Young Musician's Award by the Delaware Valley Chorale

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The Delaware Valley Chorale is proud to be an active partner in the IN Wilmington Arts Campaign!

2012 Young Musician's Award

FOR CHORAL COMPOSITION
$500 AWARD

Deadline for entries to be received is March 1, 2012.
The competition is open to candidates who are 30 or under as of March 1, 2012.
There is no geographic requirement, composers from anywhere may apply.
Winner will be notified by May 1, 2012.
Winner will be publicly acknowledged.
After the public announcement of the winner, the announcement will be posted on this website.
The winning composition will be performed by DVC during the following season.
Click here for competition guidelines including specific requirements, application, eligibility and timeline. (a PDF document)
Click here for a competition application. (You will need to print this out and mail it in.)
Questions? Click here to email the Chair of the Scholarship Committee, Elizabeth Rhoads or call her at 610-388-2608.

Please support young musicians with a tax-free donation.

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The 2010 Winner

Joshua Groffman is the winner of the Delaware Valley Chorale's 2010 Choral Composition Competition for Young Composers.

Groffman has been awarded 1st prize and has received a $500 cash award for his composition "And Jacob Dreamed…", which was performed at the DVC Fall concerts on November 14 and 21, 2011.

"And Jacob Dreamed..." is the first movement of the three-part choral work "For you have struggled with God and with men." The composer provides the following note about this dramatic music:

"And Jacob Dreamed... presents a scene from the life of the Biblical patriarch Jacob, drawing its text from the book of Genesis. The narrative of Jacob's life shows a high degree of subtlety and nuance in presenting his psychology and actions, and this piece aims to reflect this, showing Jacob at a particular moment in his journey towards wisdom. We see him as a young man, talented, destined for greatness, and a little cocky; waking from his dream, he is awed at the promise God has made him, a promise that will in time require enormous responsibility and effort on his part."

Joshua Groffman is currently a doctoral student in composition at Indiana University. He also attended Cornell University, where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Steven Stucky. In addition to piano study beginning at age nine, he has performed in community and school choirs for many years. He describes his music as forward thinking, tonally-based, with a strong rhythmic drive and an emphasis on communicating the essence of the text.

The 2009 Winner

Steve Danyew of Rochester, NY, is the winner of the Delaware Valley Chorale's 2009 Choral Composition Competition for Young Composers.

Danyew has been awarded 1st prize and has received a $500 cash award for his choral composition, On Green Mountains. This composition was performed by DVC during our Fall concert in 2010. The committee remarked that Danyew’s composition, On Green Mountains, was “well crafted and immediately appealing for the choir to perform and an audience to hear.” Other reviewers have hailed Danyew’s music as “startlingly beautiful,” and rich with feeling.”

Steve Danyew received his B.M. in Music Theory and Composition with honors from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in May 2006, where he served as President of the University of Miami Society of Composers for two years. He was named the 2006 Outstanding Graduate for both the Department of Music Theory and Composition and the Beta Beta chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honors Society at the Frost School of Music. In the summer of 2008, Danyew attended the Yale Summer Music Festival as one of five composer fellows chosen nationally. Danyew has been named as a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Awards three times (2006, 2007, 2008). His choral work Goodnight, Goodnight was awarded 1st prize in the prestigious 2008 Ithaca Choral Composition Competition.

An accomplished saxophonist, Danyew has garnered numerous national awards, honors and prizes spanning several genres. He currently serves in a teaching/mentorship program for underprivileged youth through the Eastman Community Music School in Rochester, NY and is studying towards a M.M. in composition at the Eastman School of Music.