Utah Chamber Artists and Salty Cricket Composers Collective Partner on Commission Competition for Utah-based Composers

Contact:
Crystal Young-Otterstrom
crystal@saltycricket.org | 801.652.0737

Becky Durham
tobcd@aol.com or info@utahchamberartists.org
801-572-2010


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 18, 2011

Utah Chamber Artists and Salty Cricket Composers Collective Partner on Commission Competition for Utah-based Composers

The Two Winning Pieces Will be Performed at the Sept 19 & 20 “Chant & Contemplation” Cathedral Collage Utah Chamber Artists Concert


SALT LAKE CITY -- In a first-ever partnership, Utah Chamber Artists (UCA) and the Salty Cricket Composers Collective will partner on a commission competition exclusive to Utah-based composers. The winning two pieces will be premiered at the Utah Chamber Artists’ annual Cathedral Collage concerts called, “Voicing Wonder...Chant & Contemplation” on September 19 & 20, 2011. The concerts will begin at 8:00pm and will be held at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Admission is free to the public and no tickets are required. The two commissions will be scored for string quartet and based on medieval chant. These will serve as preludes for other pieces on the concert. Various chants, both sung and played on instruments, will thread the music selections together throughout the program.

“UCA is about to begin its twenty-first season. We have always had a tradition of growing choral repertoire through commissions and performing new works for chorus,” says UCA Artistic Director, Barlow Bradford, who is himself a composer. “Looking forward to the next twenty years, we are especially excited about this partnership with Salty Cricket because it is UCA’s first ever commission for an all-instrumental ensemble and I personally look forward to working with local composers.”

The first Salty Cricket piece is to be set to a Requiem Aeternam chant, treated atonally, and will last no more than 2 minutes.  It will lead into J.A.C. Redford's premiere, "Rest now, my sister" which was written in memory of the composer's sister-in-law who was brutally murdered last December.

The second Salty Cricket piece will be set to the most well-know of the Ave Maria chants, called “Victoria.” This piece will also last no more than two minutes and is to be set tonally. It will precede Bradford’s "Ave Maria," which is an a cappella work that is not derived from chant.

States Salty Cricket board president and co-founder M. Ryan Taylor: “Salty Cricket is elated to be a part of UCA’s Cathedral Collage concerts this year. I expect these two commissions to be challenging, beautiful, complex, and moving. They will showcase the great level of compositional talent that resides in Utah.”

The submissions will be adjudicated by Barlow Bradford who will choose the winning pieces. To be eligible to submit, the composer must be currently residing in Utah. Interested composers should send their submissions to Crystal Young-Otterstrom at crystal@saltycricket.org by September 1, 2011. No recording or midi realization is required. Composers who wish to submit work should email Young-Otterstrom to request a copy of the specific chants. A small honorarium provided by Utah Chamber Artists will be paid to the author(s) of the winning entries.

More information about this concert can be found at utahchamberartists.org. Additional information about Salty Cricket Composers Collective is located at saltycricket.org.
 
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Crystal Young-Otterstrom
VP & Marketing Director
The Salty Cricket Composers Collective
801.652.0737
crystal@saltycricket.org
www.saltycricket.org