2023 Annual Report
2023 Winners
-
Toggle ItemPrize Winner
Viet Cuong The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University proudly announces commission winners for 2023.
After reviewing 454 submissions from 46 countries, the judging panel awarded Viet Cuong of Las Vegas, Nevada, the $15,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for solo guitar (nylon string), to be premiered by a consortium of international performers: Ahmed Dickinson, Martha Masters, Meng Su, and Xuefei Yang.Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the music of American composer Viet Cuong has been performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Eighth Blackbird, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Atlanta Symphony, Sandbox Percussion, Albany Symphony, PRISM Quartet, and Dallas Winds, among many others. He is currently the California Symphony’s Young American Composer-in-Residence, the Pacific Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence, and serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Cuong holds degrees from Princeton University (MFA/PhD), the Curtis Institute of Music (AD), and Peabody Conservatory (BM/MM).
2023 Barlow Prize Honorable Mention
The judges also granted Luis Ramírez of Toronto, Canada, the distinction of Honorable Mention.
Born and raised in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Luis Ramírez (b.1992) is a Mexican-Canadian composer currently pursuing a doctorate with Randolph Peters at York University. He has received commissions from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Trio Kalysta, and GroundSwell, was chosen as a composer fellow for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in 2020, and he was recently commissioned for a second time by the TSO as part of their 2022/23 NextGen Composers program.
-
Toggle ItemPremieres and Performances
Click on an image for more information regarding premieres and performances of pieces written by Barlow recipients.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=data-content-type="event"Christopher Trapani's "The Color of Where You Can Never Go"
7:00 PMFriday, April 07overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment= -
Toggle ItemChair Report
2023 was another successful year for the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at BYU. We had 632 composers submit applications from 46 countries around the world. The talented Viet Cuong was selected from over 450 prize applications as the 2023 Barlow Prize winner. Competition was so tight that we were compelled to provide Luis Ramirez a Barlow Prize Honorable Mention as well. Viet Cuong will compose a new work for solo guitar that will be premiered by renowned guitarists Ahmed Dickinson, Martha Masters, Meng Su, and Xuifei Yang.
Additionally, from 178 General and Latter-Day Saints applications, 12 composers received commissions to create new music for ensembles as varied as A Roomful of Teeth, Ensemble Kompopolex, Low Frequency Trio, The Braeburn Brass, and The Dream Unfinished.
We bid a fond farewell to two excellent advisors in 2023, Benjamin Taylor and Chen Yi. Their significant combined experience, in collaboration with fellow advisors, resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being awarded to worthy composers around the world. Chen Yi provided a tremendous spirit of acceptance and encouragement, along with many insightful recommendations for performers, consortium partners, and new advisors. Ben was counted on to bring his unique, positive energy to all his interactions with the Endowment (and not just in those morning mountain runs). We wish both Ben and Chen Yi well in all their future endeavors -- they will be sorely missed.
Our two new advisors in 2023 were Xi Wang and Juri Seo. They were both such a pleasure to work with, and while Xi Wang was unable to fill a full term on the Board of Advisors, we are thrilled to have Juri continue with us for the next three years. Juri is a Korean-American composer and pianist, as well as an Associate Professor of Music and Director of Graduate Studies (Composition) at Princeton University.
We are pleased to see the legacy of Milton and Gloria Barlow continuing and growing in such positive and diverse ways. We are so grateful that the combined efforts of all involved with this wonderful endowment are having such a tremendous impact on new music nationally and internationally.
-
Toggle ItemIntern Reports
Cade Singleton I am grateful for the amazing opportunity I had to participate in the Barlow Endowment judging session this year at Snowbird.
As an intern, while not directly involved in the judging process, spending time around the experienced composers and musicians who were judging taught me much about the process. Even amazing composers are just people like the rest of us with experiences, emotions, and thoughts, and the ability to put those perspectives into the music is important to craft a piece that really touches people and stands out above the rest. This judging experience provided wonderful insight into the use of emotion and character in music.
