We are thrilled to announce the results of our first ever Call for Scores!
We received 62 submissions, and the Board and Panel were impressed with each one. Three outstanding works have been chosen: two composers received Honorable Mention, and one received First Prize.
Check out more about our selected composers below.
First Prize
Ice Forms by Katerina Gimon
Of Ice Forms, Katerina says, “One of my favourite things about the winters growing up on Lake Ontario was the sight of the frozen lake. Each year, as temperatures dropped a layer of ice would form over the water, sometimes stretching as far as the eye could see, like a lake of glass – still, cold, and unyielding. When temperatures began to warm again, the ice would crack, breaking into separate sheets which would float and drift until they melted away. 'Ice Forms' is inspired by this remarkable process and the boundless beauty of frozen water.”
Ice Forms will be performed on our June 13 concert alongside Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony, Errollyn Wallen’s Mighty River, and Rene Orth’s Blur. Get your tickets now!
Named as one of Canada's ‘hot 30 classical musicians under 30’ by the CBC and coined a “new music maverick” by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; composer, improvisor, and vocalist Katerina Gimon is rapidly gaining repute as one of the most distinctive emerging voices in Canadian contemporary music composition. Katerina’s music has been described as “sheer radiance” (Campbell River Mirror), “imbued...with human emotion” (San Diego Story), and capable of taking listeners on a “fascinating journey of textural discovery” (Ludwig Van). Her works have been performed across Canada, the United States, and Europe at prominent events such as ACDA Conferences (National and Regional), Choral Canada’s Podium Conference, and as part of the Vancouver Opera Festival, as well as at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Orpheum Theatre. Recent commissions include new music for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the University of Montana, Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound, the Hamilton Children’s Choir, and the Orpheus Choir of Toronto. She is currently the composer-in-residence for female vocal ensemble Myriad and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
As a vocalist, Katerina performs as part of experimental mixed-media ensemble Chroma, of which she is a founding member (vocals, extended vocals, and electronics). This dynamic new music collective endeavours to explore the relationship between music, visual art, performance, composition and new technologies by blending experimental vocals, guitar, electronics and visuals to create immersive experiences. Chroma has recently begun venturing into the new and exciting world of virtual reality with an immersive VR album/experience currently in development.
Katerina holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of British Columbia ('17) and an Honours Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and Improvisation from Wilfrid Laurier University ('15). She has studied composition under Dorothy Chang, Keith Hamel, Stephen Chatman, Linda Catlin Smith, and Glenn Buhr; and voice under Vicki St. Pierre, James Westman, and Brian McIntosh.
Check out Katerina’s website for more about her.
Honorable Mention
Tijax by Emma Wilde
In Mayan astrology, the sign Tijax is represented by a double-edged sword. It is a symbol of cutting, separation and division – but also ultimately one of unity. Where one sword ends the other begins, their individuality blurred, their strength derived as much from one another as from the divisions they create in the world around them. For Emma Wilde, whose music often draws on mythology and legends from other world cultures, it is a symbol that fits in neatly with her self-confessed preoccupation with contrasts and juxtapositions.
Tijax is a work of contrasts – sectional, motivic and textural - as through Wilde has taken scissors to her score to create strips of material, each then placed back together. But the idea of the juxtaposition extends to the smaller scale too. Within these bold, contrasting sections – at first delicate and restrained, the next moment full of force and highly charged – themes become splintered into fragments, before even these tiny shards are cleaved in two. And when the orchestra at last seems to be gathering momentum, the woodwind and strings jostling together for the first time almost as one, it comes to a sudden and abrupt halt. Their unity is revealed as illusory, the orchestra crumbles to nothing and peters out; the violins ascend heavenwards, distant and otherworldly.
(Copyright: Jo Kirkbride for the London Symphony Orchestra)
Emma Wilde (b.1991) is a composer from Manchester, UK who is currently based in Mexico. She studied composition at the University of Manchester and was awarded a PhD in 2018. The rich culture, architecture and music of Mexico has influenced her recent works which often explore dramatic contrasts and feature driving rhythmic motifs.
Her music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra (Panufnik Scheme 2017), Britten Sinfonia (OPUS 2016), Psappha, members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. International festival appearances have included UNK New Music Festival 2018 (USA), Foro Internacional de Música Nueva 2017 (Mexico) and Horizon Festival of Arts and Culture 2017 (Australia).
Her string quartet Tijax was awarded the Premio Nuestra America 2017 in Mexico and her work, El Hilo del Tiempo, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and released internationally on NMC recordings. Upcoming engagements include a new choral work commissioned by Choir and Organ Magazine which will be premiered by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir during the St Andrews Voices Festival 2019 in Scotland, UK.
For more information about Emma Wilde’s compositions, visit her website.
Honorable Mention
Entry Point by Amy Brandon
Entry Point is an exploration of deep colour contrasts developing from a single pitch. It was premiered at Open Waters Festival 2019 by Symphony Nova Scotia.
Composer and guitarist Amy Brandon's pieces have been described as '... mesmerizing' (Musicworks Magazine), "Otherworldly and meditative ... a clashing of bleakness with beauty ..." (Minor Seventh) and '.. an intricate dance of ancient and futuristic sounds' (Miles Okazaki). Recent and upcoming 2018-19 events include premieres by Ekmeles (NYC - ICEBERG New Music), Chartreuse Trio (Music in Bloom, Indiana), Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Pro Coro (Banff Centre), trombonist Dale Sorensen, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble (PIVOT) as well as performances at Music in New Technologies (CAN) and New Music Edmonton.
She has received Canadian and international composition awards and honourable mentions from the ACWC, Central European String Quartet, Groundswell and RMN Classical (Europe). Her 2016 solo guitar and electronics album 'Scavenger' was nominated for regional awards including Music Nova Scotia and ECMAs in 2017/18. She has performed in Canada, the USA, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the UK and at several festivals including the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the Guitar Now Festival, Halifax Jazz Festival Spring Series, Something Else!, Sound Symposium, the International Society for Improvised Music, BeAST FeAST and the Open Waters Experimental Music Festival. She has been a resident at the Banff Centre, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts and a composer participant in Interplay with the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
In addition to performance and composition, she writes and presents academic work concerning music cognition, virtual reality, improvisation and the guitar. Holding degrees in jazz guitar performance and composition, Amy is currently completing an interdisciplinary PhD in music cognition at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has presented her work at conferences in Australia, USA, Switzerland, Hungary, the UK and at Berklee College of Music, Boston.
Visit Amy’s website here for more information about her work.
Many thanks to our reviewing panel: Dr. Erica Neidlinger (DePaul University), Dr. Kyong Mee Choi (Roosevelt University), and Catherine O’Shaughnessy (Chicago Fringe Opera).
And to all the composers who submitted work:
Thank you for sharing your pieces with us! We are so glad to have become acquainted with you, and we hope to work with you in the future. Thank you for taking the time to submit your work to our call!
We at 5th Wave Collective look forward to bringing many more new and undiscovered works to you in the future.
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