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Masterprize
Tel: +44 (0)20 7233 0111 Masterprize site designed by Room101 Ltd |
Nationality
British Born 14 November 1973 Finalist work Marine - à travers
les arbres Publisher Masterprize
ANDREW MARCH - WINNER
Born in Warwickshire in 1973, Andrew March started to compose at the age of eight, writing his first orchestral piece at the age of ten. At fourteen his composition for brass ensemble won a West Midlands-based competition that was later performed at a gala festival in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music with Jeremy Dale Roberts, graduating in 1996. That year he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize (the Society commissioned Beethoven's 9th Symphony among other famous works). He was also awarded the United Music Publishers Prize for his piece Easdale, and on graduating, was one of the college's eleven students to receive the prestigious Constant & Kit Lambert Award. Having made endless sketches of what might eventually be the next orchestral work, it was upon hearing about Masterprize that his ideas began to crystallise and gather momentum. It then took him a further eight months to complete the work which he says he could not have done without the incentive of Masterprize.
News since Masterprize 1998
March's winning piece, Marine - à travers les arbres, has received no less then eleven international performances, as well as several broadcasts, including two with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio under Mischa Damev in May 1998. Through Masterprize he met Peter and Patrick Jablonski (mentored by Vladimir Ashkenazy), for whom he composed Nymphèas, a piece for two pianos - it was premièred at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and has been performed five times in Scandinavia.
The European Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy included the piece in their European tour in 1998, which concluded with a televised Proms performance from the Royal Albert Hall, for which March was interviewed.
Since then March has completed the Quincentenary Prize Commission for the Worshipful Company of Musicians. The Prize was part of the celebrations of the Company's 500th anniversary in the year 2000. His piece, entitled A Stirring in the Heavenlies was premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra under Richard Hickox at the Barbican Centre, London on 17 December 2000.
March has also participated in the filming of a documentary about composers and modern music for German ZDF TV. There have been further broadcasts of his work by Radio 3 and Suddeutscher Rundfunk.
VICTORIA BORISOVA-OLLAS - 2nd prize |
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Nationality Russia (Sweden domiciled) Born 21 December 1969 Finalist work Wings of the Wind Publisher Masterprize
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Victoria Borisova-Ollas was born in Russia in 1969. She received her entire musical education in Moscow, famous for its great tradition in symphonic composition. She read composition, piano and music theory at the Central Music School, and then went on to study composition at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatoire. In 1992 she moved to Stockholm, Sweden where she is currently based. Here she was studying for her Ph.D. in composition at Malmö and Stockholm College of Music. During the last few years, all of her orchestral compositions have been performed by orchestras in Sweden, Russia and Finland. Victoria Borisova-Ollas was attracted to Masterprize by the much needed scope it gave here for symphonic composition. She wrote Wings of the Wind especially for Masterprize.
News since Masterprize 1998
Shortly after the Masterprize Final, Wings of the Wind was selected for performance by Mariss Jansons and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as part of the Pittsburgh 2000 series. It has also been broadcast several times on Swedish Radio, and in March 2000 its performance by the Polish Radio Orchestra was broadcast. Since 2001 Wings of the Wind has been performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. It has received very favourable reviews by leading newspapers in Sweden and Finland.
Since 1998 Borisova-Ollas has composed several chamber pieces which have already been premiered in Stockholm, Gothenborg, Helsinki and Paris. Her composition Roosters in Love, written especially for The Rascher Saxophone Quartet, was premiered in February 2001 in Ljublana. She has just completed her First Symphony.
DANIELE GASPARINI - 3rd prize |
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Nationality Italian Born 6 December 1975 Finalist work Through the Looking Glass Publisher Masterprize
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At 21 years of age, Daniele Gasparini is the youngest Masterprize finalist. He began to compose in early childhood and was awarded his Composition Diploma at the Pesaro Conservatoire when he was just twenty. With a further diploma in classical studies behind him, he has now embarked on a philosophy course at Libera University. At the same time Gasparini is studying conducting in Pesaro. Besides classical composition, Gasparini has composed music for film, advertising and documentaries. When asked why he entered Masterprize, Daniele stated the main reason was the chance of reaching a wider audience through real international recognition. "Too often there is an enormous gap between the music-loving public and composers who seem to write music only for themselves," he said. "In my view the important thing is to compose works which can bring composers into contact with the public and not involve only the 'experts'."
News since Masterprize 1998
Through the Looking Glass was performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2000. Since becoming a finalist in Masterprize, Gasparini has won three other international composition prizes. He has also composed several pieces on texts by Giacomo Leopardini for the bi-centenary celebrations of the poet's birth, as well as a work for wind quartet for the Foundation Arena of Verona, and an operetta with his conservatoire tutor, which was premiered in November 2000 at the Bonci Theatre in Cesena. He is currently teaching Harmony and Composition at the Musical Institute "Pergolesi" in Ancona.
