Winners: COMPOSERS (instrumental chamber music—all divisions), 2021

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, chief judge, is honored to announce the winners, runners-up, citation recipients and honorable mentions of The American Prize in Composition, 2021, in instrumental chamber music, professional and student divisions. Congratulations! 

Complete listings of finalists and semi-finalists in The American Prize competitions may be found elsewhere on this blog. Please use the chronological tool in the right-hand column to find specific results.

Please make us aware of any misprints: theamericanprize@gmail.com

The American Prize in Composition—Instrumental Chamber Music (professional division), 2021

The American Prize winner:

Nickitas Demos   

Atlanta GA

Frontlash   

Nickitas Demos

Nickitas Demos (b. 1962) holds a DMA in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Donald Erb (1927-2008). Commissions include works for the Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Ballet, Nashville Chamber Orchestra and the National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors. Awards include: Finalist in the American Prize in Composition-Orchestra (2016); Semi-Finalist in the 2015 Rapido! Composition Competition; MacDowell Fellowship (2012); Grand Prize: 2004 Millennium Arts International Competition for Composers; Grand Prize: 2005 Holyoke Civic Symphony Composition Competition; and 20 ASCAP Awards. His music is self-published through Sylvan Lake Press (ASCAP) and recorded on Ablaze Records, Albany Records, Capstone Records and MSR Classics. Demos is Director of the Georgia State University School of Music, Director of the Center for Collaboration & Innovation in the Arts, Artistic Director of the neoPhonia New Music Ensemble, and Co-Director of the SoundNOW Contemporary Music Festival. For more information, please visit: http://nickitasdemos.com.

The American Prize 2nd Place (there was a tie):

Angelique Poteat  

Seattle WA

Her Story of a Soldier

Angelique Poteat

The music of Angelique Poteat has been described as “engaging, restless” (The New York Times) and “serious and nicely crafted” (American Record Guide) and has been recorded and performed on four continents by ensembles including the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Saratoga Orchestra, Emerald City Music, CernaBella, and the Enso Quartet.  Her genre-crossing music has programmed alongside both classical and popular music legends, including Mike McCready, Chris Cornell, and members of Mad Season.

Poteat earned degrees in Composition at Rice University and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and is currently the Director of the Seattle Symphony Young Composers' Workshop.  She has also been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the 2015 American Prize in Composition for her orchestral piece Beyond Much Difference; as well as grants from Seattle 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the Allied Arts Foundation; and was a 2015 CityArtist from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

www.angeliquepoteat.com 

The American Prize 2nd Place (there was a tie):

Robert Scott Thompson

Roswell GA

Ninth Wave

Robert Scott Thompson

Robert Scott Thompson is a composer of instrumental and electroacoustic music and is Professor of Music Composition at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He is the recipient of several prizes and distinctions for his music including the First Prize in the 2003 Musica Nova Competition, the First Prize in the 2001 Pierre Schaeffer Competition and awards in the Concorso Internazionale “Luigi Russolo”, Irino Prize Foundation Competition for Chamber Music, and Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges - including the Commande Commission 2007. His work has been presented in festivals such as the Koriyama Bienalle, Helsinki Bienalle, Sound, Présences, Synthèse, Sonorities, ICMC, SEAMUS and the Cabrillo Music Festival, and broadcast on Radio France, BBC, NHK, ABC, WDR, and NPR, among others. His music is published on numerous solo recordings and compilations by EMF Media, Neuma, Drimala, Capstone, Centaur, Hypnos, Oasis/Mirage, Groove, Lens, Space for Music, Zero Music, Twelfth Root, Relaxed Machinery, Aatma, Acousmatique and Aucourant record labels, among others, and in print by American Composers Edition.

