10th Annual ACO/Whitaker New Music Readings

The American Composers Orchestra has announced the winners of the tenth annual Whitaker New Music Reading Sessions. The Readings, made possible by a grant from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2001, at Masonic Hall in New York City. This event provides an opportunity for up-and-coming composers to experience a full orchestral rendering of their work, receive the reactions of other composers and performers, and obtain a professional-quality tape to assist in their advancement.

This year, eight of the nation’s most promising composers in the early stages of their professional careers were selected out of nearly 200 submissions received from around the country. The winners are: Paul Yeon Lee, for Phoenix; Leonard Lewis, for his Concerto for Orchestra; Joshua Penman for As It Is, Infinite, Paola Prestini, for Blue (Some Souls); Roger Przytulski, for Blitz; Gregory Spears, for Circle Stories; Thomas Tumulty, for the fourth movement of his Symphony No. 1; and Dalit Warshaw, for Tyburne Dance. One of these composers will receive the ACO’s Whitaker Commission, a $15,000 award to write a new work to be performed by ACO at Carnegie Hall.

The reading sessions will be under the direction of ACO Music Director Dennis Russell Davies; Artistic Director Robert Beaser; and guest conductors Jeffrey Milarsky, Music Director of the Columbia University Orchestra; and Gil Rose, Music Director of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Senior composer advisors Fred Lerdahl, Jennifer Higdon, and Michael Torke will serve as mentors throughout the proceedings.