The Classical Music Guide Forums

Hi Guys,

I would like to thank all of you who entered into the Dilettante Music Digital Composer-in-Residence competition last month, the first of its kind. I'm excited to tell you that we have chosen our three finalists. We had hundreds of applicants from 23 countries and all of them at a very high standard. The finalists that the judges chose were; David T. Little from the USA, Chiayu also from the USA and Aaron Gervais from Canada. We have just finished the recordings of the songs with the London Sinfonietta and they will be posted online where you will be able to hear them and vote for your favourite. Voting will open next tuesday (20th October) until the 5th November where the winner will be announced at the live event in London. Check out the voting page on tuesday and let me know your thoughts on the pieces, I would love to hear them.

Matt
http://www.dilettantemusic.com

hmmmmm.... "songs"......."dilettante"....hmmmmm

The site's a nightmare to navigate.

Where're the clips of those three pieces, were we so inclined to give them a listen. (I was so inclined awhile back. Not any more....)

I liked Little's piece the best. Perhaps the fact that it featured clarinet so prominently had something to do with it. Blending the electric guitar with the acoustic instruments proved a challenge, which he met by underplaying it (the guitar, that is). The piece is eclectic and sounds like a personality still in the process of forming, but his ideas are engaging enough.

Chiayu didn't seem to have any examples to listen to. A link to her website allowed one to listen to a number of pieces, all of them sincere and well-written, if not overly distinctive.

Gervais has three examples of pieces that consist of having people declaim fragments of phrases along with some instrumental lines. He seems to be a one-trick pony, and the trick doesn't maintain its interest for very long. But perhaps a modern art music version of rap is in the making.

Hi guys, just to let you know that the pieces haven't actually gone live on the site yet. We received the final edits today and they will be live on the voting page tomorrow for you to listen to. I was just giving you a heads up for tomorrow.

Sorry for any confusion.

Matt