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Winner of the 2007-2008 Ossia International Composition Prize Announced

Ossia, the Eastman School of Music's student-run new music ensemble, has selected Steve Wanna of Los Angeles, California, as the winner of its 2007 International Composition Competition. His work, Abeyance, for one percussionist, one performer of any sustaining instrument, and interactive electronics, will be premiered on the final concert of Ossia's 2007-8 concert season, April 15, in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. Mr. Wanna will also receive a cash award of $500.

More than sixty works were submitted to the competition from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Ossia production board, a team of student composers, performers, and theorists at Eastman, evaluated and selected the winning entry. All works were judged on creativity alone, and with no knowledge of the identity or affiliation of the composer.

Mr. Wanna, a composer, researcher, and teacher who emigrated to the United States from Lebanon, has written for a wide variety of media and has focused recently on electroacoustic music. In his winning work, he explores the notion of "interactivity" among players in musical performance. A computer program he designed "responds to certain parameters [e.g., amplitude, pitch, attack] of the sustaining instrument," which may be any instrument that can sustain a tone. These parameters trigger the "random playback of pre-composed sound files." In turn, the sounds both the computer and the performer of the sustaining instrument produce influence the musical gestures of the percussionist. As all three performers (including the computer) interact with one another, the identity of the ensemble evolves over the course of the piece.

The Ossia board also selected three works for honorable mention: Folding Space, by Christian Baldini, of Batavia, New York; Inner Life, by Carl Christian Bettendorf, of New York, New York; and Prana, by Christopher Trebue Moore, of Palo Alto, California. These works will be considered for performance on Ossia's 2008-9 concert season.

Since it was formed in 1997, Ossia has produced over sixty professional-quality concerts of contemporary music. Its goal is to bring concert audiences into contact with works by underrepresented composers, and to support the development of young composers by commissioning new works. It is an entirely student-run organization, financially supported by the Howard Hanson Fund. Each Spring, Ossia invites the general public to submit proposals of single works, concerts, and special projects for future concert seasons.