Composer Contest Winner: JOEL HOFFMAN
Congratulations to the winner of our first ever Composer's Contest, Joel Hoffman, and his piece, "Self-Portrait with Orlando."
We listened to and read almost 40 submissions, and they were all great! Thank you to everyone who submitted music to us, and we look forward to playing many of your pieces in the future.
First place: Joel Hoffman ("Self-Portrait with Orlando")
Second place: Derek Charke ("Three Lines")
Third place: Philippe Dulat ("Childhood")
Honorable mention (tie): Ruth Polcari ("Going Digital") and Marsha Bowe ("NOLA")
We'd also like to congratulate 2 exceptional high school composers who submitted trios: Daniel Raban ("The Sands of Time") and Aaron Waldrupe ("Trio for Flutes").
Joel Hoffman’s music draws from such diverse sources as Eastern European folk musics and bebop, and is pervaded by a sense of lyricism and rhythmic vitality. Born in Vancouver, Canada in 1953, he studied at the University of Wales and completed graduate studies at the Juilliard School.
He has received awards from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, Columbia University, BMI, ASCAP and the American Music Center. Hoffman is Professor of Composition at the College-Conservatory of Music/University of Cincinnati. He makes regular visits to Asia, where he is a guest Professor at the China Conservatory and at Capital Normal University in Beijing and at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the National Philharmonic in Washington. He has been awarded residencies at the Rockefeller, Camargo and Hindemith Foundations, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the Copland House. As pianist, he has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, Belgian Radio/T.V. Orchestra, the Costa Rica National Symphony and the Florida Orchestra among others.
Hoffman’s orchestral compositions have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Brass, the BBC Orchestra of Wales, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Kiev Chamber Orchestra, the Slovenian Radio Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Symphony Orchestra among many others. His chamber music has been
performed by such groups as the Cleveland, Brentano, Ariel, Amernet, Pro Arte, Catalyst and Shanghai Quartets, members of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Golub-Kaplan-Karr Trio and the Trio Terzetto.
Hoffman has been commissioned by dozens of individuals and organizations including Tanglewood, the Fromm Foundation, the Washington Camerata, the American Harp Society, the Eastman School of Music, Areon Flutes, DecaCelli, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Caramoor, Bargemusic, the International Viola Congress, the Irving Klein String Competition, the Prince William Symphony Orchestra and RAI Trade (Rome). Hoffman’s music is regularly heard in Europe and North America at festivals such as St. Nazaire (France), Great Lakes, Caramoor, Newport and Chamber Music Northwest (US), Portogruaro (Italy) and Korsholm (Finland).
Joel Hoffman’s music is published by Onibatan Music, RAI Trade, E.C. Schirmer, G. Schirmer and Lyra Music. CDs can be found on the Albany, CRI, Koch, Stradivarius, Centaur, EMA, Deutsche Welle and Gasparo labels. Web: joelhoffman.net