“As a previous winner of the SOCAN Young Composer Awards, it was my honour to be on the other side of this competition, and to observe the work of the next generation of Canada’s composers,” said Anna Pidgorna, composer and jury member. “I was happy to see them working in different directions and aesthetics, contributing to the development of a diverse musical culture, in Canada and beyond.”

The annual awards are designed to recognize Canadian composers for their original concert music works in five categories:

• Large Ensemble (for works composed for at least 13 performers up to a full orchestra, with or without singers or electroacoustic elements);
• Chamber Orchestra (instrumental works composed for a minimum of three and a maximum of 12 performers, with or without singers and/or electroacoustic elements);
• Solo or Duo (for solo or duo works, with or without electroacoustic elements);
• Choral (works for an unlimited number of voices, with or without instrumentation and/or electroacoustic elements);
• Electroacoustic (live or pre-recorded electroacoustic works intended to be performed, at least in part, through speakers. Multimedia works and the use of acoustic instruments or voices, live or pre-recorded, are allowed in this category. The main element of the work must be electroacoustic).

A grand prize is awarded in this competition for the work deemed best by the jury members (jury composed of Jared Miler, Anna Pidgorna, and Frédéric Le Bel). This year, the award goes to talented Manitoba composer Willyn Whiting for his piece CHIRP.

Here are the 2024 winners in each category:

Large Ensemble
1st Place: Gavin Fraser (NS) – for dappled things
2nd Place: Jules Bastin-Fontaine (QC) – Composition pour orchestre
3rd Place: Michael Maevskiy (ON) – Serenade
21 and under (tie): Danial Sheibani (ON) – Out of Thin Air
21 and under (tie): Judah Williams (BC) – Cosmic Abyss
21 and under (tie): Ashton Latimer (BC) – Purification

Chamber Orchestra
1st Place: Robert Humber (AB) – into air
2nd Place (tie): Matthew Murphy (QC) – Contra
2nd Place (tie): Philip Przybylo (Holland) – Ekloga – Jest Biel – Ekloga
21 and under: Danial Sheibani (ON) – Trepidation Lake

Solo or Duo
1st Place: Willyn Whiting (MB) – CHIRP
2nd Place: Liam Ritz (ON) – Nine Forgotten Variations
3rd Place: Michael Maevskiy (ON) – Cycles of Light
21 and under: Mark Rico-Lam (AB) – Poèmes d’automne

Choral
1st Place: Rebecca Gray (ON) – Heaven was not Home
2nd Place: Sacha Lajoie (QC) – Symphonie Québécoise
3rd Place: Nicholas Ma (ON) – Human Touch
21 and under: Sointu Aalto (AB) – Yösinfonia

Electroacoustic
1st Place: David Piazza (QC) – L’arène aux songes
2nd Place: Roxanne Melissa Guerra-Lacasse (QC) – La Berceuse de la Veuve
3rd Place: Kalen Smith (ON) – Trip Hop Soup

For more information about the winners of the SOCAN Foundation competitions, access here.”

www.socanmagazine.ca