2011 Young Composers Competition

Young Composers Weekend, with performances of winning compositions: December 3 & 4

Sponsored by Arden and Harry Fisher

The Young Composers Competition recognizes and encourages the efforts of those between the ages of 12 and 21 who are involved in the creative process of composing music.

This program, unique to the St. Louis region, is open to nationwide participation and has recognized young composers from St. Louis to both sides of the continent.

Awardees have their works performed by professional musicians in a public concert that is professionally recorded. Each awardee receives a CD of the performance and a written critique and personal conference with a guest composer of note. Guest composers have included Shulamit Ran, Chen Yi, Dino Constantinides, Claude Baker, John Cheetham, James Mobberly and Jared Spears.

                            
2011 Guest Composer, Stephen Dankner

Stephen Dankner received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the Juilliard School in 1971. A list of works since 1990 includes nine symphonies, ten string quartets, six concerti (two for piano, one for violin, two for cello and alto saxophone); three major song cycles; sonatas for violin (2), piano, alto saxophone, cello; three piano trios; a piano quartet; five orchestral tone poems; background environmental music for the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas and a film score. He has released seven CD recordings on the Albany, Centaur, Gasparo and Romeo labels. His Second Symphony, Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra and other works are published by Ries & Erler, Berlin, Germany.

The National Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Longwood Symphony, Laredo Philharmonic as well as several others in the United States and Europe have performed commissioned orchestral works.

He was commissioned by the Nürnberg Symphoniker to compose a work for their 60th anniversary season in 2006. Dankner has received five commissions from the Albany Symphony, 2004-09. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra has given premiere performances of six of his nine symphonies, among other works; his Symphony No. 9 will receive its premiere with the LPO in March, 2010. Dankner was the composer-in-residence with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra from 2004-2007.

Dankner has held fellowship residencies at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, A Studio In The Woods and the Millay Colony.  The composer is music columnist/critic for ‘The Advocate’, serving Berkshire County in western Massachusetts and southwestern Vermont.

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Click here for more information on the 2011 Young Composers Competition.

Congratulations to our 2010 Winners!



Left to right:  Mahlon Berv, Andrew Stock, Guest Composer
Shulamit Ran, sponsors Arden & Harry Fisher, Alex Blank,
and Jared Hedges


Level I (Ages 12-16)

First Place:  Conundrum of the Bee, by Alexis Lerner
(Upper Saddle River, NJ)
Second Place:  Light Music, by Andrew Stock
(St. Louis, MO)
Honorable Mention:  Psalm 131, by Jared Hedges
(Lindhurst, IL)
Honorable Mention:  Saharascape, by Sidarth Jayadev
(Saratoga, CA)

Level II (Ages 17-21)

Co-First Place:  Gypsy Fantasy, by Mahlon Berv  
(Stamford, CT)
Co-First Place:  Seamless Transitions, by Daniel McCallum
(London, UK)
Honorable Mention:  Toccata in Eb, by Riley Crabtree
(Vancouver, WA)
Honorable Mention:  Cameratarie, by Alexander Blank
(Rock Hill, MO)