Frances
Richard, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers) Vice-President and Director of Concert
Music and Gary Hill, President of the CBDNA (College
Band Directors National Association), today jointly
announced the second bi-annual ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick
Fennell Prize winner. The competition, named for living
legend Frederick Fennell, ASCAP member and founder
of the CBDNA, was established to encourage gifted American
composers to create new works for Concert Band. The
winning work was selected via a juried national competition,
which attracted submissions from eligible composers
(between the ages of 18 and 30) from across the United
States.
The
$5000 Prize, for a wind ensemble work, has been awarded
to Yotam Haber, age 28, for "Espresso,” which
will be performed during the National CBDNA Conference
in New York City on February 24, 2005 by Rutgers University
Wind Ensemble at NYU’s Skirball Center. Haber
was commissioned to write “Espresso” by
Cornell University. The premiere was performed by the
Cornell University Wind Ensemble, conducted by David
Conn at Ithaca College in 2004. Haber is a 2004 ASCAP
Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award winner.
He has been a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center,
the Aspen Music Festival, and been in residence at
the Aaron Copland House, and the Atlantic Center for
the Arts. Haber received his Doctoral Degree from Cornell
University. Born in Holland, and a citizen of Israel,
Haber currently resides in New York City and is Information
Services Coordinator at the American Music Center.
Commenting on the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick
Fennell Prize, Dr. Fennell said: “So much of
my life has been concerned with the wind band and its
critical need for an ever growing repertory. This joint
project is something I could only dream of -- seventy
years ago -- and here it is, thanks to ASCAP and the
CBDNA.”
Gary Hill, President of the CBDNA said, "Today's
young composers will play a major role in determining
the future of concert music. CBDNA is, therefore, very
pleased to collaborate with ASCAP in recognizing and
encouraging fresh, creative voices through the Fennell
Prize."
Frances Richard of ASCAP said, “ASCAP takes great
pride in collaborating with the CBDNA to recognize
the outstanding young composers whose works are awarded
the Fennell Prize.”
Additional works selected for Special Distinction
and Honorable Mention by the Jury will be circulated
to ensembles performing at regional CBDNA conferences.
Recognized for Special Distinction:
Eric Knechtges, age 26, Lansing,
MI - “Broken
Silents” for wind ensemble.
Honorable Mention:
Joseph Eidson, age 22, Jefferson
City, MO - “Chadron” for
wind ensemble.
Eli Marshall, age 27, Montville,
ME - "Grand Laudations" for
concert band. Daniel Perttu, age 25, Columbus, OH - “Atop
Black Balsam” for wind ensemble.
Carl Schimmel, age 29, Wakefield,
RI - “The Blatherskite’s
Comeuppance” for wind ensemble.
The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2004 competition
were: Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, David Del Tredici,
and Melinda Wagner. The conductor jurors selected
by CBDNA were Thomas Duffy (Yale University) and
Charles
Peltz (New England Conservatory of Music).
ASCAP is the world’s largest performing rights
organization, with over 190,000 composers, authors
and publishers in the United States, representing
music of every variety and style. ASCAP is the only
U.S.
performing rights organization governed by and for
its members.
CBDNA members are devoted to the study, teaching,
and performance of music, with a particular focus
on music
created for the numerous kinds of wind bands found
throughout today's musical landscape.
Haber describes "Espresso"
Espresso was the first work I wrote in New York City.
It was written in a tiny studio just big enough for
an upright piano, a chair, a desk, and an espresso
machine - the bare necessities for a composer (Beethoven drank seventeen cups
a day). This dark, short, concentrated shot of a piece is concerned with the
development of a flitting, whirring motive first played by a pair of clarinets
and
then expanding out in both directions, always in instrumental pairs. A climax
is reached, and after a brass interruption, a set of colorful, mercurial variations
follow. The work ends with a calm coda of weightless whispers…an aftertaste,
faintly recalling flavors just experienced.
