The Schulich School of Music of McGill University is pleased to announce five finalists for the third edition of the Graham Sommer Competition for Young Composers. Established in 2017, this national competition recognizes works for chamber music formations with piano that show significant potential to engage audiences and become standard repertoire. Selected from over 60 Canadian applicants under the age of 35, this year’s finalists will compose new works for sextet (C flute, B-flat clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and vibraphone) to be premiered before a live jury in May 2025. The finalists are:
Francis Battah explores jazz in contemporary music, microtonality, and creates “imaginary folklore” focused on melody and modality. He has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and Conseil des arts de Montréal. Battah has won multiple awards, including the Prix Collégien for Contemporary Music (2019, 2023), the SOCAN Foundation Grand Prize, and the Antonin Dvorak International Composition Competition.
Los Angeles-based composer Kai Kubota-Enright, originally from Vancouver, B.C., won a SOCAN Foundation Young Composers Award and recently completed a commission funded by the 2022 ROSL Composition Award for the London Sinfonietta. Her music centers on the interaction between sound and spatial environments, both natural and human-made, drawing on Western and Japanese influences to evoke personal memories and subjectivities.
Former arranger for The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Chris LaRosa has earned commissions from the American Guild of Organists and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. His works have been performed globally, including by the Seattle and Suzhou Symphony Orchestras. Recent projects include collaborating with Quebecois storyteller Fred Pellerin and arranging for the 2024 World Figure Skating Championship Gala.
Philippe Macnab-Séguin, winner of over 20 composition awards including the Prix d’Europe and multiple SOCAN Young Composers Awards, researches Aural Sonology—a method developed by Lasse Thoresen for analyzing music by ear, independent of score or style. His work has received support from SSHRC and FRQSC.
Christina Volpini, known for her “nuanced” and “subtle” soundscapes (Ludwig Van Toronto), has received three SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers. Her works have been commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jumblies Theatre, and Freesound Collective, among others.
The final round of the competition will take place on May 18, 2024, at 2:00 pm in Tanna Schulich Hall and will be webcast live. Outstanding Montreal based contemporary music ensemble, Ensemble Paramirabo: Jeffrey Stonehouse (flute and artistic direction), Viviane Gosselin (cello), Gwénaëlle Ratouit (clarinet), Hubert Brizard (violin), Pamela Reimer (piano), Krystina Marcoux (percussion), will premiere the five new works by the finalists before a live panel. Following the performance, the jury will award over $50,000 in prizes: $18,000 for the first prize, $12,000 for the second, three honourable mentions of $6,000, as well as a $6,000 People’s Choice Award.
Chaired by Associate Professor and Area Coordinator of Music Composition at the Schulich School of Music Jean Lesage, the jury comprises internationally acclaimed and Montreal based pianist Janelle Fung; celebrated American composer Katherine Balch, as well as internationally recognized Canadian composers Dorothy Chang and Vivian Fung; Executive and Artistic Director of the Canadian Music Center in Quebec, and acclaimed Canadian flutist Claire Marchand; and Montreal arts executive Scott Tresham, a broadcaster, creative producer, and arts administrator.
About the Competition:
Canadian composers under the age of 35 were invited to submit three scores for any standard chamber music configuration by August 15, 2024. Based on these submissions, an international jury of composers, performers, and distinguished members of the classical music community selected five finalists to create an original work for sextet: C flute, B-flat clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and vibraphone. The five commissioned works will be premiered before a live jury by Ensemble Paramirabo at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music on May 18, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. in Tanna Schulich Hall. The concert will be webcast. The winners of all prizes, including the audience prize, will be announced following the performance and jury deliberations. For more information, visit www.mcgill.ca/gsc.
About Dr. Graham Sommer:
Dr. Graham Sommer died on October 2, 2016, and left a legacy of excellence in medicine and an abiding love for the transformative power of music. A native of British Columbia, Dr. Sommer graduated from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine in 1972 and went on to hold positions at Yale and Stanford Universities, becoming a world class researcher for 37 years. Dr. Sommer’s enduring passion for music has resonated at McGill notably through the Dr. Graham Sommer Piano Fund, which supported the restoration of pianos in McGill residences and the purchase of a new piano for Douglas Hall. While Sommer excelled in his chosen field of medicine, he was also inspired by a lifelong love of music fostered by his own accomplishments as a classical pianist and composer.
