EarRelevant Staff | 16 AUG 2024
PRPVO, Utah— The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University has announced the recipients of its 2024 commissions. Canadian-American composer Karim Al-Zand was awarded the $15,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for organ. The piece will be performed by a consortium that includes Chelsea Chen, Don Cook, Janette Fishell, and Bradley Hunter Welch.
Al-Zand, a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, is recognized for his eclectic body of work, which includes solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral compositions. His music, praised for its striking beauty, draws inspiration from various sources, including world folk traditions, myths, and his Middle Eastern heritage. Al-Zand is also a founding member of Musiqa, a contemporary music group based in Houston.
In addition to the Barlow Prize, the Endowment awarded $80,000 in commissions to ten other composers from a pool of 197 applicants. The selected composers and their respective ensembles or musicians are:
- Juhi Bansal (Nightingale Vocal Ensemble)
- Gala Flagello (Thalea String Quartet)
- Pascal Le Boeuf ([Switch ~ Ensemble])
- Scott Lee (Faltirons Chamber Music Festival)
- Andrew Maxfield (Utah Symphony)
- Alyssa Morris (OboeBass!)
- Niko Schroeder (Kali Ensemble)
- Derrick Skye (Sarah Rommel)
- Joseph Sowa (Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra)
- Shelley Washington (Sybarite5)
The judging panel for this year’s awards included the Endowment’s Board of Advisors and guest judges Mike Cottle and Nathan Haines. Representatives from the organ performance consortium also participated in selecting the Barlow Prize winner.
The Endowment has announced that the 2025 Barlow Prize will focus on a new work for wind symphony, with further details to be released soon. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Barlow Endowment for Music Composition: barlow.byu.edu/
- Barlow Endowment for Music Composition: alzand.com/
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