STEPHEN HARTKE |
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Nationality American Born 6 July 1952 Finalist work The Ascent of the Equestrian in a Balloon Publisher MMB Music Inc., St Louis, Missouri
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Stephen Hartke was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1952 and grew up in New
York City where he began his career as a professional boy chorister. He was
awarded degrees in composition at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and
the University of California, Santa Barbara. Among recent awards and honours
he has received a 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 1997 Stoeger Award from
the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre and the Rome Prize Fellowship.
Hartke's music is widely performed both in the United States and abroad,
with presentations by orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the
National Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Philharmonic and the Canadian
National Arts Centre Orchestra. Hartke is based in Los Angeles where he is
Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. Several
of Hartke's works are available on CD and his music is published by MMB
Music Inc., of St Louis, Missouri. Hartke grew up loving modernism but
admits that its combative stance left the public feeling excluded. He feels
however that 20th century music is done a disservice as it is branded
'scandalous' or difficult. “It's time to stop demonising the
20
News since Masterprize 1998
The Ascent of the Equestrian in a Balloon has been performed by several orchestras, including presentations by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and at the 2002 Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival under Stefan Asbury. Among recent commissions, Stephen Hartke has composed a clarinet concerto for the renowned American clarinetist Richard Stolzman, and two extended works for the première vocal group, the Hilliard Ensemble. Two recent major projects are a symphony for the New York Philharmonic featuring the Hilliard Ensemble as soloists, and a full-length opera for Glimmerglass Opera set which was premièred in the summer of 2004.
ZHOU LONG |
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Nationality Chinese (US domiciled) Born 8 July 1953 Finalist work Two Poems from Tang Publisher Oxford University Press, New York
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A child of the Cultural Revolution, Zhou Long was born in Beijing, China in 1953. When he moved to the USA after completing his studies at the Central Conservatoire of Music, Beijing, Zhou Long was already an established composer. He went on to do his Doctorate of Musical Arts at Columbia University, New York. Zhou Long was the Composer in Residence of the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra until 1985. He is now Musical Director of Music from China as well as the Composer in Residence for the New Music Consort, both in New York. Winning many awards and prizes for composition throughout his musical career, Zhou Long decided to enter Masterprize in the hope that his music could be heard across the world. His primary concern is to encourage a merging of Eastern and Western cultures through music.
News since Masterprize 1998
Zhou Long's Two Poems from Tang was performed by the China National Symphony, Seattle Symphony and the Dresdner Sinfoniker following the Masterprize 1998 final. Zhou has also received new commissions from Bavarian Radio Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, Smithsonian Institution and the New York Foundation for the Arts (for Yo-Yo Ma and Music From China ensemble), Ireland Chamber Music Festival, the New York Festival of Song, Meet The Composer, Barlow Endowment, Fromm Music Foundation, Minnesota Chamber Music Society, and Wesleyan University. As winner of the CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts (2000), Zhou has new CD releases for his Words of the Sun sung by Chanticleer on Teldec Classics, The Book of Songs on CALA Records and the Out of Tang Court on BIS Records with Evelyn Glennie.
CARL VINE |
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Nationality Australian Born 8 October 1954 Finalist work Descent - Metropolis the Workers' View Publisher MMB Music Inc., St Louis, Missouri
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In Australia's diverse and evolving musical climate, Carl Vine has firmly established a reputation as a prodigiously gifted composer. His catalogue includes some 20 works for dance, music for film and theatre, electronic music and numerous solo instrumental and chamber works. In more recent years, he has emerged as a composer of major orchestral works, with four symphonies to his credit and more on the way. His works are among the most widely performed in Australia, and many of them are available on commercial recording. He is published by Faber Music. Born in 1954, Vine studied piano and composition at the University of Western Australia and has been resident composer with the Sydney Dance Company, the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, the New South Wales State Conservatorium, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Western Australian University. Although Vine has enjoyed this success in Australia he does feel that his music has not reached other countries. Vine entered Masterprize in the hope that his music could gain the attention of the rest of the world.
News since Masterprize 1998
Descent was performed at the Perth Concert Hall by the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra under Verbitakis in April 1999. The concert was broadcast on Australian Classic Radio. Three CDs of Carl Vine's compositions have been released subsequent to the competition, including the much acclaimed Inner World disk on the RCA Victor label, which features cellist Steven Isserlis.
Since 2001, Carl Vine has been the Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia - the largest chamber music entrepreneur in the world.