An impressive part of the process was the high quantity of top-quality submissions, and several artists that can create something new, sophisticated, emotional, and deserving of this prize. We got to a point in the final round where, as one judge put it, “We are at a point where no matter who we choose, every person on this board is perfectly qualified and skilled enough to be deserving of the prize.” That’s an inspiration for my own submissions to grants and competitions in the future. These artists that didn’t come home with the prize still put forth very strong pieces that were debated, perfectly worthy and good, and got intensely reviewed and seen by judges of importance and caliber. This shows me that just because I don’t win something doesn’t mean that my effort wasn’t good or that my work is insufficient.
There is so much more that I learned, the amazing musicians I met, and all the inspiration to create art that I received from this experience. I am very grateful for the Barlow family and their huge contribution to the artistic world, and I plan to apply for this endowment in coming years and support the arts in whatever way I can in the future. The assistance from the Barlow family and the impact it has had on my career is something I will be forever grateful for.
Eleanor Smith Working as an intern for the 2023 Barlow Endowment was a remarkable experience, and I’m grateful to the Barlow family for providing such an extraordinary opportunity.
One of my favorite parts of the judging process was meeting professional composers and performers from around the world. While working with these judges, I had the chance to learn more about their personal and professional lives. Through these conversations, I became more familiar with the music industry and countless career opportunities available.
During the judging process, I also had the chance to view a wide range of diverse submissions. As the judges carefully examined each entry, I compared their feedback to my own thoughts about the pieces, making note of the similarities and differences in our observations. I especially took note of how they viewed orchestration, playability, and form, and considered how I could apply this feedback in my own work.
Watching the judges narrow down the final few submissions was especially eye-opening. I asked several judges what they were looking for in a winning entry, and each one gave a different set of criteria. Although some judges had conflicting opinions, the discussions were always respectful, and were an excellent model of creative collaboration and compromise. I came away from these discussions with a greater ability to think critically about the music I encounter and create.
Jinxin Fu My experience as a student intern for the Barlow Competition at Snowbird is one of the highlights of my life. I am glad that I made the choice to seize this precious opportunity. It was a great time, and I learned a lot from the judging process.
One of the greatest things about being an intern is that I had the opportunity to listen to the judges’ comments on the submitted pieces. It is very interesting to reflect on the difference between my notes and their opinions. I was too focused on the details instead of making it a habit to feel the whole formal structure as well as the motion and the goal of music when listening or thinking. The judges care about the technique but they also value if the music moves the listener as there are many composers that do a great job with technique. This insight will help me stay on track; we cannot just write beautiful sound for the sake of beautiful sound only, but it is the satisfying development and the close connection between the dramatic design and the composer’s thoughts that makes a piece make sense and stand long, and the originality plays a significant role in helping the music distinguish itself.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Barlow family. This life-changing experience exposed me to people and opportunities I never could have imagined. The things I learned and the conversations I had here were thought-provoking and greatly enhanced my confidence in staying in my career path as a composer.
Quinton Porter This was an extraordinary experience, especially for an undergraduate composition student. Observing the discussions that take place during a judging session for a composition competition was particularly enlightening, not only because it reveals what judges generally look for in a piece of music, but because it is demonstrative of what the very best composers and performers value in music. They excel at what they do because of what they have determined to be important in their own music, and this knowledge can help me to follow in their footsteps and become a better composer and musician.
It was also really cool to be able to listen to all of the submissions. It helped me start to understand what I value in a piece of music. It was interesting to see how my opinions of the various composer’s submitted pieces stacked up against those of the judges, and I felt very validated when many of my opinions and favorites matched theirs.
Lastly, it was neat and a bit intimidating to be able to spend time with the judges in a more casual setting. I wish I had spent more time talking to them because the conversations that I did have revealed both the musical and non-musical facets of the lives of great composers and performers. Beyond just the delight of having these conversations, it was cool to see the behind-the-scenes of great music. I will have to figure out which of those facets are worth applying to my life.
I feel very privileged and blessed to have had this opportunity, even more so to have had it twice. My gratitude goes out to everyone who made this possible!