The American Prize 3rd Place (there was a three-way tie):

Devin Arrington   

Pittsburgh PA

Heavenward: Meditation for solo violin

Devin Arrington

Performers of Arrington's music include the Grammy-nominated string quartet Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Westmoreland and Edgewood Symphonies, Ohio Northern University Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Girls Choir. An advocate for the healing power of music, in 2010 Mr. Arrington created Musicians With A Mission (MWAM) to “bring more of Pittsburgh's talented musicians into local healthcare settings.” After coordinating over a hundred performances each year at local healthcare facilities, Pittsburgh’s NPR station featured MWAM in its 2018 segment “90 Neighborhoods, 90 Good Stories.” Mr. Arrington holds a B.A. degree in Music from Middlebury College (summa cum laude) and M.M. degree in Music Composition from Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Arrington teaches violin and composition both privately in Morningside and at Duquesne University's City Music Center.  More info at www.devinarrington.com

The American Prize 3rd Place (there was a three-way tie):

Bruce Babcock 

Pasadena   CA

Alternative Facts

Bruce Babcock

Applauded by Aaron Copland, inspired by Desmond Tutu, and mentored by Hugo Friedhofer and Earle Hagen, Bruce Babcock has spent his working life composing music for the musicians of Los Angeles. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in composition from California State University, Northridge. His music has been performed and/or recorded by Grammy winners Gloria Cheng, Hila Plitmann, and The Crossing, in addition to Calvin Simmons, the Donald Brinegar Singers, Juliana Gondek, the Debussy Trio, the Antioch Ensemble, Pacific Serenades, the Artea Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco, the Kansas City Symphony, the Haga Motettkör of Göteborg, Sweden, the Space Coast Symphony, the Altius Quartet, the Sirius Quartet, the Armadillo Quartet, Lindsey Goodman, Ovidiu Marinescu, Anna Kislitsyna, Armen Ksajikian, Robert Thies, Doug Masek, James Walker, and Jonathan Mack. His a cappella piece, All Unto Me, dedicated to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was performed with the Archbishop in attendance in 2011. 

The American Prize 3rd Place (there was a three-way tie):

Timothy Lee Miller  

Mahwah NJ

Something More 

Timothy Lee Miller

Timothy Lee Miller is an American composer, arranger, and orchestrator writing contemporary concert music for chamber ensembles, orchestra, wind ensemble, and voice, as well as jazz, film, and video game music. He has earned degrees from the University of Tennessee, the University of Miami, and Vermont College of Fine Arts. His principle composition teachers have been John Anthony Lennon, James Progris, Tamar Diesendruck, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Andy Jaffe, John Fitz Rogers, and Roger Zahab. He has received numerous commissions and awards, including several ASCAP awards. His music has been performed throughout the US, Europe, Russia, and China. His music is recorded on ERMMedia, Navona Records, Ansonica Records, and Phoenix Classics. He lives in Mahwah, New Jersey with his wife and son. 

The American Prize Special Judges’ Citation for "Unique Creativity and Aural Vision":

Kotoka Suzuki  

Chicago IL

Orison

Kotoka Suzuki

Kotoka Suzuki is a composer focusing on both multimedia and instrumental practices.  Her work reflects on life, breath and wind, and often conceives of sounds as a physical form manipulated through the sculptural practice of composition. Her work has been featured internationally by performers such as Arditti String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Pacifica Quartet, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Continuum, and Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Leipzig), at numerous venues and broadcasts such as Deutchland Radio, BBC Radio3, ISCM World Music Days, The Stone, ZKM Media Museum, and MATA. Among the awards she has received include DAAD Berlin Artists in Residence Program, First Prize in Bourges Multimedia, First Prize in Musica Nova, New Music USA, Robert Fleming Prize (Canada Council for the Arts), and Howard Foundation Fellowship. Suzuki is an Associate Professor in Music & Culture at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Jeffrey Bowen   

Seattle WA

What Will Sound (was already sound) 

