The date is set, and the contest is now open. All entries are welcome. Remember, there is no entry fee, and there is no age limit!
Iron Composer will be held at Baldwin-Wallace College on Friday, September 16, 2011. The finalists will begin work at 9 a.m., and the concert will take place at 8 p.m. As always, the concert will be broadcast live on WCLV 104.9 FM and simulcast online.
First prize is $500 and the title of ‘Iron Composer’!
Congratulations again to Natalie Williams, who won the Iron Composer competition on October 22, with a total of 136 points. Coming in second was Marcus Maroney with 127 points. Third prize went to Anthony Green with 119 points. Yotam Haber and Marie Incontrera were only a few points behind Anthony, another close contest as usual.
All of the finalists did outstanding work with the challenge presented by ANALOG arts. They had to write for a duo of flute and cello. A tripling was available on the flute, with both alto and piccolo at their disposal. The secret ingredient was an absolutely massive collection of sticks and stones from the surrounding area. Berea, Ohio was once the site of a sandstone quarry, and in addition to Berea sandstone, the composers were presented with pebbles and gravel, as well as bricks and flagstones. The wood resources ranged from fragile twigs to thick logs and an entire sapling.
The composer judge was the professor emeritus of composition at Baldwin-Wallace College, Loris Chobanian. The performer judge was originally Regina Mushabac (cello), but Regina asked that her ballot be filled out by fellow performer Marcia Kamper. Regina did offer her comments on each piece during the broadcast. The non-musician judge was an assistant professor of philosophy at UC Davis, Bernard Molyneux.
The concert was broadcast live on WCLV 104.9 FM and online at www.wclv.com. It is available as a zip file, and at the individual links below.
Opening remarks by Dolf KamperAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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Introduction to Marcus Maroney’s Break My Bones
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Marcus Maroney, Break My Bones
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Introduction to Marie Incontrera’s Outgrowth
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Introduction to Natalie Williams’ Singing Stones
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Natalie Williams, Singing Stones
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Introduction to Anthony Green’s Horizon
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Introduction to Yotam Haber’s Words Will Never Hurt Me
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Yotam Haber, Words Will Never Hurt Me
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Comments on Words Will Never Hurt Me
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Email us at info@analogarts.org or call (402) 218-1857. To qualify, you only need to be a music lover who is comfortable sharing your opinion live on the radio!
Traditionally, the judging panel at Iron Composer has always included one of the performers, a composer, and a non-musician, who is acting on behalf of the audience. This year, we decided to invite a member of the audience to fill that third seat. Anyone can apply, just as long as they are eager to join the conversation on Friday night!
After reviewing stacks of scores from all over the country, ANALOG arts have invited five people to compete as finalists at Iron Composer:
 (CO) |
 (NY) |
 (NY) |
 (TX) |
 (IN) |
When we took a step back to look at the field, we were excited by the diversity of the entries. This held true for the finalists, as well. They come from all across the country. Some are freelancing professionals; others are still in school. One is a professor; another directs a music festival.
And those are just the superficial details. That doesn’t even touch on the range of styles in their music. As the contest approaches, we will profile each composer in more detail. For now, their bios and pictures are available on the Finalists page.
We believe these five composers will deliver a fantastic competition on October 22nd, and we are grateful that they have accepted our challenge to become an Iron Composer!
We got several emails alerting us to the fact that entries were getting returned due to our account being over its quota. We’ve fixed the problem, and we are receiving entries again.
If you submitted a score and cover sheet to entry@ironcomposer.org and it got returned, or you didn’t receive an acknowledgment, please send it again. The deadline is less than two weeks away and the entries are really coming in now. We apologize for the technical hiccup!
It’s 2010. Does a competition contest really need an age limit?
Over the past four years, composers above the age of 26 have frequently expressed a desire to compete in Iron Composer. This year, the age limits have been removed as a result of all that feedback. All ages are welcome, and as always, there is no entry fee!
This year’s contest is now open for business. Because of the unique nature of the contest, composers are urged to read the complete rules before entering.
Iron Composer will be held on October 22, 2010. The deadline for entry is July 15. WCLV 104.9 FM will broadcast the concert live and stream it online. Baldwin-Wallace College will provide the venue, and ANALOG arts will dream up another humdinger of a challenge.
In the three years that ANALOG arts has been presenting Iron Composer, there has been a tiebreak each time, but the real drama yesterday was provided by the winner, Sunny Knable.
At 2:30 p.m., he wasn’t done writing, even though he knew that there is a 3-point penalty for not finishing on time. Each additional half hour past the deadline yields an additional 2-point penalty. Sunny ended up with a total penalty of 5 points, but his total score of 141 was high enough that he could have written for another hour and still won the competition. Travis Jeffords’ second place total was 131 points.
The competition for the third prize couldn’t have been closer. Andrew Jamieson and John Rot were tied with 119 points. (Devin Farney missed the tiebreak competition by only 1 point!) Andrew had an edge over John by 3 points in the Use of the Secret Ingredient and Originality.
When the challenge was revealed at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, the composers’ reactions made it evident that this was the hardest competition yet! The work of the composers in such a short time span continues to astound everyone who hears it, and what can you say about the consummate professionalism of the musicians last night? They had just 24 minutes to rehearse each piece, amidst a beehive of activity as BWTV and WCLV set up. In that barely contained chaos, they whipped together wonderful renditions of each composer’s score.
Mark Satola emceed brilliantly, with a particularly charming retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and the judges were wonderful sports about commenting and scoring pieces that they’d only heard once (while they had to sit onstage in front of a full house). The crowd had a great time, too. It’s hard to think of another occasion where the world premieres of five new pieces would be met with such an engaged audience.
