2018 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award Winners Announced

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the recipients of the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards which encourages talented young creators of concert music. The composers, whose award-winning works were chosen from over 500 submissions from all over the United States, will be recognized at an ASCAP event later this year.

Below are details for this year’s 17 award-winning composers and the works for which they were chosen. Wherever possible, we have also featured a complete recording of the award-winning work (either embedded below the listing or linked from the title of the work). (Recipients who are under the age of 18 are listed only by state of residence, as per ASCAP’s policy.)

• • Oren Boneh of Oakland, CA (b. 1991 in Kansas):
    Lug (2017) for flute/piccolo, saxophone (soprano/baritone), piano, percussion, and string trio [13′]
    
  • Theophilus Chandler of Houston, TX (b. 1992, in Durham, NC)
    Songs from Brooches (2017) for two sopranos and orchestra [17′]
  • Frazar B. Henry of Florida (b. 2005 in Long Beach, CA)
    In Exordium for orchestra [3’55”]
  • Molly Joyce of Pittsburgh, PA (b. 1992 in Pittsburgh)
    Over and Under (2016) for organ and orchestra [9′]
    
  • Mayumi Kimura Meguro of Brooklyn, NY (b. 1993 in Mexico City, MX)
    Hana o Tobashite (2016) for orchestra [7′]
    
  • Alexis C. Lamb of Dekalb, IL (b. 1993 in Denver, CO)
    Meia for berimbau (solo through sextet) [30’30”]
  • Bo Li of Kansas City, MO (b. 1988 in China)
    Encirclement for orchestra [12′]
  • Piyawat Louilarpprasert of Ithaca NY (b. 1993 in Bangkok, Thailand)
    Particle Odyssey (2017) for orchestra [10′]
    
  • Charles Meenaghan of California (b. 2001 in CA)
    Klepsýdra for orchestra [18′]
  • Shashaank Narayanan of New Jersey (b. 2004 in India)
    Percussion Evoluzione for percussion ensemble [17’30”]
  • Charles Peck of Philadelphia, PA (b. 1988 in Norristown, PA)
    Vinyl (2017) for chamber orchestra [8′]
  • Peter S. Shin of Kansas City, MO (b. 1991)
    Screaming Shapes (2017) for amplified flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, and fixed electronics [5’30”]

Screaming Shapes (2017) for amplified flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, fixed electronics, and dance from Feral Bodies on Vimeo.

• Aferdian Stephens of Jersey City, NJ (b. 1992 in Bayonne, NJ)
  Trio for violin, clarinet, and piano [18′]
• Tina Tallon of Cambridge, MA (b. 1990 in Baltimore, MD)
  luscinia (2017) for orchestra and live electronics [13’30”]
  
• Felipe Tovar-Henao of Bloomington, IN (b. 1991 in Colombia)
  La Mirada del Ouroboros (2017) for harp and sinfonietta [15’30”]
  
• Max Vinetz of New Haven, CT (b. 1996 in Baltimore, MD)
  Allemande (2016) for solo cello [7′]
  
• Alex Weiser of New York, NY (b. 1989 in NYC)
  and all of the days were purple (2017) for singer, piano, percussion, and string trio [28′]

The 17 winners and 6 honorable mentions of the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (all photos courtesy ASCAP).
First row (from left to right): Molly Joyce (photo by Nadine Sherman), Theophilus Chandler, Shashaank Narayanan, Justin Zeitlinger, Jenny Yao, Alex Weiser, and Frazar B. Henry;
Middle row: Piyawat Louilarpprasert, Charles Meenaghan, Oren Boneh, Bo Li, Tina Tallon, Felipe Tovar-Henao, Aferdian Stephens, and Mayumi Kimura Meguro;
Bottom row: Emma Cardon, Akshaya Tucker, Nathan Paek, Max Vinetz, Patrick Lenz, Charles Peck, Alexis C. Lamb, and Peter S. Shin.

In addition, six composers were given honorable mention.

• Emma Cardon of Nashville TN (b. 1998 in Alexandria, VA)
  Airport Birds for string quartet [10’55”]
• Patrick Lenz of Houston, TX (b. 1994 in Scranton, PA)
  Pillar of Fire for wind ensemble [7’05”]
  
• Nathan Paek of Washington (b. 2004 in WA)
  NEUROTOCCATA (2018) for two pianos [4’33”]
• Akshaya Tucker of Austin, TX (b. 1992 in Willow, NY)
  Breathing Sunlight for violin and cello duo [8’48”]
  
• Jenny Yao of South Carolina (b. 2000 in Hangzhou, China)
  Non Compos Mentis (2017) for wind quintet, string quartet, and double bass [7’46”]
• Justin Zeitlinger of New Jersey (b. 2000 in NJ)
  Broken Images for solo oboe [4’39”]

Established as The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Awards in 1979 with funding from the Jack and Amy Norworth Fund, the program grants cash prizes to concert music composers up to 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition. To honor his lifelong commitment to encouraging young creators especially during his 1986-1994 tenure as President of ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation (as well as the fact that his own music was first published, by G. Schirmer, when he was only six years old), the Young Composer program was named the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, following his death in 1996. These composers may be American citizens, permanent residents, or students possessing US Student Visas. This year’s Morton Gould Young Composer Awards composer/judges were: Du Yun, Daniel Felsenfeld, Joel Hoffman, Lowell Liebermann, Tamar Muskal, Alvin Singleton, and Edward Smaldone.

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs.