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Call For Scores & Commission 2017

Results

The selection process of the applications received for the International Call For Scores & Commission 2017 ended. The selection committee reviewed applications from:

 

143 composers

(a total of 278 works)

                       from 34 countries

The 2017 applicant pool was strong and included a high number of exceptional entries, making the decision process quite challenging. We would like to THANK all composers who sent in their music and trusted us with it. ilSUONO is grateful for the interest shown to he call and is responding by offering TWO commissions this year (2018).

WINNERS

We are pleased to announce and congratulate the two commissioned composers (in alphabetical order):

Each of the two commissioned composers will receive the prize of €400 to write a brand new work for ensemble Suono Giallo. The world premiere of the new works will be hosted at the 3rd edition of the ilSUONO Contemporary Music Week,

which will take place in July 14-22, 2018 in Città di Castello, Italy.

HONORABLE MENTION

The committee would like to give special recognition and praise to the following composers, whose music shows work of exceptional merit (in alphabetical order):

 

Giulio Colangelo (Italy, 1986)

Giulio Colangelo holds an MA cum laude in electronic composition after studying with Alessandro Cipriani and Giampiero Gemini in Frosinone (Italy). His artistic research uses parallel languages in order to create complex perceptive experiences. It is focused on instrumental experimentation and electroacoustic/acousmatic compositions, on electronic performances and sound installations, in the domain of the intermedia development.
His works have been performed and awarded in several international contests and he has recently worked at the "ZKM" on his sonic projects and exposed in the great exhibition "SoundArt" curated by P.Weibel. His music has been presented in the acclaimed "ICMC" (2012-13-14), at the Centre Pompidou (IRCAM live 2017) and broadcasted on Radio France and Radio4.

He was one of the five nominees for the Gaudeamus Music Award 2016 (the Netherlands).

He is artistic director of the international electroacoustic music festival MA/IN – MAtera INtermedia.

Stylianos Dimou (Greece, 1988)

Stylianos Dimou is a Greek composer born in Thessaloniki in 1988. Fulbright Scholar and participant of numerous International Composers Meetings, Festivals and Competitions, Dimou pursued advanced studies in Music Composition at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Music Studies (Greece, 2011, MM in Composition). He subsequently undertook Graduate Studies at the Eastman School of Music (USA, 2013, MA in composition). He is currently a Doctoral Fellow at Columbia University in the City of New York (DMA in Music Composition). 

Dimou’s music has been premiered in festivals, composition competitions in Europe and the USA as part of residencies and commission projects in Gaudeamus Music Week 2015, Moving Classics 2016, International Computer Music Conference 2016 – ICMC 2016, International Ensemble Mo-

dern Academy 2015, MANIFESTE 2014&2016 - the academy (IRCAM), New Music Edmonton 2015 Hear This Now Festival, Firenze Suona Contemporanea 2014, Royaumont/ Voix nouvelles/ session de composition 2013, 5th [‘tactus] Young Composers Forum 2013, June in Buffalo, International festival and Conference 2013, Tzlil Meudcan 2013 International Festival & Summer Course for New Music Performance & Composition, Young Composers Meeting 2013, Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, University of Missouri, Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival - International Composers Pyramid, The 5th New Music Week in Shanghai 2012 and 13th Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik 2012.

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Yu Kuwabara (Japan, 1984)

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Yu Kuwabara (b.1984) is a Japanese composer, a researcher of Japanese traditional arts, living in Tokyo. She has made music to ask herself who she is. For several years, she has been researching and studying traditional Japanese arts and music to extend as far back as possible to her origins, in order to confirm her own standing. She has collaborated with numerous artists of Japanese art forms including Noh performers, a Rakugo performer, a Japanese Buddhist chant group and Japanese traditional instrumentalists to have investigated her own musical gestures and forms between the past and the present, and also between Japan and the world. She has completed her master degree at Tokyo University of the Arts and has took part in renowned festivals, academies and programs for composers including

Schloss Solitude Summer Academy, implus, International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt, Voix nouvelles at Foundation Royaumont, Divertimento Ensemble International Workshop for Young Composers, Lucerne Festival Academy Composer Seminar and received guidance from Hanspeter Kyburz, Chaya Czernowin, Steven Kazuo Takasugi, Frédéric Durieux, Pierluigi Billone, Raphaël Cendo, Stefano Gervasoni, Franck Bedrossian, Wolfgang Rihm, Dieter Ammann, and among others.