Samuel Erickson I am grateful for my experience with this internship. It was an opportunity beyond anything I could have expected, and I am honored to have been involved. My thanks go out to the Barlow family for making this all possible.
My overall experience as an intern for the Barlow Endowment was thoroughly enlightening. It was a select group of judges, which led to a rather close-knit environment, and as such much of my learning was surprisingly direct and personally applicable. I was given many opportunities to connect with fellow musicians, whether they were seasoned professionals serving as judges or my peers amongst the interns. I was able to speak directly with industry professionals who were very gracious in answering my questions and offering advice.
During the discourse in the competition, I heard a variety of insights that I can apply to my music. My notes were myriad, but among them were the following:- A lot of professionals crave conventional ideas like a solid melody or rhythm, so long as they’re made to feel fresh.
- Similarly, developing a clear personal voice and personality in my music is imperative to sounding unique.
- Show care for the score. A well-presented piece matters to performer and critic alike.
- Having a clear development and form is impressive. If the listener skips a minute ahead and is hearing the same thing, that’s not a great sign.
- When called upon to write for a specific instrument or genre, seek to know it well, as idiomatic writing is impressive.
- Even the more debated or unanswered questions can be valuable for learning, such as: What is originality? What makes music sound new? What is accessibility, and what is its importance?
Thank you so much to the Barlow family for this one-of-a-kind experience!
-
Toggle ItemPersonnel
Board of Advisors
Kevin Anthony Kevin Patrick Anthony, with a PhD from the University of California, Irvine in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology, is a music composer, electronicist, and artist who blends traditional composition with modern technology. His academic background includes degrees from Brigham Young University Idaho (BMA) and Brigham Young University (MA in Music Composition), underlining a strong foundation in music and creativity. Kevin's work explores various aspects of technology and art, focusing on areas like digital signal processing, AI, virtual reality, and motion-to-music translation. He is passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration. His recent career highlights include performances at national and international conferences such as NIME, SEAMUS, and the EMM annual festival. Kevin's compositions have also been featured via award-winning film at the EDM Dance Film Festival, Toronto Lift-off Film Festival, and the New York Arts and Entertainment Festival. Collaborations with notable groups like Hub New Music and the BYU Singers have been particularly rewarding.
Miguel del Águila Three-time Grammy nominated American composer Miguel del Águila creates distinctive, innovative modern classical music highly influenced by his Latin American roots. A prominent voice in 20th and 21st-Century music, he remains a vital influence in contemporary classical music, with 140 compositions that infuse a new musical diversity into the modern chamber and orchestral music repertoire. His creative, rhythm-driven works blend tradition with modernity with drama and nostalgic nods to his South American heritage. His music, recorded in over sixty CD albums, enjoys hundreds of live performances yearly, earning him acclaim like “brilliant and witty” (NY Times), “sonically dazzling” (LA Times), “disarmingly genial”(SF Sentinel) and “expressive and dramatic”(American Record Guide). Thousands of soloists, ensembles and orchestras commissioned and perform his music worldwide. Besides three Grammy nominations, he received a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for his Wind Quintet No.2 (also recorded by Windsync), New Music USA’s Music Alive and Magnum Opus, Copland Foundation awards among many others. He is 2023-2024 Composer in residence for Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Music Festival. Three new albums with his works were released in 2023 including Cuarteto Latinoamericano recording of his piano quintets for Urtext Digital Classics.
Julián Mansilla Julián Mansilla serves as a Professor of Music at the Conservatory of Music of Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
From teaching, among his activities, he continues organizing the festival: “Che Bandoneón!” in his hometown, where he develops concerts and classes that seek to expand the repertoire and dissemination of the bandoneon. Over the past few years he has made progress in creating compositions and educational materials that increase access to this instrument.
As a composer he continues with his project “Buscando caminos” where he focuses many of his compositions through his group Napostá quartet. During 2023 he was able to perform various concerts with his group, sharing his music with other composers such as Sergio Natali (Grupo Tabú) or the special participation of the violinist Monte Belknap (BYU) in Argentina.
This year he concludes working on a double concerto for bandoneón & french horn and orchestra, which he hopes to premiere in 2024 together with the french horn player Laurianne Gebel De Gebhardt.