Jeffrey Bowen

Jeffrey Bowen is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music, whose works have been performed by Pascal Gallois, Beta Collide, Ensemble DissonArt, and the Luminosity Orchestra, among other ensembles. In 2013 his orchestral work Stalasso was chosen by conductor Ludovic Morlot for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Works program, and he has recently presented work at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the International Computer Music Conference.  In 2019 he received a Jack Straw Artist Support grant to record his piece for the Harry Partch Instruments, Where All That’s Solid Melts Into Air, and his work What Will Sound (was already sound), for violin and electronics, will be released by Parma Records in 2020. He is currently based in Seattle, where he teaches at Seattle University and is co-director of the Inverted Space Ensemble. He recently completed a DMA in composition at UW under Joël-François Durand.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Timothy Brown   

Lewisville TX

Camp Speicher

Timothy Brown 

Award-winning American composer Timothy Brown is one of the most popular and widely performed composers for the piano of his generation. He has been influenced greatly by the Italian composer Ennio Morricone, and Timothy’s music is noted for its “immediate emotional impact” and its roots in the neo-romantic style of music composition. He has embedded traditional formal structural elements in his wide array of compositions which include orchestral, ballet, choral, chamber works, and over three hundred publications written specifically for the piano for “pedagogical purposes.”

 

He was born in Middletown, Ohio and his early piano and music theory studies were with Rebecca Shoup Willhide. His undergraduate studies were at Bowling Green State University, and he later received his master’s degree from the University of North Texas where he studied piano with Adam Wodnicki and music composition with Newel Kay Brown. Later he was a recipient of a research fellowship from the Royal Holloway, University of London, where he pursued his post-graduate studies in music composition and orchestration with the English composer, Brian Lock. He later continued his research at the well-known Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Foundation in Rome, Italy.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Curt Cacioppo

Orleans MA

Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano 

Curt Cacioppo

Curt Cacioppo (b. 1951, Ravenna, OH) has composed for the Chicago Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony orchestras, the Emerson Quartet, and hosts of other top ensembles and soloists worldwide. He received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Howard Foundation Fellowship, among numerous other prizes. His CD Ritornello with the Quartetto di Venezia on Navona earned a Grammy nomination. Cacioppo’s principal mentors were Leon Kirchner and George Rochberg.  A formidable pianist, he studied with Ruth Laredo and performed in masterclasses with Arther Loesser and John Browning, among others. He holds degrees from Harvard University, NYU and Kent State. A chaired professor at Haverford College, and prior a junior professor at Harvard, serving there also as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music, Cacioppo concluded his academic career in 2020 to pursue creative and pianistic activities exclusively. For more information, visit http://www.curtcacioppo.com/.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Miguel Roig-Francoli   

Cincinnati OH

Six preludes after Chopin   

Miguel Roig-Francoli

Miguel A. Roig-Francolí, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, has been recognized internationally for his work as a music theorist, composer, musicologist, and pedagogue. Winner of the 2016 American Prize in Composition (band/wind ensemble division), his compositions have been widely performed in Spain, England, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.  He is the author of Harmony in Context and Understanding Post-Tonal Music, as well as over twenty articles and reviews in leading scholarly journals in the USA and Europe.  Among his many honors are first prize at the National Composition Competition of the Spanish Jeunesses Musicales (1981) and second prize at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (Paris, 1982); and the University of Cincinnati’s A.B. "Dolly" Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching (2007) and George Rieveschl Jr. Award for Creative and/or Scholarly Works (2009).

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Benjamin Shorstein   

Jacksonville   FL

Sonata for Piano 

Benjamin Shorstein

Benjamin Shorstein is a composer and classically trained percussionist based in Jacksonville, FL.  He has performed, composed, and recorded a variety of music, including classical and jazz music for soloists and small ensembles.  Mr. Shorstein’s original music and arrangements have been performed for the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), recorded for film, and featured in numerous concerts and recordings.  He was commissioned by Madre Vaca to arrange Franz Schubert’s hauntingly beautiful song cycle, Winterreise, for jazz octet.  Mr. Shorstein has had the pleasure of performing on stage with many artists including Chick Corea, Mark O’Connor, Jamison Ross, Terry Plumeri, Alphonso Horne, Scott Wilson, Juan Rollan, Rebecca Shorstein, Steve Cohn Trio, Thomas Milovac, Jarrett Carter, Jonah Pierre, Steve Strawley, Lance Reed, Milan Algood, Abigail Gruber, Mike Perez, and the Andre Gruber Trio.

