Violin Community News 2011, Op. 9

October 26, 2011 at 10:09 PM

Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn has announced how she will be selecting the 27th composer for her project, In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores: the composer will be chosen from blind submissions to the website, HilaryHahnContest.com. One Grand Prize winner will be named the 27th composer, and the winning piece will be programmed on Hahn's 2012-13 recital program with 13 other previously commissioned works for the project; toured around the world; and recorded for release in the 2013-14 concert season. (The first 13 pieces of the project were premiered earlier this month in Cincinnati.) Honorable Mentions (not to exceed 10) will also be awarded to the pieces that Hahn finds most compelling besides the Grand Prize winner. These Honorable Mentions will be listed on HilaryHahn.com. For every submission received, $2 will be donated to the music programs of Dramatic Need.

The competition is open to composers of all nationalities, with no age restrictions. The compositions submitted for the competition must use both acoustic violin and piano, and nothing else, and may not involve any form of electronic or pre-recorded sounds or vocalizations. The pieces must be between 1.5 and 5 minutes in length, and only completed works will be considered. Each entry must be original music written by the composer, and only one entry per composer is allowed. No changes may be made once a piece is submitted, though the Grand Prize winner will have a chance to make small revisions once the piece is chosen. The submitted compositions must be written specifically for this project and not submitted to any other contest, and must not have been performed, published, or recorded in any form.

Submissions will be accepted on the website from November 15, 2011 to March 15, 2012. Each submission must be comprised of a PDF and a MIDI file. Results will be announced on June 15, 2012. For the full list of rules and submission requirements, please visit HilaryHahnContest.com.

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The new documentary, "God's Fiddler: Jascha Heifetz," by Peter Rosen, will have a sneak preview as part of New York's Documentary Festival at 1:30 p.m.; Sunday Nov. 6 at the IFC center in New York. Here is a link for tickets and more information. It will be officially premiered on Nov. 11 at the Quad Cinema in New York, for one week only. Tickets for the Quad can be purchased here, and there is also more information on the documentary's Facebook page. The documentary, which I reviewed after its LA premiere in the spring, traces Heifetz' life and legacy, putting it in historical context while also showing new footage that violin fans will appreciate. The documentary is also now out on DVD and can be purchased through Shar.

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Violinist and Sphinx Organization founder Aaron Dworkin will be sworn in as a member of the National Council on the Arts this Friday in Washington, D.C. Dworkin is President Obama's first nominee to the council, which is the advisory body for the National Endowment for the Arts. Other members include James Ballinger, Miguel Campaneria, Ben Donenberg, JoAnn Falletta, Lee Greenwood, Joan Israelite, Charlotte Kessler, Bret Lott, Irvin Mayfield, Stephen Porter, Barbara Ernst Prey, Frank Price, Terry Teachout, and Karen Wolff; and six ex-officio members from Congress -- Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Congressman Patrick J. Tiberi (R-OH) (Appointment by Majority and Minority leadership of the remaining Members of Congress to the Council is pending). The National Endowment for the Arts, established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, has awarded more than $4 billion to support the arts in the United States.

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For those in the LA area: Violinist Daniel Hope will perform a recital at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Zipper Hall, and the Colburn Chamber Music Society is offering $10 tickets for Violinist.com readers. Order discounted tickets and find more information here: http://ccms2.eventbrite.com/?discount=Violinist10 The program will include Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34; Schulhoff: String Sextet; and Brahms: Piano Quartet, Op. 60 in C minor.

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Bob Shlasko, a longtime supporter of Violinist.com and author of the children's book Molly and the Sword, was recently featured on the Lifetime Show, The Balancing Act. His book is about courage, and I enjoyed how he wrote about his own feelings about being on T.V., "During an interview about Molly and the Sword, I became overly emotional and kept tapping my chest with my finger. What I forgot was that I was also tapping on a microphone clipped to my shirt. The result was loud drum-like roars. Fortunately, through judicious editing the ace production team on The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television was able to salvage the result into the allotted five-minute segment."

From Jack Shepard
Posted on October 27, 2011 at 4:33 AM

Thank you for posting opportunities for composers!

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Violin Community News 2011, Op. 9

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