POLYPHONOS 2012 NATIONAL (U.S.) COMPOSER:
Philip Wharton - New York, New York
Combining art, music, poetry and dance is Philip Wharton's (b. 1969) specialty.
His 2007 chamber symphony, Passing Season, used titles from his
grandfather Orville M. Running's woodcut prints. His narrated symphonic poem on
the book, The Giant Jam Sandwich, captured the author's verse and the
illustrator's design so well that author Janet Burroway sent Philip another
poem. The resulting work for voice and piano trio on her story, The Perfect
Pig, was premiered in September 2008 to an audience further delighted by
seeing a dancer using constumes—tickling both eyes and ears.
This past season saw the premieres of his first symphony (commissioned by the
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra for their 80th anniversary season),
The Truck on the Track (on the book by Janet Burroway & John Vernon
Lord), and Birdsongs for voice and piano (on texts by Carol
Gilbertson). Other seasons saw performances by the Santa Fe Opera (Two
Saintes Caught in the Same Act as part of their apprentice scenes program),
the Grammy-nominated Borealis Wind Quintet (who commissioned his
Quintet) and the South Dakota Symphony.
More information can be found at the composer's web site:
http://www.philipwharton.com/
POLYPHONOS 2012 INTERNATIONAL COMPOSER:
Rita Ueda - Vancouver, British Columbia
Rita Ueda (b. 1963) is a Canadian composer, sound designer and music teacher in
Vancouver. Her recent works include Escape from the Evil Alien
Surfblasters for piano ensemble, Tokei no Oto Nimo (In the
Sound of a Clock) a choir piece for Musica Intima, and Still
Shaking from the Latte, a piano solo piece for Misuzu Kitazumi Burns. Her
as the snowflake returns to the sky for string orchestra was awarded
2nd prize in the 2010-2011 International Gustav Mahler Composition Competition.
As a sound designer, Rita has worked as director of sound for numerous films and
DVD titles such as Happy New Year, The Encyclopedia of British
Columbia, and Masks: Faces of the Pacific.
Rita was born in Hakodote, Japan, to a family of musicians, poets, artists and
engineers. She moved to Vancouver with her family in 1971. Rita studied
composition and sound design at Simon Fraser University and the California
Institute of the Arts. Her teachers include Rudolf Komoros, Rodney Sharman,
Wadada Leo Smith, Morton Subotnick, David Rosenboom and Barry Traux. She has
also taken short term studies with Lou Harrison, James Tenny and Earle Brown.
She now teaches piano and theory in her studio in Vancouver.
POLYPHONOS 2012 YOUNG COMPOSER:
Zachary Wadsworth - (USA) presently in Calgary, Alberta
Zachary Wadsworth (b. 1983) is a composer of contemporary art music for a
variety of forces, from art song and chamber orchestra to opera and orchestral
works. His recent song cylcle, Pictures of the Floating World, was
premiered at the Lincoln Center and his opera, Venus and Adonis, has
been taken on by five different companies since its composition in 2004. His
works have also been featured on National Public Radio's Performance
Today; published by E.C. Schirmer, PRB Productions, and Alliance Music
Publications; and performed by the Washington National Opera Chorus, and the
Yale Schola Cantorum. His music has been awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from
the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three ASCAP Morton Gould Young
Composers Awards, and first prize in the ASCAP Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song
Competition. Recordings of his choral works O Saving Victim and
Beati Quorum Remissae are available on the Gothic record label.
Zachary is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, and he
is currently pursuing a DMA in music composition at Cornell University. A native
of Richmond, Virginia, he currently lives in Calgary, Alberta.
More information can be found at the composer's web site:
http://www.zacharywadsworth.com/