 

The American Prize in Composition—Instrumental Chamber Music (student division), 2021

The American Prize winner:

Liam Diethrich

Highland Park IL   

Mobius Strip

Liam Diethrich

Liam Diethrich is a composer and violinist from Chicago.  At age thirteen, two of Liam’s compositions earned live performances, one written for piano quintet and one for full symphony orchestra.  Liam has won numerous awards for both composition and violin, including the Walgreens National Concerto Competition for Overall, Strings, and Early Music categories.  In composition, he has received national and international awards from the ASCAP, Nafme, MTNA, and Ravel Association competitions.  Many of Liam’s compositions have been performed and recorded, including by Quintet Attacca, Kankakee Symphony Orchestra, and Urbana Pops Orchestra.  Liam performed an original composition on ABC’s Windy City Live, and also performed on WGN Radio’s Steve Cochran Show.  For composition he has attended Curtis Institute Young Artists Program, Interlochen, and NYU film/media scoring workshops.  Liam currently studies composition at The Juilliard School, and is pursuing a career in music composition including film/media scoring.

The American Prize 2nd Place (there was a tie):

Jacob Beranek  

Oconomowoc   WI   

Wind Quintet 

Jacob Beranek

Jacob Beranek (b. 1998) is a Wisconsin-born composer and pianist. He currently serves as the Composer-in-Residence of the Midsummer’s Music Festival, which has commissioned three pieces to date. His work has been performed throughout the country and has garnered international recognition in competitions such as the Fissinger Choral Composition Prize, Beyer Composition Awards, and The Gesualdo Six Composition Competition, in which he received first place for ages 21-and-under worldwide. Beranek is an avid devotee of Czech music, and was honored by the European premiere of his Památník at Prague Castle by the Band of the Castle Guards & Czech Police in 2018. Beranek has served as a Composition Fellow at the Talis Festival & Academy in Switzerland, and has also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music Young Artist Summer Program. He is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. Learn more at www.beranekmusic.com.

The American Prize 2nd Place (there was a tie):

Jared M. Lane

Hartsel CO   

Looking Inward, Looking Outward

Jared Lane

Jared Lane, composer, educator, and multi-instrumentalist, who graduated from Bob Jones University with his B.Mus in Music Composition under the instruction of Dr. Seth Custer. As both a composer and an actor, Jared enjoys composing music to convey both story and emotion. Jared has worked with award-winning directors, video production companies, and theater groups. His works range from orchestral-hybrid, neo-renaissance, cinematic, and contemporary classical compositions. 

Jared Lane has had works performed in benefits concerts, student recitals, and a growing online following. Jared composed the original soundtrack for the independent short film Working On it set to release in the spring of 2020. Jared worked with Sid Acharya and recorded parts as the featured session cellist for the original soundtrack for the short film State of Mind. In the classical realm, Jared actively composes works for orchestra, chamber groups, and choir.

Website: jaredmlane.com

The American Prize 3rd Place (there was a tie):

Feona Jones    

Pleasant Hill CA   

Adrenaline

Fiona Jones

Feona Lee Jones currently lives in Santa Cruz, where she works as a freelance composer, pianist, and educator. As a composer and pianist, she continues to explore her own musical language, influenced by classical, jazz, North Indian classical, avantgarde film, experimental theatre, and electronics. Her music has been performed in the United States, Iceland, and Poland. She has been commissioned and had works premiered by prestigious ensembles, organizations, and artists such as the Del Sol String Quartet, Composers Inc., Galen Lemmon’s Percussion Ensemble, Awesome Orchestra, The Humane League, Opera on the Spot, Luger Hofmann-Engl, Invoke String Quartet, and Roberto Granados. Never satisfied with a single medium, she has worked in concert music, film music, interactive games, and most recently, opera. She is actively composing, performing, and teaching throughout the Bay Area.

