Du Yun Wins DSO Annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award

Du Yun Wins DSO Annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award

Du Yun has been awarded the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s fourth annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for Female Composers.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

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Du Yun, photo by Denise Anderson, courtesy Boosey & Hawkes

Du Yun has been awarded the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s fourth annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for Female Composers. Du Yun, who was chosen from applicants across the United States, as well as China, Korea, Israel, Austria, and the United Kingdom, will compose a new work that will receive its world premiere in the DSO’s 2010-2011 classical subscription series. In addition to performances of her work, Du Yun will receive a $10,000 prize and a one-month residency at the Ucross Foundation, an internationally known artist’s retreat located on the High Plains in northern Wyoming. The Foundation is the DSO’s new partner in recognizing and awarding exceptional female composers.

Du Yun, born in China in 1977 and based in the United States since 1997, is currently involved in multiple composing projects including a work for string quartet, a dance and multimedia project with Moving Theater at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, and a multimedia collaboration with visual artist David Michalek for flutist Claire Chase. Her score for visual artist Shahzia Sikander’s film Interstitial will tour India, Pakistan, Laos, and Japan in early 2011. Since 2008, her music has been published by Boosey & Hawkes as part of their Emerging Composers Program.

The Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award stands alone, internationally, as the only annual symphony-sponsored award competition exclusively for women composers. It is conferred annually and is made possible by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Previous winners of the Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award include Stacy Garrop, Margaret Brouwer, and Cindy McTee. (—Condensed from the press release)