Her work has been performed by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensemble Phorminx, Ensemble Mise-en, Ensemble Talea, Divertimento Ensemble, Lucerne Festival Alumni, Stefan Hussong, Camilla Hoitenga, Claire Chase, and others at major venues in Asia, Europe and U.S. such as Music Competition of Japan, reading session at Implus Academy by Enno Poppe and Klangforum Wien, and EXPO Milano 2015 (Italian pavilion) by Sentieri selvaggi as a finalist of Feeding Music International Composition Competition. She has also awarded Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama Creator-in-Residence (2009-10). A few of her scores have been published from EDITION WUNN, Germany.

João Pedro Oliveira (Portugal, 1959)

João Pedro Oliveira began his music studies at the Gregorian Institute of Lisbon where he studied organ performance. From 1985 to 1990 he moved to the US as a Fulbright student, with a fellowship from Gulbenkian Foundations, where he completed a PhD in Music at the University of New York at Stony Brook. His music includes one chamber opera, several orchestral compositions, a Requiem, 3 string quartets, chamber music, solo instrumental music, electroacoustic music and experimental video. Recently he has been exploring the possibilities of interaction between instrumental and electroacoustic sounds, and most of his recent works use both media. 

He has received over 30 international prizes and awards for his works, including, among others, the Giga-Hertz Award and the Magisterium Prize from the IMEB (Bourges).

Claudio Panariello (Italy, 1989)

His music is played all over the world, and most of his works have been commissioned by Portuguese and foreign groups and foundations. He is Professor at Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Aveiro University (Portugal) where he teaches composition, electroacoustic music and analysis. He published several articles in journals, and has written a book in analysis and 20th century music theory. He contributed to the development of a new generation of Portuguese composers, and several of his students have received national and international awards.

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Born in Naples in 1989, he has studied Composition with G. Panariello and Piano with E. Massa. After a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at University of Pisa with a thesis on Musical acoustics, he studies Elec- tronic Music at Conservatory “S. Pietro a Majella” of Naples with A. di Scipio and E. Martusciello.

He is currently finishing his Master Degree in Electronic Music at Conservatory “S. Cecilia” of Rome with M. Lupone and N. Bernardini.

He attended master classes and courses with R. Cendo, F. Filidei, M. Lanza, C. Czernowin, Y. Maresz, A. Solbiati, I. Fedele, C. Austin, S. Movio, N. Tzortzis, L. Naon, C. Roads, J. Chowning, J. Van Kreij. His compositions have been awarded in national and international competitions (Peter Maxwell Davies Prize, Wanda Landowska Harpsi-

chord Competition, Concorso Antonio Smareglia, Concorso 100Cellos), performed by Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble SuonoGiallo, Ensemble Mise-En, Morphosis Ensemble, Ensemble Dissonanzen, Ensemble Via Nova, G. Arbonelli, M. Lomuto, C. Rossi, A. D’Aronzo, and selected in festival such as “Mise-En Music Festival” in New York, “Sound of Wander” in Milano, “Festival 5 Giornate” in Milano and “Risuonanze – Incontri di nuove musiche” in Udine.

As an electronic musician, he has performed both with the “Officina Arti Soniche Ensemble” (ElectronicaFest, OLE Festival, Galleria Toledo, etc.) and as Solo (Museo PAN – Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli, ElectronicaFest) working on radical improvisation or performing his electroacoustic compositions.

He has also worked in sound installations field with Fewy, exposed in the Sol LeWitt Hall of the Museo Madre (NA) during the project Electromadre, and Studio in tre fasi, a site specific sound installation at the Goethe Institut in Rome during the festival ArteScienza 2017.

In 2017 he wins the Divertimento Ensemble’s “Concorso di Composizione AFAM” for young composers.

Giovanni Santini (Italy, 1986)

Giovanni Santini is currently studying with G. Netti and S. Sciarrino.
Recently obtained a Specialized Master Degree in Composition at Hochschule fur Musik Basel, with E. Oña and J. C. Walter.
Previously got a Master degree in Composition at Lugano conservatory (with N. Vassena and G. Verrando) and a Diploma in Composition at La Spezia Conservatory with A. Nicoli.
Selected for Manoury Academy - Festival Musica Strasbourg 2016,Composit festival 2016 and Harvard Summer Composition Institute 2014, frequented also impulsAcademy, Chigiana Academy, and Electronic Music courses at Scuola Civica in Milan and Elektronisches Studio in Basel.

Frequented master-classes with S. Sciarrino, B. Furrer, C. Czernowin, S. Takasugi, P.Billone, F. Filidei, M. Andre, S. Gervasoni and others.

