2014 Composition Contest Winners

1st Prize
Pierce Gradone (University of Chicago)
Vamp (clarinet, violin, cello, and piano)

Pierce Gradone’s music has been performed throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas; and has been featured in festivals as diverse as the Florida State University Festival of New Music, Red Note New Music Festival, Artosphere Festival, and the Great American Brass Band Festival. His works have been performed by Ensemble Dal Niente, Line Upon Line Percussion, members of the Aeolus Quartet and Signal Ensemble, the Sacramento Youth Symphony, Amy Briggs, the Parhelion Trio, Concert Black, the University of Texas New Music Ensemble, the Florida State University New Music Ensemble, and the McCain Duo, among others. As both a composer and educator, he has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Sacramento Youth Symphony and as a guest composer at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Pierce is also an active performer of new music on the double bass, premiering multiple works by living composers as both a soloist and member of various ensembles. He holds degrees in composition from Florida State University (B.Mus.) and the University of Texas at Austin (M.Mus.), and is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago, where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas. He lives in the South Side of Chicago with his wife, Lindsey, and their dog, Marlon. For more information, visit www.piercegradone.com.

2nd Prize
Brandon Scott Rumsey (University of Texas at Austin)
Limelight (flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano)

Brandon Scott Rumsey is an award-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator whose music has been featured by the UT New Music Ensemble, Brevard Music Center, Bowdoin Festival, New Music on the Point, Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium, the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and four North American Saxophone Alliance conferences. Brandon has received honors from the National Federation of Music Clubs, ASCAP, and the University of Oregon. In the spring of 2014, Brandon will graduate with a master's degree in composition from UT-Austin where he studies with Dan Welcher. He holds a bachelor’s degree in composition from University of Oregon where he studied with Robert Kyr and David Crumb. Brandon is affiliated with ASCAP, SCI, American Composers Forum, International Double Reed Society, North American Saxophone Alliance, and served as composition co-chair for the 2014 GAMMA-UT Conference. To learn more about his work, visit www.brandonscottrumsey.com.

3rd Prize
Alexandre Jamar
(Sciences Po - Collège Universitaire Campus de Nancy, France)
Four Japanese Miniatures (clarinet, guitar, and cello)

Alexandre Jamar is Belgian, born in 1995 in Paris, the eldest son of the family. A the age of three he began violin lessons, moving to the piano when he was ten. Two years later he began to study voice with French opera singer Armelle Debos Cabral. In 2013 he received the French “Certificate in Musical Studies “ in piano and music theory at the Conservatory of Music in Evry. In September 2013 he entered the French Institute for Political Sciences (Sciences Po Paris) in Nancy. He also attends opera classes at the National Conservatory of Nancy under the direction of Dominique Gless. In addition he studies harmony and orchestration classes with Jocelyn Sgard.