Pandemic Composition Contest!
The Winners!!!
Congratulations to these wonderful Louisville composers! We’re excited to perform/record their music on our 2021-2022 season! Stay tuned for further announcements about when these performances will be taking place!
Adult Division:
1st Prize ($500) - Rron Karahoda “Appassionata”
Rron Karahoda (b. 1992) is a composer based in Louisville, KY. Through his compositions, Karahoda is committed to discovering new stories which grapple with meaningful questions of all sizes, and uses music and storytelling to explore the audience's connection to themselves and the community around them. He is an eager creative partner and is always looking for new ways to contribute to the artistic visions of interesting projects on any number of platforms. Karahoda's work has appeared at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, performed and recorded by the Da Capo Chamber Players, and written about in publications including Hyperallergic and the Village Voice. He completed his undergraduate degree at Bard College. and has studied with Kyle Gann, Alisher Latif-Zade, Joan Tower, and George Tsontakis. He is currently pursuing a master's degree under Dr. Steven Rouse at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY.
https://rrkarahoda.wixsite.com/composer
Instagram: @RronKarahoda
2nd Prize ($250) - Cambron Little “Luke Warm Suite”
Cambron Little (1990)
Born in Owensboro KY, located to the University of Louisville in 2009, Wright State University in 2015 and back to Louisville in 2018. Currently I am a private saxophone instructor for the Hardin Co area along side resetting band instruments and operating the lesson studio at Doowop on Bardstowns Road! Currently an Old Louisville resident! Composition is the marriage of pedagogy & creativity. This is an unbelievably dangerous time. It is important to stick to our guns. We believe in music. We believe in art. We create. We work together. Louisville Civic Orchestra, thank you for the opportunity.
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/33f6gP7dGfBhVzK8A
Instagram: @Littlecamb
Junior Division:
1st Prize - Nicholas Schumacher “Twin Flames”
Nicholas Schumacher is a Junior in high school at DuPont Manual in the Youth Performing Arts School magnet. He has been a self taught composer since seventh grade, also studying with graduate composition students Isaac Barzso and Isaac Smith from the University of Louisville in an after school class. His primary instrument being the viola, he studies under private teacher Stacy Yates and plays in the YPAS Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Huadong Lu. Nicholas also studies piano under YPAS teacher Dr. Matilda Ertz, and music theory with Tim Murner.
Honorable Mention - Kyi’Ree Spencer “Piano Piano”
Honorable Mention - Nathan McAdam “The Black Sea”
Write a piece for string orchestra for a chance to win a cash prize and to have your piece performed and/or recorded by us!
For inquires and submissions, please email us at gabriel@louisvillecivicorchestra.org
Submissions due: March 15th, 2021 at 11:59pm
The Contest
The LCO is thrilled to announce a composition contest open to all local composers! This contest is designed to contribute to the musical economy/ecosystem of Louisville by inspiring local composers to create new music (with money prizes and performance/recording opportunities for multiple winners!) while also giving the LCO several world premieres to look forward to!
To put it plainly, performing artists are having a rough time amidst the concert hall shutdowns that started in March 2020. Composers, like performers, have undeniably been faced with limited opportunities (and sadly therefore motivation) to practice their art, and so we hope this competition will serve as a modest “light within the darkness” of creative inspiration!
The Rules
A word of advice: Please write a piece for the LCO! We are an all-volunteer ensemble that hasn’t met together since the lockdowns began in March 2020, but we are eagerly looking forward to making music together again within the next few months. Depending on our ability to congregate safely, our ensemble configuration tackling your composition might be anything from a string quintet to a full string orchestra, so compose your piece with that in mind, for example avoiding an abundance of divided parts.
There will be two divisions - one for adults 18 and older (as of Jan 1st 2021) and one for juniors 17 and younger.
Adult Division
Eligibility: Composers 18 and older (as of 1/1/21) for whom Louisville is the closest metro area. (Please inquire if you’re not sure whether you qualify geographically!)
Entry fee: none!
Prizes: $500 for first place, $250 for runner-up; the LCO will perform and/or record the winning entry and may perform and/or record the runner-up entry!
Composition Guidelines (read carefully!):
must be a new composition, not-yet performed or publicly released as a recording
3-9 minutes in length
scored for small string orchestra (and ideally crafted to work for string quintet as well)
must be entered into a musical notation software such as Sibelius or Finale and submitted as a PDF
must have a title and be accompanied by a short written description, explaining what the piece is about.
Junior Division
Eligibility: Composers 17 and younger (as of 1/1/21) for whom Louisville is the closest metro area. (Please inquire if you’re not sure whether you qualify geographically!)
Entry fee: none!
Prizes: $250 for first place; the LCO will perform and/or record the winning entry!
Composition Guidelines (read carefully!):
must be a new composition, not-yet performed or publicly released as a recording
2-5 minutes in length
for small string orchestra (which typically means five parts: Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
ideally entered into a musical notation software such as Sibelius or Finale and submitted as a PDF, HOWEVER we will also accept submissions in other mediums such as audio files that serve as a demonstrative “proof of concept” of the composition
must have a title and be accompanied by a short written description, explaining what the piece is about
For inquires or submissions, email us at gabriel@louisvillecivicorchestra.org
Submissions due: March 15th, 2021 at 11:59pm