His music has been performed by ensembles like Talea, Phoenix, Laboratorium,mdi, Prometeo quartet and soloists like J.F. Neuburger, D. Ciampolini, D. Gloger, M. Cesari, F. Dillon in many countries (Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, USA, Argentina and Austria).His compositions were broadcasted by Sky Classica Italia and RSI (Swiss Radio and Television). Has been awarded of the grant Movin'up promoted by the Italian Ministry of culture. Has won the call for scores for MotoContrario Ensemble - Festival Contrasti 2017.

Andrew Watts (USA, 1989)

Andrew Watts’ (b. 1989) works, from chamber and symphonic music to multimedia and electro-acoustic, are regularly performed throughout the US and Europe. His compositions have been premiered at world- renowned venues such as Ravinia, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall; the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt; and the Holywell Music Room, the oldest custom-built concert hall in Europe. In the past few years Mr. Watts has written works for a number of top musicians and ensembles including Distractfold Ensemble, RAGE Thormbones, Splinter Reeds, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Line Upon Line Percussion, soprano Tony Arnold, cellist Séverine Ballon, and the Los Angeles Per-

cussion Quartet (LAPQ). His recent work, A Dialogue, In Absentia for electronically augmented trombone duo, will be presented in IRCAM's Music and Hacking conference this November. In 2017-2018 he will be writing a new vocal ensemble piece for Ekmeles and a large chamber piece for Ensemble Proton Bern.

Mr. Watts is currently a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, studying with Brian Ferneyhough and working towards a D.M.A. in Composition. Mr. Watts received his master's with distinction from Oxford University and his bachelor's with academic honors from the New England Conservatory. He has also studied composition and theory at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, literature through IU's Hutton Honors College, and economics at Brown University. He researches the compositional applications of language fragmentation, focusing on the ability to convey meaning through the voice even when syntax is lost, augmented, or otherwise unintelligible. His writing also actively explores musical extremes through gradients of freedom and restriction, ambiguity and detail, purity and distortion, along with sound and noise. Often he includes invented instruments to broaden the palette of what a performer can do. The treatment of microtonality in his pitch language focuses on the evolution of material under tightly constrained circumstances. For the past few years, Mr. Watts has sought to create highly precise surface gestures to serve as the impetus in his music. These can be thought of as cells; whereby, when taken individually, he exercises a great degree of control over nuanced parameters, but when taken together the texture sounds more spontaneous.

Mr. Watts teaches a summer workshop entitled “Algorithmic Composition with Max/MSP and OpenMusic” at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). In 2017 he is a featured composer at the Cheltenham Music Festival (England). In previous years Mr. Watts also participated as a featured composer in the 48th International Summer Course for New Music at Darmstadt (Germany), the Composit Festival (Italy), the Biennial Ostrava Days Institute (Czech Republic), the highSCORE Festival (Italy), the Wellesley Composers Conference (USA), the Etchings Festival (France), Fresh Inc. Festival (USA), New Music on the Point (USA), and the Atlantic Music Festival (USA). As a performer, he has sang with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Benjamin Zander in Symphony Hall, and played percussion with the Fifth House Ensemble in Chicago's Rush Hour Concert Series.

SELECTED WORKS FOR PERFORMANCE

We are excited to announce the following works have been selected to be included in the repertoire of ensemble Suono Giallo and its concert programs for the following season. Information about the scheduled performances will be eventually announced. 

due forme dell'insonnia (2017) for sax, perc, pno

by Marco Longo (Italy, 1979)

Marco Longo (*1979) is an italian pianist and composer.

He studied composition at Conservatory of Trento (L. Cori, L. Polato, C. Colazzo) and at Accademia Nazionale di S.Cecilia in Rome (I. Fedele).
He followed also composition courses with A.Corghi and M.Bonifacio (Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Fondazione Romanini in Brescia, Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna).

He took part in several seminars and masterclass (A. Solbiati, S. Gervasoni, N. Vassena) and he was admitted at the Schloss Solitude Summer Academy in Stuttgart (Chaya Czernowin, Steven Takasugi and Amnon Wolman).His works have been played in several festivals and venues in Europe, USA and China, such as Festival Pontino (Latina), Festival Rondò (Milano), New Music Miami, Festival Mixtur

(Barcelona), Mise-en Festival (New York), Mostra Sonora (Sueca-Valencia), Parco della Musica (Roma), Festival Nuova Musica (Treviso), GAMO (Firenze), Chengdu Conservatory (China), Noisy Nights (St.Andrews), Festival 5Giornate (Milano), Bellagio Festival, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Cluster (Lucca) etc.

Ensembles and soloists who have performed his works include Divertimento Ensemble, Dedalo Ensemble, SurPlus, AlterEgo, dissonArt, L’arsenale, PMCE, Vertixe Sonora, mise-en ensemble, Nodus, NewMade ensemble, Alda Caiello, Maria Grazia Bellocchio, Francesco Gesualdi, Dario Savron, Marco Fusi.

