Prize Recipients

he Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University proudly announces the 2019 Commission winners. After reviewing 276 submissions from 28 countries, the judging panel awarded Bekah Simms of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the 2019 Barlow Prize for $12,000 to compose a major new work for Pierrot Ensemble with percussion and electronics. Dr. Simms hails from St. John’s, Newfoundland but is currently Toronto-based. JUNO Award-nominated composer Bekah Simms’ varied output has been heralded as “nuanced and complex” (NOW Magazine) and “cacophonous, jarring, oppressive — and totally engrossing!” (CBC Music). Her music has been widely broadcast in Canada and the United States; performed across Canada, in over a dozen American states, Italy, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, and the UK and interpreted by a diverse range of top-tier performers including Esprit Orchestra, Continuum Contemporary Music, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Madawaska Quartet, Ensemble Paramirabo, TorQ Percussion Quartet, and Duo Concertante. Dr. Simms has been the recipient of over 25 awards and prizes, including the 2017 Toronto Emerging Composer Award and the 2018 Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music. Her work “Granitic” was nominated for the 2019 JUNO Award for Classical Composition of the Year.