The UMKC Conservatory is proud to announce that composition students are winners in the 2021 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, which "encourage talented young creators of concert music ranging in age from 13 to 30."
Curators' Distinguished Professor of Music Composition and Composition Area Coordinator Paul Rudy notes, "This is a remarkable achievement for our program. It reflects the collaborative nature of composition and of our whole Conservatory."
Paul Berlinsky [MM 2021] won the top prize, Leo Kaplan Award, with his woodwind quintet The Inner Light, which was written in his first semester in the UMKC MM composition program in 2019 in Prof. Yotam Haber's composition course, for the UMKC Fellowship Ensembles Composer-in-Residence program and premiered by the Plaza Winds (coached by Prof. Celeste Johnson) at the UMKC Composers Guild concert on 11/21/19, recorded in White Recital Hall.
Siqi Wang [MM 2021] has his winning work: Three Bagatelles for Wind Quintet (composed in 2018 as one of his submissions for UMKC MM admission). He will enter the DMA composition program Fall 2021.
Hao Zou [MM 2021] has his winning work: Song on the Wind for orchestra (composed in 2019, which was read and premiered by the UMKC Symphony Orchestra on March 6, 2020 as the winner of the 2019 UMKC Kemner Prize Composition Competition for Orchestra Work. He will enter the DMA composition program Fall 2021.
Brady Wolff's substantial String Quartet (composed in 2020). He is a current freshman composition student.
Aaron S. Ricucci-Hill received an honorable mention with his woodwind quintet Colors of Pride, which was composed in 2020 as a part of the UMKC Fellowship Ensembles Composer-in-Residence program for the Plaza Winds. It was also written in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community during these uncertain times, looking toward bright horizons.
Congratulations to the students and the UMKC Conservatory Composition faculty: Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, Yotam Haber.