The American Prize 3rd Place (there was a tie):

Jihyun Kim 

Houston TX   

Flash

Jihyun Kim

Jihyun Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. Studying Composition with Shinuh Lee, she graduated from Seoul National University with a Bachelor of Music as valedictorian and then earned a master's degree in Composition. Later, she graduated with a Master of Music from Indiana University where she studied with Don Freund, Aaron Travers and PQ Phan. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Rice University, studying with Karim Al-Zand, Shih-Hui Chen, Pierre Jalbert, Arthur Gottschalk, and Richard Lavenda. Kim’s composed pieces have been performed at esteemed festivals in Korea such as the Korean Music Expo, Pann Music Festival, and ISCM World Music Days. Her works have also been performed in the United States, including the SCI Conference, John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium, and Earshot Workshop. Additionally, her works were given the second prize in the American Prize both for the vocal music division and the choral music division. Kim also won the Libby Larsen Prize in the International Alliance for Women in Music Competition.

The American Prize Special Judges’ Citation for Social Relevance and Musical Quality

Nicolas Bizub    

Cincinnati   OH   Fill 

The Swamp 

Nicolas Bizub

Award-winning composer Nicolas Bizub writes music which is dark, striving, and yearning, which also points towards radiance and light. Inspired by both the natural world and the human interaction with it, Nicolas often uses nature within his music as metaphors for more human topics, including emotion, politics, creation, and destruction. His musical language blends bittersweet melodic sensibilities with a richly dark harmonic language and volatile driving rhythms to forge a visceral, audible connection with these light and dark sides of humanity.

Nicolas’ music has been written for and performed by numerous leading new music ensembles and artists, including, British violinist Madeleine Mitchell, American violist Michael Hall, loadbang, NOW Ensemble, Hypercube, Zodiac Trio, F-PLUS, Unheard-of//Ensemble, and American violist Bailey Poesnecker, among others. His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe and may be heard on Ablaze Records and Centaur Records.

The American Prize Special Judges’ Citation for Social Relevance and Musical Quality

Craig Peaslee 

Oostburg WI   

The Death of a Nation

Craig Peaslee

Twice the recipient of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network's Music Award (2013 & 2016), Craig Peaslee's music has been described as bold, brash and unapologetic. Coming to the contemporary composing scene as a jazz performer and arranger, Craig’s compositions have a strong foundation in jazz and continually find him searching for new ways to incorporate jazz elements into works for the concert stage. With works ranging from traditional, dissonant, genre-bending and that directly confront present socio-political issues in order to bring attention to the challenges facing the world we live in, Craig is impassioned to create new music that is accessible while simultaneously sounding new and invigorating. Craig studied music composition at Northern Illinois University where he received his master of music degree in 2019, he is currently working on a socio-political suite commissioned for brass quintet while also seeking the right school to pursue a doctorate degree in jazz composition.

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The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Isaiah Evans    

Burnt Hills  NY   

New Ground, for string quartet

Isaiah Evans

Isaiah Evans composed “New Ground” for string quartet the summer of 2018. Written on the greek island of Amorgos he studied under Professor Panos Liaropoulos. The piece was performed in Athens by the quartet L’Anima. Isaiah studies Contemporary Writing and Production at the Berklee College of Music. Isaiah would like to thank his family, the performers of L’Anima, His classmates who’s work premiered along side his in Athens, Professor Liaropoulos for his guidance, and Bill Elliott for his encouragement in applying to The American Prize. 

