14 COMPOSERS SELECTED FOR JEROME COMPOSERS COMMISSIONING PROGRAM

Composers Yehuda Yannay, Joan LaBarbara, and Zhou Long review 2003 JCCP proposals.

(October 1, 2003) 14 composers have been selected for this year's Jerome Composers Commissioning Program (JCCP). Grants awarded this year ranged from $5,000 to $8,000.
The St. Paul-based Jerome Foundation's guidelines stipulate that the awards are available to composers living in Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City (where the foundation's namesake, philanthropist Jerome Hill, lived and worked). Minnesota and New York composers may apply for JCCP grants in partnership with a performer or presenter located anywhere in the world. Composers living outside of Minnesota or New York City boroughs are also eligible for JCCP grants, but must apply in partnership with a Minnesota-based performer, or, in the case of self-producing musicians (such as improvisers and installation artists) with a Minnesota-based presenter.

One of the Jerome Foundation's goals is to foster the careers of emerging artists. JCCP awards are intended to be among a composer's first major commissions and represent a significant boost in his or her career. Since the program's inception in 1979, the Forum has awarded over $650,000 in JCCP grants to 193 recipients.

Here is the list of this year's winners and their commission partners:

Maura Bosch (Minneapolis) will write a work for the soprano voice and double-bass duo of Miriam Fulmer and Bert Turetsky (Madison, Wisc.); Du Yun (New York) has been commissioned to write a work for the International Contemporary Ensemble (Chicago); Joshua Fried (New York) will write a piece for LEMUR, a robotic instrument ensemble (New York); Geoffrey Gordon (Milwaukee) will write a piece for the recorder and harpsichord duo of Clea Galhano and Vivian Montgomery (Minneapolis-St. Paul); Michael Karmon (St. Paul) will write for the combined choral forces of the Rose Ensemble and Voices of the Sepharad (Minneapolis-St. Paul); Andrew Lafkas (Minneapolis) will present multiple solo and collaborative improvised performances starting with the Center on Contemporary Art (Seattle) and at additional venues in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Berlin, Germany; Lu Pei (New York) is writing a piece for the East Meets West Ensemble (New York); Dean Magraw (St. Paul) will compose a work for the violin and guitar duo of Leslie Shank and Joe Hagedorn (Minneapolis-St. Paul); Michelle Nagai (New York) is creating an interactive environmental sound installation for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York); Moto Osada (New York) has been commissioned to write an opera for the Vadstena Academy (Sweden); Jonathan Pieslak (New York) is writing a work for the Plainfield Symphony (New Jersey); Paul Rudy (Kansas City) will write a piece for the flute and piano Calliope Duo (Bemidji, Minn.); Spencer Schedler (New York) will write a new work for two pianos and two percussionists sponsored by the Clinton/Narboni Duo (Nebraska); and Ethan Wickman (Salt Lake City, Utah) will write a piece for the Fargo/Moorhead Symphony (Moorhead, Minn.).