For Immediate Release: January 11, 2008
Seattle chorus announces its third annual POLYPHONOS competition
The Esoterics solicits applications for 2009 composition competition
while 2008 winners prepare commissions
SEATTLE - Begun in 2006, POLYPHONOS (the Greek word for "of many voices") is The Esoterics' annual competition for a cappella choral composition and was established as part of the group's mission to support and promote contemporary choral music. Each year, the group awards three commissions: one for an American composer, one for an international composer, and one for a young composer (under age 30). Each winner receives $1,000 for his/her piece as well as funding to travel to Seattle to hear the work performed.
On January 15th, 2008, the 2009 POLYPHONOS competition will begin as the group solicits applications from music institutes and schools from across the globe. Each applicant submits a portfolio of three a cappella choral pieces, and The Esoterics' founding director, along with a select board of composers, directors, and experienced choral singers review the submissions. In January of last year, The Esoterics received 61 POLYPHONOS applications from composers age 19 to 75, from such far-flung locales as Poland, Brazil, and Scotland. In July 2007, three deserving composers received notice that they had been selected as the 2008 POLYPHONOS awardees.
The 2008 national winner, Nathan Stumpff, resides in Liberty, Maine and received his Master of Music under a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Fellowship at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Nils Vigeland and Julia Wolfe. As a Fulbright Scholar, Stumpff traveled to Reykjavík, Iceland to work with composer Mist Þorkelsdóttir and in 2006, Stumpff won 1st prize in the Cappella Gloriana Competition for Composers. In addition to works for a cappella chorus, Stumpff composes for accompanied solo voice, string quartet, and full orchestra; he is also an active conductor and performer (filling many roles, from solo vocalist to hammered dulcimer player). For more information, please see the composer's web site: lostloonmusic.com.
The 2008 international winner applied to POLYPHONOS from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Leonard Enns is a Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel University College where he has taught Conducting, Music Theory, and Composition since joining the faculty in 1977. Enns is a prolific choral composer; in 2006, the Elora Festival Singers recorded a full CD, "Northword," consisting entirely of his works. In addition, Enns has composed instrumental and orchestral works, and his most recent CD, "Hammer and Wind" includes an accumulation of Enns' chamber music, performed primarily by staff from Conrad Grebel. Please visit grebel.uwaterloo.ca/contact/enns.shtml to find out more.
Scott Perkins, the young composer awardee, is both a tenor soloist and enthusiast of early and contemporary choral music. While pursuing his doctoral degree in Composition and Theory at Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York, he serves as Assistant Director and regular performer with Christ Church Schola Cantorum and is President of Ossia, Eastman's student-run new music ensemble. Perkins' works have been performed throughout North America and Europe, and have won major prizes, including a BMI Student Composer Award. For more about Scott Perkins and his works, visit www.scottperkins.org.
The Esoterics looks forward to performing these three composers' commissioned works at QUINDECIMA, the group's 15th Anniversary performance in April of 2008. Apropos to an anniversary event, the POLYPHONOS awardees were asked to compose pieces based on the concept of "marking time." The composers have selected the texts for the pieces and the Esoterics begin rehearsals of the works in February. In, I saw eternity, Leonard Enns sets a poem by Henry Vaughn, and Nathan Stumpff has chosen Walt Whitman's O me! O life! for his commission. Baudelaire's L'invitation au voyage is the inspiration for Scot Perkins' composition, and he has elected to set the English translation by Richard Wilbur.
The Esoterics has presented dozens of local and international premieres, and has tackled the most challenging works of 20th and 21st century choral repertoire. Now in its fourteenth season with founding director Eric Banks, the ensemble has drawn national and international praise for presenting the many styles that comprise contemporary choral music. In 2001, 2003, and 2006, The Esoterics' commitment to innovative concert repertoire was nationally recognized when ASCAP and Chorus America granted the ensemble its coveted Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. The ensemble was also honored to be selected as the only North American chorus to compete at the 2000 International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland, the 2001 International Choral Festival in Tolosa, Spain, and the 2006 Harald Andersén International Choir Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
If you have additional questions about the POLYPHONOS competition or The Esoterics (media contact only), please contact Bayta Maring ().