He won prizes and honour mentions at several composition competitions: National Prize of Arts, “Premio Bucchi” (Roma), “A. Manoni” competition, G.A.M.’s Composition Competition (Milano), Jeunesse Musical Competition (Bucarest), MeA Competition (Roma), AFAM Competition (Milano), Sun River Prize (China), "L.Nono" (Torino), Wroclaw International Competition (Poland).

His music has been broadcasted by Rai RadioTre and RadioClassica.

L’erotisme sacré (2012) for fl, pno, and elec

by Taylor Brook (Canada/USA, 1985)

Taylor Brook is a Canadian composer living in New York, writing and producing music for concert, film, theater and dance. Brook studied composition with Brian Cherney, Luc Brewaeys, George Lewis, Fred Lerdahl, and Georg Friedrich Haas.

Described as “gripping” and “engrossing” by the New York Times, his compositions have won numerous awards and prizes. His music has been performed around the world by ensembles and soloists such as the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Quatuor Bozzini, JACK Quartet, MIVOS quartet, Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Ascolta, and others. Brook has won several SOCAN Young Composers awards, including two first place prizes and the grand prize in 2016 for his solo cello piece, Song.

In Kolkata, India, he studied Hindustani musical performance with Pa

ndit Debashish Bhattacharya. His music is often concerned with finely tuned microtonal sonorities, combining his exploring the perceptual qualities of sound with an individual sense of interest in beauty and form.

Brook holds a master’s degree in music composition from McGill University. He currently resides in New York, where he is completing a doctorate in music composition at Columbia University with Fred Lerdahl. Brook is the technical director for TAK ensemble.

l'œil brisé (2017) for sax, perc, and elec

by Yiqing Zhu (China, 1989)

Born in December 1989, in Shanghai, Yiqing Zhu is a Chinese composer, pianist and accordionist. He began composing at 18 years old in Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Prof. Huang Lv and Prof. Guohui Ye. After one year of exchange-student experience in The Royal Danish Academy of Music Copenhagen and studied with Prof. Niels Rosing-Schow from 2015-2016, he went to Germany.Currently he is a Composition student of Konzertexamen degree in StattlicheHochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, his teacher is an Italian composer, Marco Stroppa.

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will the voice remain the same (2015-17) for fl, sax, perc, pno

by Charles Kwong (UK/Hong Kong, 1985)

Charles Kwong's creative output ranges from orchestral and choral music to works written for all types of chambers ensembles and solo performers. He has been commissioned in recent years by the soundSCAPE Festival, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and Hong Kong Arts Festival, among others. Professional musicians who performed his music also include Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, London Chamber Orchestra, Eastman Broadband, Kreutzer String Quartet and Romer String Quartet, among others.

Kwong's music has been featured in such occasions as Festival International de Piano La Roque d'Anthéron, Gezeitenkonzerte in Ostfriesland, Marvão International Music Festival, York Spring Music

Credit: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Festival, Ciclo de Música Contemporánea de Oviedo (Festival de Verano), Festival Internacional de Música de Ibiza, Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival, World Saxophone Congress, the Royal Musical Association Research Conference, Hong Kong Arts Festival, New Vision Arts Festival and Freespace Fest. In 2016, his work Lachrymae was selected by Matthias Pintscher and Ensemble intercontemporain as part of the programme for the ensemble's Hong Kong début.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Kwong studied music at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and King’s College London, with multiple scholarships from the respective institutes and the Composers and Authors Society Hong Kong. He earned his doctorate, focusing in compositions, in 2013 from The University of York under the supervision of Thomas Simaku as an R C Lee Scholar with full sponsorship from the Drs Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation. In 2016 and 2017, he studied with Toshio Hosokawa in Hong Kong New Music Ensemble’s The Modern Academy and IRCAM’s ManiFeste Academy respectively.

Currently living in Hong Kong, Kwong has also been actively involved in promoting contemporary music in the scene. He was the Research Coordinator of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in 2014-2015, and he now serves at Hong Kong Sinfonietta for the orchestra’s contemporary music research.

Piccolo inventario degli insetti (2017) for fl, sax, perc, pno, and elec

by Claudio Panariello (Italy, 1989)

[check Claudio's info on the Honorable Mention section above]

Statistics

• 143 applications

10 applications were rejected;

           -4 provided nonfunctional links

           -6 submitted scores and/or recordings with composer's identifying information (e.g. name in the score, soundcloud links)

23% of the applications were by female composers and 77% by male composers.

34 countries

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