There are an abundance of people to thank for the success of the event, including Make Music for their continued institutional support and Aladdin’s for providing the contestants’ lunch. Look for audio and video in this space soon!
If you’ve had trouble listening to WCLV this week through their website wclv.com, you are not alone. Because so many people have reported problems, here is a quick guide to listening to Iron Composer live via the internet.
‘Windows Internet Feed’ (3rd option from the top). This will take you to a web page with an embedded media player. Here is a direct link to that page.
‘A Macintosh-friendly, iTunes capable connection’ (4th option from the top). This will work for both Windows and Macs! Just click the link and you will download an m3u file, which will play in iTunes. Select the ‘Open’ option, and iTunes will launch and play the live stream. Here is a direct link to the m3u file.
At 9 a.m. this morning, the full challenge for this year’s Iron Composer competition was revealed to the five finalists. ANALOG arts assigned a very nontraditional ensemble of 2 pianos, 2 trumpets, and low tom-toms. The secret ingredient is the story of Little Red Riding Hood:
Little Red Riding Hood
By Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
Once upon a time there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her liked her, but most of all her grandmother, who did not know what to give the child next. Once she gave her a little riding hood made of red velvet. Because it suited her so well, and she wanted to wear it all the time, she came to be known as Little Red Riding Hood.
One day her mother said to her, “Come Little Red Riding Hood. Here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine. Take them to your grandmother. She is sick and weak, and they will do her well. Mind your manners and give her my greetings. Behave yourself on the way, and do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass, and then there will be nothing for your sick grandmother.”
Little Red Riding Hood promised to obey her mother. The grandmother lived out in the woods, a half mile from the village. When Little Red Riding Hood entered the woods a wolf came up to her. She did not know what a wicked animal he was, and was not afraid of him.
“Good day to you, Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Thank you, wolf.”
“Where are you going so early, Little Red Riding Hood?”
“To grandmother’s.”
“And what are you carrying under your apron?”
“Grandmother is sick and weak, and I am taking her some cake and wine. We baked yesterday, and they should give her strength.”
“Little Red Riding Hood, just where does your grandmother live?”
“Her house is a half mile from here in the woods, under the three large oak trees. There’s a hedge of hazel bushes there. You must know the place,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
The wolf thought to himself, “Now there is a tasty bite for me. Just how are you going to catch her?”
Then he said, “Listen, Little Red Riding Hood, haven’t you seen the beautiful flowers that are blossoming in the woods? Why don’t you go and take a look? And I don’t believe you can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking along as though you were on your way to school in the village. It is very beautiful in the woods.”
Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes and saw the sunlight breaking through the trees and how the ground was covered with beautiful flowers. She thought, “If a take a bouquet to grandmother, she will be very pleased. Anyway, it is still early, and I’ll be home on time.” And she ran off into the woods looking for flowers. Each time she picked one she thought that she could see an even more beautiful one a little way off, and she ran after it, going further and further into the woods. But the wolf ran straight to the grandmother’s house and knocked on the door.
“Who is there?”
“Little Red Riding Hood. I’m bringing you some cake and wine. Open the door for me.”
“Just press the latch,” called out the grandmother. “I’m too weak to get up.”
The wolf pressed the latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, went straight to the grandmother’s bed, and ate her up. Then he took her clothes, put them on, and put her hood on his head. He got into her bed and pulled the curtains shut.
All this time Little Red Riding Hood was still gathering flowers. At last she had as many as her hands could hold. So she made her way back to the path and walked fast until she came to her grandmother’s cottage. She, too, knocked at the door.
“Who is there?” asked the wolf, trying to speak like the grandmother. But his voice was so rough that Little Red Riding Hood was frightened at first.
Then she thought, “Poor grandmother must have a bad cold;” so she answered, “It is I, little Red Riding Hood. I bring you some cakes and butter and a jar of honey.”
“Pull the latch, and the door will fly open,” said the wolf.
Little Red Riding Hood pulled the latch and the door flew open. In she went. There in bed lay her grandmother, as she thought. The wolf had drawn the cover up so that she could only see his head. He had pulled the nightcap as far over his face as he could, but his great eyes were shining out.
Little Red Riding hood said, “Oh, grandmother, what great eyes you have!”
“The better to see you, my dear, the better to see you,” said the wolf.
“And, grandmother, what great ears you have!”
“The better to hear you, my dear, the better to hear you!”
“And what sharp teeth you have!”
“The better to eat you up!” said the wolf. With that, he jumped out of bed at poor Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her up. As soon as the wolf had finished this tasty bite, he climbed back into bed, fell asleep, and began to snore very loudly.
A huntsman was just passing by. He thought it strange that the old woman was snoring so loudly, so he decided to take a look. He stepped inside, and in the bed there lay the wolf that he had been hunting for such a long time. “He has eaten the grandmother, but perhaps she still can be saved. I won’t shoot him,” thought the huntsman. So he took a pair of scissors and cut open his belly.
He had cut only a few strokes when he saw the red hood shining through. He cut a little more, and the girl jumped out and cried, “Oh, I was so frightened! It was so dark inside the wolf’s body!”
And then the grandmother came out alive as well. Then Little Red Riding Hood fetched some large heavy stones. They filled the wolf’s body with them, and when he woke up and tried to run away, the stones were so heavy that he fell down dead.
The three of them were happy. The huntsman took the wolf’s pelt. The grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine that Little Red Riding Hood had brought. And Little Red Riding Hood thought to herself, “As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the woods by myself if mother tells me not to.”
The Plain Dealer’s Zachary Lewis interviews Joe Drew and finalist John Rot in this preview of tomorrow night’s Iron Composer. The article is now available online and will appear in tomorrow’s paper.
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