5th Annual Austin Symphony Sarah and Ernest Butler Texas Young Composers Concert presented by the Austin Symphony and Long Center for the Performing Arts takes place Thursday April 1, 2015 at 7:30 PM. The Austin Symphony invited young Texas composers, ages 18 & younger, to participate in the competition. Students submitted one full original (not an arrangement) orchestral composition up to 7 minutes long. Works used standard orchestral instrumentation and normal doublings: Flutes (Piccolo), Oboes (English Horn), Clarinets (Bass Clarinet), Bassoons (Contra), Horns, Trumpets, Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Harp, Piano and Strings. Works may not have been previously performed, recorded or published professionally.
Content Director John Clare had a chance to talk with some past prize winners of the Young Composer Competition. Composer Jared Beu says that the competition inspired him to write his first orchestral work. "I had floated the idea of an orchestra piece, but had never taken it seriously. And I decided that this would be a good opportunity to finally write for orchestra and get that experience."
Past prize winner, and a composer featured again this year is Sophie Mathieu. Her inspiration was from a family vacation in France. "I think reflected in my piece, Le Fort de Vaux, is the struggle that took place there, and the triumph."
Finally, past winner and composer Jack Roberts says the competition didn’t just inspire his compositional muse, but to decide his career path. "This competition was the defining thing that made me realize maybe I could be good at this."
The program Thursday night includes Austin Ali’s Blissful Nightmares; Alan Mackwell’s Uncompahgre; Timothy Dow’s Spring; Jeong Min Yoon’s A Child's Dream; Collin Cartwright’s 3arth; Jacob Wohleb’s Luminescence; Maximillien Hein’s Intenso y Tango; Sophie Mathieu’s Somnium; and Daniel Miller’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
Scholarships were awarded to the prize winners and Ali’s Blissful Nightmares was performed last January 2015 as part of the ASO High School Tour.
This year’s concert of young composers takes place Thursday, April 1st. Enter for your chance to win tickets to this special evening of music. More information can be found at Austin Symphony.org.
Look to the right of the post title above to find the orange audio play button to listen to the interview with Jared, Sophie, and Jack.
Photo: Sophie Mathieu in the KMFA Studios.