COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
2023
YOUNG PERCUSSION
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ASSOCIATED BOARD OF THE ROYAL SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
Sponsors and prizes from
ADJUDICATOR MESSAGE
Welcome to the PercWorks 'Young Percussion Composer of the Year' Competition 2023, in partnerhship with ABRSM! This is our third year running YPCOTY and we are excited to announce that the competition is now open to applications! Once again, we would like the thank all our sponsors and supporters with a special mention and appreciation to the ABRSM & Arts Council England. To all competitors; thank you for taking part and the best of luck!
2023 Competition is now open until 1st October, 2023
RULES & ELIGIBILITY
The Young Percussion Composer of the Year Competition is FREE to enter and the competitor must be aged 18 or younger. You have the option to compose an original work for Percussion Quartet or Drumline. You are allowed to submit a composition for each if you wish!
The original composition must have been written in 2023 and must not have been submitted for any other competitions. Compositions being used for qualifcations/exams such as GCSEs and A Levels are welcome. Below is the schedule for the 2023 competition so that you can plan ahead and deliver on time!
DATES & DEADLINES
REGISTRATION
10th August 2023 -
1st October 2023
DELIVERY DEADLINE (SUBMISSION)
1st OCTOBER 2023
AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
15th OCTOBER 2023, 12PM BST
Each competitor must deliver a file including: PDF of the score and audio file of the work by the deadline stated above to the email address: director@percworks.co.uk through one of the following file transfer softwares: WeTransfer, Dropbox or Googledrive. The file should be named using the following format: PercWorks-Name-Catagory, for example: PercWorks-Joe Bloggs-Percussion Quartet.
AGE CATEGORIES
-Age as of 1st September 2023 -
CAT A AGE 16-18
CAT B AGE 14-16
CAT C AGE 14 & UNDER
COMPOSITION SHORT COURSE
All entrants are invited to attend our FREE Composition Short Course on the 28th & 29th August 2023, hosted on Zoom.
Join PercWorks for 2 days of composition masterclasses & 1-1 sessions led by world-class composers Dani Howard & Will Edwards as well as industry-leading notation expert, John Barron from Dorico. Kickstart your YPCOTY 2023 process with top tips & insights from the adjudicators. All sessions are free, open to young musicians aged 18 & under & delivered via Zoom. We are very grateful to ABRSM & ACE for supporting this short course.
PRIZES
PRIZES TO BE ANNOUNCED on the Composition Short Course
THE BRIEF
To compose an original work for either percussion quartet or Drumline which is between 3-5 minutes long. You are allowed to submit a composition for each if you wish! Below is a list of instrumentation for both ensembles. You are limited to writing for the instruments below! Percussion Quartet - please note, you do not need to write for all the instruments listed.
PERCUSSION QUARTET
TUNED PERCUSSION
5 Oct Marimba, 4.3 Oct Marimba, Vibraphone, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Crotales, Tubular Bells
UNTUNED PERCUSSION
Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Concert Toms, Bongos, Congas, Woodblocks, Bells, Tambourine, Triangle, Cymbals, Castanets, Darbuka, Djembe, Cajon.
DRUMLINE
Marching Snare Drum (2 parts max)
Marching Bass Drum (2 parts max)
Quads - Tenor Drums (1 part max)
Marching Cymbals (2 parts max)
ENCOURAGED
Traditional Grip (Snare Drum)
Stick Tricks
Visualisations
ADJUDICATOR
DANI HOWARD
Dani Howard is a British composer and orchestrator who is quickly gaining international recognition with regular performances across Europe, the US and Asia. Dani is currently writing a Percussion Concerto for Dame Evelyn Glennie, which will be premiered by the BBCNOW in April 2024. In June 2021 she received the premiere of her Trombone Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and soloist Peter Moore. The piece received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Large-Scale composition category, and has since seen the Irish and London premieres with the Ulster Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
2019 saw her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and a return to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with a new commission for the opening of their 2019-20 season
conducted by Vasily Petrenko. Her debut opera with ‘The Opera Story’ premiered in 2019 “a sophisticated and incredibly beautiful piece that surely places Howard amongst the best of contemporary British opera composers” (Bachtrack). In 2018 she received her Royal Albert Hall Debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing “Argentum” – commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and Classic FM, and has had her works performed by the the NCPA Orchestra of China, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, European Union Chamber Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Southbank Sinfonia among others, and was a composition fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (California).
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She has recently been appointed Composer in Residence with the London Chamber Orchestra for their 2022-23 season. As part of the residency, she will be writing a new Saxophone Concerto for Jess Gillam among other projects/commissions.
YPCOTY WINNERS 2022
CATEGORY A
FIRST PRIZE WINNER AIDAN RAMIREZ
CATEGORY B
FIRST PRIZE WINNER DANIEL JURADO-HOSHINO
CATEGORY C
FIRST PRIZE WINNER ILAY KENES
YPCOTY WINNER 2021
Lewis lives in Essex and is a percussionist, drummer and jazz pianist, along with a composer and producer of original music. He attended the Purcell School and Saffron Centre for Young Musicians and will attend the Royal College of Music from September 2021. He was a finalist in BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2020 and winner of the PercWorks Young Percussion Composer of the Year in 2021. He has been twice a national finalist in the Young Drummer of the Year Competition in 2019 and 2020 and national finalist in Yamaha #FUTUREBEAT in 2018. He was also runner-up in the International Percussion Youth Competition in Belgium in 2017. Lewis has wide musical interests spanning classical, jazz, Latin and world music and is developing a varied professional music career as a performer and composer/producer.
For Percussion Ensemble
southernpercussion.com
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