Sponsored by Arden and Harry Fisher

Through the Young Composers Competition, the CMS 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 unique program 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 Dino Constantinides, Claude Baker, John Cheetham, James Mobberly and Jared Spears.

Congratulations to our 2009 Winners!



Jack Hughes, Lauren Wells, Dr. Chen Yi (Guest Composer),
Arden and Harry Fisher (Sponsors), Carol Commerford
(Director, CMS) Riley Crabtree, Anthony Hernandez

Level I (Ages 12-16)

First Place:  Rhapsody for Piano Quartet, by Jack Hughes
(Reston, VA)
Second Place:  Valse Fantastique, by Riley Crabtree
(Vancouver, WA)
Honorable Mention:  La Vie de Madame Souris, by Sam Reising
(Portland, OR)

Level II (Ages 17-21)

First Place:  Clarinet Sonata, by Anthony Hernandez
(Columbia MO)
Second Place:  Sonata for Cello and Piano, by Lauren Wells
(Kansas City MO)
Honorable Mention:  Soliloquy and Dialogue, by Cole Perkinson
(Portland OR)
          
                             

2010 Guest Composer, Shulamit Ran
  University of Chicago
  Andrew MacLeish Distinginuished Service Professor,
  Department of Music 



Shulamit Ran, a native of Israel, began setting Hebrew poetry to music at the age of seven. By nine she was studying composition and piano with some of Israel’s most noted musicians, including composers Alexander Boskovich and Paul Ben-Haim, and within a few years she was having her works performed by professional musicians and orchestras. As the recipient of scholarships from both the Mannes College of Music in New York and the America Israel Cultural Foundation, Ran continued her composition studies in the United States with Norman Dello-Joio. In 1973 she joined the faculty of University of Chicago, where she is now the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music. She lists her late colleague and friend Ralph Shapey, with whom she also studied in 1977, as an important mentor. 

In addition to receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 1991, Ran has been awarded most major honors given to composers in the U.S., including two fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, grants and commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation, Chamber Music America, the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters, first prize in the Kennedy Center-Friedheim Awards competition for orchestral music, and many more. The recipient of five honorary doctorates, her works are published by Theodore Presser Company and by the Israeli Music Institute and recorded on more than a dozen different labels.

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                                   2010 Competition Guidelines

Awards

1.  Public performance of composition by professional musicians on
       May 15, 2010
2.  CD recording of composition
3.  Individual or group conference on composition(s)with guest
       composer, Shulamit Ran, on May 16, 2010

Format

1.  Compositions should be 3-10 minutes in length
2.  2-10 member music ensembles

Medium

Traditional manuscript and computer midi realization/CD recording

Judging Categories

Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Style, Form, Medium/Type Composition, Labeling, Notation, Musicality

Judges

1.  Published composer(s)
2.  School/university theory and composition faculty

Eligibility

Contestants must be students ages 12-16 (Level I) or students ages 17-21 (Level II) by February 19, 2010.

Submission Deadline

All submissions must be postmarked or received by February 19, 2010.

The winners will be announced no later than April 2, 2010.

Entry Form

Click here for the 2010 Young Composers Competition Entry Form.