Iron Composer: An Instant Composition Contest

Iron Composer is an instant composition contest. Five composers are selected to compete in person. On the morning of the event, they are assigned an instrumentation and a secret ingredient, and they have just five hours to write a piece of music. Their work is performed and judged on a public concert that same evening.

Established in 2007, the competition is underwritten by ANALOG arts. Since moving to Cleveland from Omaha in 2009, Iron Composer has been hosted by Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory and broadcast live on WCLV 104.9 FM.

The original idea for Iron Composer came from Lucky Mosko’s composition workshops at CalArts where composers were just as likely to get a bag of carrots as a secret musical ingredient as they were a motif. In the tabs below, you can read more about the previous competitions, as well as listen to recordings and see photos.

2008
Iron Composer 2008 was presented as part of ARTSaha!, a new music festival produced by ANALOG arts in Omaha. 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.

Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Hindemith are just a few composers who have written musical settings of artworks. Impression, Sunrise is the painting which gave the name to the impressionist art movement, and given the rich history of impressionism in music, the painting seemed a perfect ingredient for new music.

One of the ensembles in residence at the 2008 festival was Monument Piano Trio, from Baltimore. They eagerly agreed to perform on the competition, and the two elements of surprise were in place. Below, you can listen to all five entries as they were played live by Monument Trio, and also see a video of the winning entries from Hermes Camacho and Greg Simon, as well as the comments from the judges.

Sounds from Iron Composer 2008:

Hermes Camacho, Impressions of Wallpaper (1st Prize)

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Elizabeth Lim, Trascendental Sunrise (2nd Prize; Audience Favorite)

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Greg Simon, Le Bateau et Le Soleil (3rd Prize)

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George Lam, High Humidity

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Joe Trapanese, Red Stroke

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Video of Hermes Camacho’s winning entry:

Video of Elizabeth Lim’s Second Prize Entry & Audience Favorite:


Video of Greg Simon’s Third Prize entry:


2007
All of the programming for ARTSaha! 2007 was based on futurism, and while brainstorming about what would make for a good secret ingredient, the idea of The Jetsons came up. Hoyt Curtin’s iconic theme song for the animated series is not only instantly recognizable, it’s also musically curious, because of its raised 4th. The possibilities for a composer dealing with this simple motif are endless.

The ensemble for the 2007 competition was a wind quintet, which consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.

Sounds from Iron Composer 2007

Luke Furman, Propeller Z (1st Prize)

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Mark Diischer, Jetting Atmospheres (2nd Prize)

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David von Kampen, In the Sky (3rd Prize)

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Colin Breen, Meet George

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Timothy Vallier, Glass Factory

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Scenes from Iron Composer 2007: