MILWAUKEE - At the Music Teachers National Convention held last week in Chicago, Hal Leonard Corporation proudly announced the winners of the inaugural Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition.
Hal Leonard, the world's largest publisher of songbooks and music educational materials, created this online student piano composition competition in honor of Carol Klose (1945-2013), a popular piano teacher and prolific Hal Leonard composer. The purpose of the competition is to encourage the creative musical spirit that Carol always fostered, by giving piano students a platform to compose, perform and share their original pieces.
Nearly 200 contestants created original compositions and submitted YouTube videos of their performances in the competition's three age categories: Junior Composer (ages 12 and under); Teen Composer (ages 13-18); and Collegiate Composer (ages 19-23). They vied for prizes of generous Hal Leonard gift certificates. The collegiate winner, Changhee Lee, will also have his piece published as sheet music in the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library Showcase Solos series. The complete list of winners follows, and their performances are posted here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5hhox49YD7y02gjqKvE2Q/playlists
Jennifer Linn, manager of educational piano publications for Hal Leonard, comments, "We're thrilled to have gotten so many entries for a competition requiring composition notation skills and a YouTube performance - not exactly something that's easy for most kids to do. It's been truly inspiring to see so much creativity given a forum that is accessible and groundbreaking. We expect the competition to be even bigger over the coming years. We miss Carol terribly, but I'm sure she would be incredibly proud to see these talented students."
Please stay tuned for details of the 2015 Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition, which will be posted here:
http://www.halleonard.com/klosecompetition
Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition Winners
JUNIOR COMPOSER
(Ages 12 and under)
GOLD
ALEXANDER AND LEONID NEDIAK
Kingston, Ontario
Composition: Elegie
Piano Teacher: John Burge, Michael Berkovsky
SILVER
(tie)
EMMA ERICKSON
Murrieta, California
Composition: Mysterious Dreams
Piano Teacher: Yiyi Ku
ABHIK MAZUMDER
Columbus, Ohio
Composition: Soaring
Piano Teacher: Mark Flugge
BRONZE
THOMAS FILIPIUK
Palatine, Illinois
Composition: Waltz in D Minor
Piano Teacher: Janice Razaq
HONORABLE MENTION
TAYLOR WANG
Centerville, Ohio
Composition: Polka in D
Piano Teacher: Dr. Eric Street
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TEEN COMPOSER
(Ages 13-18)
GOLD
BEN HENAULT
Lexington, Kentucky
Composition: Rain
Piano Teacher: Julie Jones
SILVER
CADE SUTTON
Pocatello, Idaho
Composition: The Last Ride
Piano Teacher: Laura Larson
BRONZE
DAVID BESONEN
Apple Valley, Minnesota
Composition: Mist in May
Piano Teacher: Christine Wolf
HONORABLE MENTION
DANIEL COLLINS
Bushnell, Illinois
Composition: Synthetic Prelude for Piano
Piano Teacher: Rose Marie Wood
SARAH KITTEN
Beaverton, Oregon
Composition: Thrive
Piano Teacher: Suzanne Hamlin
ODETTE MOOLTEN
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Composition: Piano Suite: Something, Nothing
Piano Teacher: Luke Carlson
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
COLLEGIATE COMPOSER
(Ages 19-23)
GOLD
CHANGHEE LEE
Rochester, New York
Composition: Mambo
School: Eastman School of Music
Piano Teacher: Douglas Humpherys
SILVER
JONATHAN MAIOCCO
Rosell, Georgia
Composition: Snow
School: Georgia State University
Piano Teacher: Dr. Geoffrey Haydon
BRONZE
JONATHAN CARLISLE
Taylor Mill, Kentucky
Composition: Tower of Babel
School: Northern Kentucky University
Piano Teacher: Dr. Ingrid Keller
HONORABLE MENTION
NATHAN PEZZOTTI
New York, New York
Composition: Somniloquy
School: The Juilliard School
Piano Teacher: Marcantonio Barone
RUTH TARACTECAN
Hillsborough, New Jersey
Composition: Ballade
School: Lancaster Bible College
Piano Teacher: Dr. Krystal Grant