The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) announces the winners of the 2013 NAfME Student Composers Competition. Students of Association members from 23 states submitted compositions. Compositions included instrumentation ranging from solo harp to bass clarinet, marimba, and trumpet, to big band.
The compositions were adjudicated by a panel of NAfME composer/educators, and their evaluations were shared with each student composer. Thanks to the generosity of the European American Musical Alliance and the Double R Foundation, the winning composers will receive a cash prize of $150 each and a performance of their composition at the 2013 NAfME National In-Service Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, October 27-30.
The winners in the 2013 competition are:
Elementary/Middle School
Elizabeth Wang, Gelinas Junior High School, Setauket, NY Teacher – Daniel Deutsch
Calvin Lu, Marlboro Middle School, Marlboro NJ Teacher – Felicia Ruffman
Alistair Coleman, Thomas Pyle Middle School, Bethesda, MD Teacher – Susan Mathis
High School
Nicholas McConnell, Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ Teacher – David Gordon
Michael Chung Hon Cheng, Clements High School, Sugar Land, TX – Teacher – Ann Witherspoon
Alexandra Bartol, T.S. Wootton High School, Rockville, MD Teacher – Valerica Maican
Gabriel Montague, Newton North High School, Newton, MA Teacher – Todd Young
Andrew Herring, Central Dauphin High School, Harrisburg, PA Teacher – Matthew Ceresini
Collegiate
Ryan Diefenderfer, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Christopher Harris, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
The winning compositions will be performed at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 28 in the Young Composers Concert, which is a part of the NAfME National In-Service Conference at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Featured performers include several faculty members from the Middle Tennessee State University School of Music, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the MTSU University Chorale, and the MTSU Jazz Ensemble I, as well as the composers themselves.
Immediately following the concert, a special discussion with the young composers titled “Composers Meet Composers” will take place. The session will be led by Dr. Daniel Deutsch, chair of the NAfME Council for Music Composition.
Susan Lambert, September 18, 2013. © National Association for Music Education