Juri Seo Juri Seo, Associate Professor of Music at Princeton University, is a Korean-American composer and pianist. Her compositions merge many of the fascinating discoveries from the past century—in particular the expanded timbral palette and unorthodox structure—with functional tonality, counterpoint, and classical form. She is a Guggenheim fellow and a recipient of a Koussevitzky Commission from the Library of Congress. 2024 saw the Carrier Records release of Toy Store, a large-scale work for violin and electronics composed for violinist Jinjoo Cho; performances of Three Imaginary Chansons by the JACK Quartet in Melbourne, London, and Dublin; and multiple consortium premieres of Birds, Bees, Electric Fish all over the United States. She is looking forward to the premieres of her Twelve Preludes for Marimba and Lux, Lumen, Splendor for piano four-hands this summer. She is currently working on a septet to be presented in Seoul in December by the Ilshin Foundation.
Dr. Benjamin Taylor Benjamin Dean Taylor is an award-winning composer of contemporary concert music. His energetic, adventurous music provides a uniquely refreshing sonic experience for performers and audiences alike. Trained as a trumpet player and pianist, he performs with and writes music for chamber ensembles, jazz combos and big bands, wind bands, orchestras, choirs, and experimental ensembles. As a sought-after composer for wind band, Taylor has been commissioned by over 100 band directors of players at all educational levels. Much of his music includes electronic elements - from prerecorded sounds to live, interactive electronics and video.
Passionate about inspiring the rising generation of composers, he is the founder and executive director of Music Creators Academy, a yearly summer program that teaches musical creativity in a virtual setting. He also serves as the Program Director for the Indiana University Jacobs Composition Academy and is a member of the Blue Dot Collective. He
Highlights from 2023 include world premieres of "Aurum Tetra: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet" by Assembly Saxophone Quartet (Michigan), "Towards the Stars" for wind ensemble (Minnesota), "Chunk of Plumbing" an unaccompanied work for solo trumpet commissioned by a consortium of professional trumpet players (multiple locations including Texas, Tennessee, and Colorado) "Metal Lizard Shift", for drum set and euphonium (multiple locations including Connecticut, Michigan, and Georgia) and "Player One Press Start" for young concert band and audio track commissioned by a consortium of 35 bands (multiple locations including Germany, Canada, Indiana, Texas, New York, Illinois, Arizona, Hawaii, and California). Speaking engagements included a presentation about entrepreneurship at the Ultimate Music Business Summit, multiple masterclasses at St. Mary's University as a guest composer in residence, podcast interviews on "Band is Everything" and "Everything Band", an article published by the Center for Latter Day Saint Arts, and many in-person and virtual clinics with grade school level band programs across the world.
Dr. Taylor resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and seven children. When he isn't composing you'll find him running ultramarathons in the mountains, or doing burpees in the backyard.
Xi Wang Xi Wang serves as an Associate Professor of Music Composition at the Meadow School of Arts of Southern Methodist University. Her original concert music has been commissioned and performed worldwide by notable orchestras and ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Voices of Change, Soli Chamber Ensemble, among others. Xi Wang is the recipient the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts award, Meet the Composer, New Music USA, American Music Center, and MacDowell Colony residency. Xi Wang's music education started at the age of five. She received her B.M. from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, M.M. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and D.M.A. from Cornell University. Xi Wang received the Rotunda Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Southern Methodist University.
Consortium Judges
data-content-type=""
Ahmed Dickinson
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=data-content-type=""
Martha Masters
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=data-content-type=""
Mario To
Representative for Meng SuoverrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=data-content-type=""
Steven Goss
Representative for Zuefei YangoverrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=Guest Judges
data-content-type=""
Jeiran Hasan
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=data-content-type=""
Jessica Rudman
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=Barlow Board of DirectorsChair
Ed AdamsFamily Representative
Nancy Barlow CoxVice Chair
Diane ReichFinancial Officer
Thaylene RogersExecutive Director
Dan BradshawAdministrator
Francie Jenson