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

June Young Kim 

Roslyn  NY   

A Sigh Into Thin Air

June Young Kim

Composer and baritone June Young (Will) Kim (b. 1996) began writing his first notes as a singer-songwriter before turning to concert music and bases many of his compositions on texts, which are often his own. He is one of the four selected composers to participate at the Berlin Philharmonic OpusONE 2020, where his piece will be performed by members of the Berlin Philharmonic at their Chamber Hall. He recently attended the Domaine Forget New Music Festival 2019 where he studied with Chaya Czernowin, and the Accademia Chigiana where he studied with Salvatore Sciarrino. He graduated from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington in 2018 and is currently pursuing a Masters in Composition at Hochschule Für Musik und Theater München with Isabel Mundry. He is funded by the DAAD scholarship.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Alan Mackwell 

Boston  MA   

Eggs for Breakfast 

Alan Mackwell

Described as "an original composer with new ideas and a command of complex symphonic writing" (BroadStreet Journal,  https://www.broadstreetreview.com/music/philadelphia-youth-orchestras-2016-17-season-finale), New Zealander-American Alan Mackwell began his music career in the third grade through piano lessons. In 2014, he was one of the fifteen composers world-wide to attend the Interlochen Summer Arts Program for music composition, and wrote for the World Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jung-Ho Pak. Alan is a three time winner of the Texas Young Composer's Competition, placing 2nd in 2015 and 2016, and was the grand prize winner of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's inaugural composers' competition. Alan has been a finalist of the Todd Corporation Young Composer's Award twice; once in 2017 and once in 2019, both times resulted in a performance by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He holds a BM in Music Composition from the Boston Conservatory of Music and will pursue a MM in Music Composition at Tufts University in the fall of 2020.

The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention:

Deovides A. Reyes III

Saint Meinrad IN   

Bells of Saint Meinrad

Deovides Reyes

Grand prize winner of the 6^th Sond-Ar’te composition competition, Dennis Deovides Reyes III, also known as Br. Michael Reyes, OSB, is a Benedictine monk from Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana. Dennis has been selected by the University of London as one of the five composers from around the world to write a new composition for electronics and instruments, and to be one of the five panelists at their annual International Composers’ Forum. He has been awarded by the Philippine government the “Ani ng Dangal” award for his musical contributions in the international scene. Dennis’ compositions find inspiration in a wide range of subjects, from Asian music to modern art, and incorporate elements of Philippine tradition.  

The American Prize Young Composer Career Encouragement Citation:

Elisa Johnson  

Seattle WA   

We have Wings

Elisa Johnson

Elisa Johnson is a composer with a passion for writing in a variety of styles, including choral, chamber and pop.  Her work was first performed by the Northwest Girlchoir in 2017, and in 2020, her choral piece, As I Journey Through My Life, was awarded a Finalist Honorable Mention in The American Prize in Composition—Choral octavos (student division). Likewise, her chamber compositions were first performed by members of the Seattle Symphony in 2018 and her composition, Shine, received a Finalist Honorable Mention from The American Prize in Composition - instrumental chamber music (student division) in 2020.

Elisa is currently a high school student who also studies music theory and composition at the Seattle Conservatory of Music.  In 2018 and 2020, Elisa was selected to participate in the Seattle Symphony’s Merriman Family Young Composers Workshop, which culminates in a concert of students’ own world premieres, performed by Seattle Symphony musicians.

 

The American Prize Young Composer Career Encouragement Citation:

Rachael S. Kim 

Sammamish    WA   

The Voyager

Rachael Kim

Rachael Kim is 14 years old and resides in Sammamish, Washington. She began studying music composition in 2017 under Mrs. Sharon Van Valen, and started violin and piano when she was 5 years old. Her first composition, Hunting Cat, is a 2018 national winner with the National Federation Music Club (NFMC) and has received an honorable mention in the 2018 Guild International Competition. 

Her second piece, The Voyager, is the winner of the 2020 WAMTA Young Composer Project, the winner of the SMTA 2020 Marsha Wright Sonatina Festival, and a finalist for the 2020 Guild International Competition. She has won the Gold Seal of Outstanding Recognition in the Seattle Young Artist’s Music Program once on the violin and twice on the piano as well as numerous other awards in music composition, violin, and piano. When she isn’t practicing or composing music, Rachael loves to read books or talk with friends. 

