2001 Annual Report

2001 Report

I am pleased to announce two important developments that will impact the Barlow Endowment for years to come. First, the Board of Directors has decided to focus the LDS Composer Commissions each year. For 2002, that focus will be on young LDS composers. Applications received from LDS composers under the age of 35 will be given special consideration in 2002. The Endowment hopes this focus will encourage young LDS composers who are in the earlier phases of establishing themselves in the world of composition. Composers over the age of 35 are still encouraged to submit applications and will be considered as always.

The second development is the addition of $25,000 more, each year, for commissions. This welcome increase has come about through the capable efforts of Alice Barlow Jones, the Barlow family ex-officio member of the Board of Directors; and Newell Dayley, Chair of that Board. This new money will make it possible for the Endowment to offer more commissions to more composers.

We hope the unfolding of these two new developments will increase interest in the Endowment. Ultimately, both are designed to support composers and the creation of new music.

The Barlow Education Grant supports students and faculty of the BYU School of Music in their education and their professional endeavors in music composition.

2001 Report

Last year the Endowment provided scholarship money for eleven composition students, ranging from freshmen to masters candidates. Several of these students have now been welcomed into prestigious graduate composition programs elsewhere (e.g., Columbia); furthermore, one student is doing film soundtracks for a Utah firm, another is working with music for the Discovery Channel, and yet another recently won the composition contest for the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. We are so grateful that the Endowment makes it possible for so many gifted young composers to focus more intensely on their creative work.

While scholarships were the largest expenditure from the Education Grant, other funds were used to host some excellent guests. Avant-garde violinist Bodil Roerbech taught our students about writing for strings and also performed a stunning recital of new works for violin and electronics by contemporary European composers. One of the nation’s most respected theorists, Charles Burkhart, taught us all about formal devices. Noted American film composer Paul Chihara (whose two last assistants at UCLA were former Barlow scholarship recipients) taught the students about the complexities of writing for hire. And the outstanding percussion group Talujon not only taught us about percussion writing but also performed a brilliant evening recital that featured a newly commissioned work by new BYU faculty member, Steven Ricks.

Finally, faculty members not only received generous support for the composition and presentation of their work—e.g., making copies of scores and CDs to send to prospective performers—they also traveled, perhaps most notably in the case of Michael Hicks, who attended a six-day seminar with master composer and conductor Pierre Boulez at Carnegie Hall in May.

Our deepest gratitude, as always, to the Barlow Endowment for enabling the wonderful progress of composition in the BYU School of Music.