NEWS: Utah Chamber Artists and Salty Cricket Composers Collective Announce Winner of Commission Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, September 15, 2011 Utah Chamber Artists and Salty Cricket Composers Collective Announce Winner of Commission Competition 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 announced that the winner of the commission competition is Stephen Voorhees. The call was for two short works for string quartet. After reviewing dozens of submissions, Stephen Voorhees' two works were both chosen as the winners. The competition was adjudicated by UCA Artistic Director, Barlow Bradford. Stephen is a graduate student in orchestral conducting at the University of Utah, a Utah native and graduate of Murray High, and frequently conducts Salty Cricket performances as well as submitting his own works to their programs. 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 are 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. “I choose both of Stephen's works as they exactly express the atmosphere we are trying to communicate at those points in the program," said Bradford. “The atonal piece, called 'Aeternam' by Voorhees and based on the Requiem Aeternam chant, precedes an intense work by J.A.C Redford which was written in memory of the composer's sister-in-law who was brutally murdered last December. Stephen's work is fierce and emotional and makes an ideal companion for Redford's piece. Voorhees' 'And Ever, Amen: A Memory' precedes my own 'Ave Maria.' This elegiac work's gorgeous and peaceful nature will be amplified within the beautiful acoustic space of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. I am a composer myself, and it was thrilling to be directly involved in generating new music from Utah composers." More information about this concert can be found at utahchamberartists.org. Additional information about Salty Cricket Composers Collective is located at saltycricket.org. More info about Stephen can be found at: http://www.stephenvoorhees.com/. #### -- Crystal Young-Otterstrom Vice-president & Marketing Director crystal@saltycricket.org M: 801.652.0737 The Salty Cricket Composers Collective www.saltycricket.org 450 E 100 S #29 SLC, UT 84111