Iron Composer 2013

PRIZES
1st prize, Jakub Polaczyk, $500+
2nd prize, Can Bilir, $350
3rd prize, David Wolfson, $300
4th prize, Jennifer Jolley, $250
5th prize, Christoffer Schunk, $200

Audience Favorite Award: Jennifer Jolley

+ First prize includes a performance with Blue Water Chamber Symphony on their 2013-14 season!

FINALISTS

Can Bilir (Ankara) is a composer and guitarist currently enrolled in doctoral studies at Bilkent University in Turkey. He was recently selected as a composer for the European Broadcasting festival “MusMa V”. Read more about Can at www.canbilir.wordpress.com
Jennifer Jolley (Cincinnati) teaches composition, music theory, and electronic music at Ohio Wesleyan University. Jennifer is the co-founder and artistic director of North American New Opera Workshop (N.A.N.O.Works), a new chamber opera company devoted to developing and staging short contemporary operas by emerging North American composers. Read more about Jennifer at www.jenniferjolley.com.
Jakub Polaczyk, a native of Krakow, studied orchestration there with Krzysztof Penderecki. Most recently, he received an Artists Diploma from Carnegie Mellon where he performed as a pianist in the contemporary ensemble. Read more about Jakub at www.jakub.polaczyk.com.
Christoffer Schunk (Newhall) is an active multi-instrumentalist and composer based in southern California. His compositions have been premiered by New Century Players, Santa Clarita Master Chorale, Ensemble for Contemporary Music, and UC Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra. Read more about Christoffer at www.christofferschunk.com.
David Wolfson (New York) is a composer, music director, arranger, pianist and copyist. He has had an active career in theatrical music, stretching from his days as assistant musical director at the Cleveland Play House to his work with broad variety of dance and theater projects in New York City. Read more about David at www.davidwolfsonmusic.net.

JUDGES

Alan DeMattia (2013) joined the horn section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 1984, after serving as principal horn of the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and principal horn of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra. Mr. DeMattia is currently on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Josh Levine currently serves as Assistant Professor of Composition at Oberlin. His music has been commissioned and performed internationally by prominent new music soloists and ensembles, including Magnus Andersson, Aiyun Huang, Marcus Weiss, Jürg Wyttenbach, the Arnold-Huang-Rosenkranz trio, Calliope Duo, Ensemble Contrechamps, Les Solistes de l’Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain under David Robertson. Read more about Josh and listen to his music at his website: www.joshlevine-composer.com.
Susan van Vorst was appointed as the director of the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory last year. Susan has worked at Stan Hywett and the Cleveland Orchestra before she returned to BW to helm the Conservatory. Unlike most of the judges who sit in the third chair at Iron Composer, Susan has a very high level of musical training, with an undergraduate degree in piano performance from Kent State.