Young Composers Competition

COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL

Sponsored by Arden and Harry Fisher

Since 2004, the Young Composers Competition has recognized and encouraged 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 an open competition which has received submissions from St. Louis and throughout the nation.  Each year brings a new nationally known guest composer who is passionate about working with future generations of composers. Past guest composers have included Claude Baker, Zack Browning, John Cheetham, Dino Constantinides, Steven Dankner, Beth Denisch, Don Freund, Lansing McLoskey, James Mobberly, Shulamit Ran, Jared Spears, and Chen Yi.  

Awardees have their works performed by professional musicians in a public concert that is professionally recorded. Each awardee receives a written critique of his/her work and a conference with the guest composer.

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2018-19 Young Composer Competition Winners

LEVEL ONE (12-16 YEARS OF AGE):

1st Place: Yusei Hata, 16, from New York City, NY - for "DuetThing"
2nd Place: Caroline Bragg, 15, from Brookline, MA - "Paradise Lost: This Pendant World"

LEVEL TWO (17-21 YEARS OF AGE): 

1st Place: Paul Novak, 20, from Reno, NV - "Blimunda Songs"
2nd Place: Jenny Yao, 18, from Cambridge, MA - "Harja"
Honorable Mention: Nathaniel Heyder, 19, from Cleveland, OH - Piano Quartet

Winner Biographies

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Young Composers Competition Weekend Events:

Saturday, March 23, 2019

10:00 a.m. The iPhone Drone Orchestra with Guest Composer Nilou Nourbakhsh
Nilou will join forces with the audience members and competition winners to make a graphic score by drawing melodies and outlining colorful blocks of harmonies for interpretation through a collective improvisation as an iPhone Drone Orchestra.

1:00 p.m. Habits of the Highly Successful Composer with Webster University's David Werfelmann

3:00 p.m.  Emerging Composers Concert at the CMS Concert Hall, 535 Garden Ave. Webster Groves, MO  63119

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FREE PARKING is available in the Garden Plaza Parking Garage at 554 Garden Ave. Webster Groves, MO  63119

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 2018-19 Guest Composer: Niloufar Nourbakhsh

 

Described as "stark" by WNPR, Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh's music has been commissioned and performed by Symphony Number One, Spark and Echo Project, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Pianist Erika Dohi for Metropolis Ensemble Piano Series, Calidore and Cassatt String Quartets, and Invoke Quartet at numerous festivals, Atlantic Music Festival, Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music, SPLICE institute, New Music for Strings, MusLab electroacoustic festival in Mexico, University of Tennessee Contemporary Festival and more.

Nilou is founder of Iranian Female Composers Association and a strong advocate of music education. She has worked as the site coordinator of Brooklyn Middle School Jazz Academy sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center. She is currently a Teaching Artist for NY Philharmonic Very Young Composers program and teaches piano at Brooklyn Music School. This summer, she will be working with Akropolis Reed Quintet for a new piece as part of I-Park Foundation Artist in Residence.                                                              

Nilou is a Global Citizen Scholarship recipient of Goucher College as well as a Mahoney and Caplan Scholar from University of Oxford. Among her teachers are Lisa Weiss, Laura Kaminsky, Daniel Weymouth and Daria Semegen. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate degree in music composition at Stony Brook University under the supervision of Sheila Silver. 

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Past Young Composer Competition Winners and Guest Composers:

 Questions? Call (314) 968-5939 or email Justin Blackburn at JBlackburn77@webster.edu