Iron Composer 2008 | Iron Composer

Instrumentation:	Piano Trio
Ingredient:	Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet
Performers:	Monument Piano Trio
Judges:	James Arey, David Gompper, Bob Fischbach
Top Prizes:	Hermes Camacho, Iron Composer Elizabeth Lim, Audience Favorite Award

The second installment of Iron Composer was presented as part of Analog Arts’ new music festival ARTSaha!, which ran in Omaha from 2004-2008. The theme for the 2008 festival was “Set Sail for the Sun”. Discussions and disagreements about what the secret ingredient should be continued until the day before the competition, when the idea of using Monet’s painting of a sunrise came up.

FINALISTS
Hermes Camacho, 1st Prize & Iron Composer ($500)
Elizabeth Lim, 2nd Prize & Audience Favorite Award ($250)
Greg Simon, 3rd Prize ($100)

	Hermes Camacho (2008, Winner) is a native of northern Californian who currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Jaclyn. He teaches at the Austin Chamber Music Center and annually at the Sacramento Youth Symphony Chamber Music Workshop.

	George Lam (2008) studied composition at Duke University, the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and Boston University. He is a founding co-artistic director of Rhymes With Opera, a new opera company dedicated to bringing new works of music-theater into unconventional spaces.
	Elizabeth Lim (2008, 2nd Prize and Audience Favorite Award) studied at Harvard and is a doctoral candidate at the Juilliard School. Her orchestral work, “Paranoia,” was a winner of the annual composers’ competition and was premiered by Jeff Milarsky and the Juilliard Orchestra in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Concert Hall.
	Greg Simon (2008, 3rd prize) is currently on the faculty of the Metropolitan State College of Denver, and in the fall of 2012 will begin study as a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. His work is featured on recordings by the California State University, Fullerton Wind Ensemble and the Fifth House Ensemble of Chicago.
	Joseph Trapanese (2008) is a Los Angeles based composer, arranger, orchestrator and producer of music for film, television, multimedia, theater and concerts. He has worked with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Daft Punk. Currently, he is composing the music for Disney XD’s animated series Tron: Uprising.

JUDGES

	James Arey (2008) is a composer and former music director of KVNO 90.7 FM, Omaha’s classical music station. He is the only Iron Composer judge to have been a 5-day champion on Jeopardy! with total winnings of $42,802.
	Bob Fischbach (2008) is a columnist and movie critic for the Omaha World-Herald.
	David Gompper (2008) is Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and earned an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.