2004 Annual Report

The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University is pleased to announce commission winners for 2004. After reviewing 362 composer applications from around the world, the judging panel awarded Judith Bingham from London, England the Barlow Prize. The judging panel also granted Francis Pott from Winchester, England the distinction of Honorable Mention in this competition.

Ms. Bingham studied composition and singing at the Royal Academy of Music. As a singer with the BBC Singers from 1983-1996, she honed her individual choral style, and quickly became one of Britain’s most sought-after composers. Her compositions and renown now reach audiences around the globe.

For more information about Judith Bingham, Barlow Prize Winner, consult her website.

Todd Coleman’s Exquisite Corpse premiered at the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts at Grinnell College in Iowa on December 11, 2004. The piece was performed by guest cello soloist Florent Renard Payen.

Claude Baker’s Tableaux Funebres for Piano and String Quartet, commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Louisville in celebration of its fifth anniversary, was premiered on April 25, 2004 by Ursula Oppens and the Pacifica String Quartet. The work was subsequently selected as the winner of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s Seventh Annual Composition Contest and was performed by that group on February 7, 2005. Baker’s Maerchenbilder, commissioned jointly by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, premiered on May 6 and 7, 2005. Mr. Baker has also recently been named as the Composer-in-Residence for the 2005 EAMA (European American Musical Alliance) Summer Program held from July 1-31 at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.

Murray Boren is the Composer-in-Residence at Brigham Young University where he also teaches composition and music theory. His compositions include 10 operas, over 100 chamber works and numerous band and orchestra pieces. He also writes extensively for the theater. His most recent scores were for productions of “Antigone” and “Nathan the Wise.” Recent commissions include a harp concerto for the American Harp Society’s 2004 Convention, choral works for the New York Summer School of the Arts 2004 program, and both an opera and a song cycle about Joseph Smith, Jr. recordings of his compositions are available on Tantara Records.

Lansing D. McLoskey’s term on the Barlow Board of Advisors commenced January 1, 2004. His music has been performed across the U.S. and in 10 other countries on four continents. Among his many grants and commissions are those from the N.E.A., American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, and the National Foundation for the Arts. He has written for such ensembles as The Hilliard Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, The New Millennium Ensemble, and has received over three dozen awards for his music. Recent and upcoming projects include a short work for pianist Grant Johannesen, a new work for The Calyx Trio, a choral work for Ensemble 1521, and a collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Ann Steuernagel.

Bruce Polay was recently selected as the 2004 Illinois Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras for an unprecedented second time. He has upcoming guest conducting invitations to China, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and Ukraine. Two commissions, Suite on Catalonian Folksongs, will be premiered on tour with the Chamber Orchestra of the Emporda, and one for a two-piano work will be premiered in San Francisco. Dr. Polay’s Illumination for orchestra (2003), commissioned by the Galesburg Symphony Society, premiered with him conducting the Knox-Galesburg Symphony in April, 2004. Additionally, Bruce will make two compact discs: one of the piano works of Fridrich Bruk (Finland) to be distributed by Sony Classical, as well as one of his selected solo piano works and chamber music, including Semi-Suite for Piano Trio, featuring the Knox-Galesburg Symphony Trio.

Melinda Wagner, a Pulitzer prize-winning composer, recently heard the premiere performance of her piano concerto, Extremity of Sky. The piece was composed for Emanuel Ax and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with support from the Prince Charitable Trusts. Current projects include a song-cycle for soprano, Christine Brandes, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, chamber works for Network for New Music and Orchestra 2001, and an overture for the New York Pops. Ms. Wagner will be Composer- in-Residence at the 2005 Vail Valley Music Festival where she will hear the Dallas Symphony perform 57/7 DASH (for percussion and orchestra).