ASCAP Announces 2017 Morton Gould Young Composer Award Recipients

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the recipients of the 2017 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards which encourages talented young creators of concert music. The composers will be recognized at an ASCAP event later this year.

Below are details for the nineteen award recipients whose works were selected from approximately 550 submissions and, wherever possible, a complete recording of the award-winning work. (The youngest recipients are listed only by state of residence, as per ASCAP’s policy.)

• Julia Adolphe of Los Angeles, CA (b. 1988 in New York, NY):
  Unearth, Release (concerto for viola and orchestra) (2016) [19:00]
• Eugene Birman of Oakland, CA (b. 1987 in Moscow, Russia):
  State of the Union for 12 voices (2015-16) [37:45]
• Yuri Boguinia of Princeton, NJ (b. 1997 in Stavropol, Russia):
  Path to Kailas for chorus, string quartet, and percussion (2016) [27:30]
  
• Ryan Chase of Hamilton, NY (b. 1987 in Port Jefferson, NY):
  come iri da iri for double wind quintet (2016) [12:30]
  
• Chen Yihan of New York, NY (b. 1994 in Changzhou, China):
  Phantasms for chamber orchestra (2015) [21:00]
  
• Tommy Dougherty of Los Angeles, CA (b. 1990 in Pittsburgh, PA):
  Three Dances for Orchestra (2015) [8:00]
  
• Michael-Thomas Foumai of Honolulu, HI (b. 1987 in Honolulu, HI):
  Manookian Murals for flute, cello, and piano (2016) [25:00]
  
• Paul Frucht of New York, NY (b. 1989 in Danbury, CT):
  Dawn for orchestra (2013) [10:30]
  
• Saad Haddad of Northridge, CA (b. 1992 in Augusta, GA):
  Takht for sinfonietta (2016) [12:00]
  
• William Healy of Brooklyn, NY (b. 1990 New York, NY):
  Kolmanskop for orchestra (2016) [11:30]
  
• Alexander Hurvitz of CA (b. 2003):
  The Trail of the West for violin and piano (2016) [6:00]
  
• Tengku Irfan of New York, NY (b. 1998 in Malaysia):
  Vivacity for orchestra (2016) [15:00]
• Egemen Kesikli of Boulder, CO (b. 1989 in Diyarbakir, Turkey):
  Movement III “Yaz” from Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Concert Band (2015) [10:00]
  
• Scott Lee of Durham, NC (b. 1988 in St. Petersburg, FL):
  Vicious Circles for orchestra (2016) [9:30]
  
• Li Qi of Bloomington, Indiana (b. 1990 in Beijing, China):
  Music Diary for soprano, flute, clarinet. violin, and percussion (2014) [9:00]
  
• Patrick O’Malley of Los Angeles, CA (b. 1989 in Detroit, MI):
  Loneliness in a Beautiful Place for string orchestra (2016) [9:30]
  
• Jules Pegram of Ann Arbor, MI (b. 1991 in Richmond, VA):
  CRUSH for eight cellos (2016) [20:00]
  
• J. P. Redmond of NY (b. 1999):
  Wilt Thou Therefore Rise for soprano and chamber orchestra (2016) [13:30]
  
• Dale Trumbore of Los Angeles, CA (b. 1987 in Chatham, NJ):
  How to Go On for unaccompanied SSAATTBB chorus (2017) [35:00]
  

In addition, the following composers received Honorable Mention:

• Jake Bean of Puyallup, WA (b. 1995 in Ellensburg, WA)
• T. J. Cole of Philadelphia, PA (b. 1993 in Athens, GA)
• Alistair Coleman of MD (b. 1998)
• Juan Pablo Contreras of Los Angeles, CA (b. 1987 in Guadalajara, Mexico)
• Gabriel Crist of NC (b. 2003)
• Nathan Fletcher of Staten Island, NY (b. 1992 in New Haven, CT)
• Andrew Guo of IL (b.1998)
• Natsumi Osborn of TX (b. 1999)
• Ivan Specht of NY (b. 2001)
• Felipe Tovar- Henao of Bloomington, IN (b. 1991 in Manizales, Colombia)
• Vu Dang Minh Anh of Rochester, NY (b. 1994 in Warsaw, Poland)

The award-winning composers share cash prizes including the Leo Kaplan Award, in memory of the distinguished attorney who served as ASCAP Special Distribution Advisor, and the Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship for a composer 18 years of age or younger.  Additional funding is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund and The ASCAP Foundation Jack and Amy Norworth Fund.  (Irving Caesar was best known as the lyricist of “Tea for Two” and “Swanee”; Jack Norworth wrote such standards as “Shine On Harvest Moon” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”)  Established in 1979, with funding from the Jack and Amy Norworth Fund, The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Awards program grants cash prizes to Concert Music composers up to 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition.  These composers may be American citizens, permanent residents, or students possessing US Student Visas. 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. 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.

The judges for the 2017 ASCAP Morton Gould Awards were ASCAP member composers Samuel Adler, Valerie Coleman, Daniel Felsenfeld, Martin Kennedy, Lowell Liebermann, Daniel Trueman, Matthew Van Brink, and Aleksandra Vrebalov.