by the Nassau Principal Orchestra, led by Music Director Scott Stickley on Sunday, May 19, 2019 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.

2018-2019 Emerging Composers Competition

Competition Winners

Congratulations to our prizewinners of the 2018-2019 MYO Emerging Composers Competition!

Choral Division: SATB Youth Choir

First Prize: Louis Josephson, November
Second Prize: Nathan Pallotto, 1689: 7 Miniatures for Choir
Third Prize: Jasmine Bryant, North Wind
Honorable Mention: Frazar Henry, The Night Will Never Stay, and Heng Yang, My Beloved Hometown, Taiwan

Orchestral Division: Symphony Orchestra

First Prize: Jack Frerer, On-Again, Off-Again
Second Prize: Paul Novak, on buoyancy
Third Prize: Robert Ge, Sum of Its Parts
Honorable Mention: Daniel Cho, vita morte, Marina Lee, Time River, and Ludub Ochirov, Concerto No. 4.

2017-2018 Emerging Composers Competition

Competition Winners

Congratulations to our prizewinners of the 2017-2018 MYO Emerging Composers Competition!

Choral Division: SATB Youth Choir

First Prize: Christopher Fludd, Hold You in My Smile
Second Prize: Daniel Werth, Forest Road
Third Prize: Adin Boyer, Invitation
Honorable Mention: Tiffany Cuaresma, Eloi

Orchestral Division: Symphony Orchestra

First Prize: Lauren Vandervelden, Conflicted Momentum
Second Prize: Charles Meenaghan, Sands of Time
Third Prize: Brent Morden, Danzón
Honorable Mention: Jasmine Bryant, Dare and Ludub Ochirov, Piano Concerto No. 2

Thank you to all of our talented competition applicants for sharing your scores and your music with MYO!