The American Prize Young Composer Career Encouragement Citation:

Tai O'Malley 

San Francisco CA   

Esoma Buelos; Valse Rhapsody

Tai O'Malley

Tai O’Malley is a native Californian currently attending high school at Taipei American School in Taiwan.  Tai has been playing violin since age 5, and started composing at age 11.  He has completed composition intensive programs at the Curtis Institute, Boston Conservatory, and San Francisco Conservatory.  He currently studies with Dr. David Ludwig and Dr. Wen Pin Hope Lee.  Tai’s piece "Starshine" is the co-winner of the Association of Music in International Schools Composition Contest 2019.  His piece "Valse Rhapsody" was awarded Outstanding Composition by Interscholastic Association for Southeast Asian Schools (“IASAS”) 2019 in Singapore.  With his composition "Galactic Creations," Tai was again selected for IASAS Bangkok in 2020.  Composing for many genres, Tai’s "Superior Judgment" won 2nd place in the 2020 Hypixel Note Block Song Competition for video game scoring, and is featured in Hypixel SkyBlock games.  His work is inspired by Chopin, Scriabin, and his two fluffy cats.

The American Prize Young Composer Finalist Honorable Mention:

Joohun Lee 

Alexandria   VA   

Revenant Legends

Joohun Lee

Joohun Lee is a composer and musician in high school from the Washington, D.C. area. He hopes to create music that can inspire audiences.

The American Prize Young Composer Finalist Honorable Mention:

Nicole Liang    

Clarksville  MD   

Childhood Innocence

Nicole Liang

Nicole Liang is a 9th grader at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland. Her journey in music began when she started to learn the piano at age five. She has also played violin and later viola as a part of her school orchestra since fourth grade. Her desire to create and express her musicality eventually led her to composition. She has participated in many composition competitions and has won awards at various levels. She has been taking classes with Mr. Yiming Wu and plans to continue her study of composition throughout high school. 

The American Prize Young Composer Finalist Honorable Mention:

Michael Andrei Pogudin  

Park City    UT   

Septet in C Major, Waltz in C#

Michael Pogudin

Michael Pogudin is a 16-year-old classical style composer. He composed his first sonata at age 7 and began to flourish when he landed in the Utah foster care system where he found profound support and encouragement to develop his skills. Michael hopes for a career in film composition.

The American Prize Young Composer Finalist Honorable Mention:

Christina Xiao

Lexington    MA   

Rain; Ambler; Baby River; Skitter 

Christina Xiao

Christina Xiao is a 17-year-old composer attending 12th grade at Phillips Exeter Academy and studying under Jon Sakata. From a young age, Christina has loved writing music, in addition to playing the piano and the violin. She enjoys how so many different and complex feelings can be evoked in an audience just through listening to a piece. She believes that music is able to touch and transform people’s hearts – something that is quite relevant to our increasingly polarized world. She is inspired to compose by the beautiful, strange world around her and her boundless love of music. She was a Finalist in the 2019 National Young Composers Challenge, received an Honorable Mention in the 2020 ACF High School Music Creator Awards, was an Emerging Composer in 2016 for the Tribeca New Music Composition Competition, and has won multiple MTNA Regional and State 1st places.

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Congratulations!

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, founder and chief judge, is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the musical and theater arts. The American Prize is nonprofit, unique in scope and structure, and is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, composers, conductors, ensembles and directors in the United States, at professional, college/university, community and school levels, based on submitted recordings. There is no live competition. 

Founded in 2010 and now celebrating its eleventh year, The American Prize has awarded nearly $100,000 in prizes in all categories since its creation. Thousands of artists representing all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of  The American Prize. 

The American Prize will accept applications for the 2021-22 contest season through September 14, 2021, with extensions by email request.  www.theamericanprize.org