The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) has selected winners of its 2024 Annual Concert Call for Scores. The competition recognizes the accomplishments of IAWM member composers and fosters IAWM’s goal of increasing awareness of the musical contributions of women. The Annual Concert will take place at University of Minnesota Duluth’s Weber Music Hall on October 19, 2024.

IAWM 2024 Annual Concert Call for Scores Winners

Stefania de Kenessey – Unorthodox Redux

Chia-Yu Hsu – Urban Sketches

Jiyu Hu – The Romantic Nebula

Sarah LeMieux  – 20 Years

Lucy Shirley – I Think I Should Have Loved You

Qingye Wu – Waves

Sum Yee Lee – Ondine

Ningxin Zhang – Travelers among Mountains and Streams

The Winners’ Biographies

Stephanie de Kenessey‘s music has been heard throughout New York City, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Joe’s Pub and La Mama; internationally, it has been performed in more than 35 countries, from Australia to Venezuela. Her output ranges from choral, vocal and operatic pieces to chamber and orchestral work, as well as scores for film, theater and dance. De Kenessey collaborates regularly with choreographer Ariel Grossman and the all-female Ariel Rivka Dance company as the company’s Composer-In-Residence. Her most recent CD In Her Words (2022), features four of these dances and was hailed as a “rich stew of pulsations, sounds and stories” (Jazz Weekly). Her Menstrual Rosary has won more than thirty awards at national and international film festivals from San Francisco, Nashville and Portland to London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Hong Kong and Tokyo, taking the top prize at the Dallas and Vienna Indie Short Festivals. She was recently named Composer-In-Residence for the Dal Sogno Ensemble, which commissioned “The Names of Woman,” a cantata exploring women who have been unjustly neglected by history. De Kenessey is the founding president of the International Alliance for Women in Music and serves on the board of New York Women Composers. www.stefaniadekenessey.com

Born in Banqiao, Taiwan, Chia-Yu Hsu is an associate professor of composition at UW-Eau Claire. She was the winner of the Lakond prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, San Francisco Choral Society commission, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble composition contest, grand prize from Symphony Number One, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composer’s Awards, IAWM Search for New Music, Copland House Award, Lynn University international call for scores, the 2010 Sorel Organization recording grant, music+culture 2009 International Competition for Composers, the Sorel Organization’s 2nd International Composition Competition, the 7th USA International Harp Composition Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Awards, the Maxfield Parrish Composition Contest, and the Renée B. Fisher Foundation Composer Awards, among others. Her works have been performed by the London Sinfonietta, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, the Lynn Philharmonia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Ciompi Quartet, and Prism Quartet. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University, Masters of Music from Yale University School of Music, and Bachelors of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music. www.chiayuhsu.com

As a composer and pianist, Jiyu Hu has created numerous music pieces in China, spanning various styles including children’s dance music, commercial songs, and ethnic music. Jiyu obtained her Master’s degree in Applied Piano from Xinghai Conservatory of Music in 2014, and a dual Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Jazz from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2016. Her musical style is characterized by narrative-driven storytelling, consistently featuring a clear storyline woven throughout her works, often employing multimedia techniques to place instruments at the forefront of the narrative. Throughout her academic and professional journey, Jiyu has been dedicated to exploring the intersection of music and storytelling, crafting emotive and engaging compositions. Currently, Hu is engaged in music composition and educational research work in Guangdong, China.

Sarah LeMieux is a contemporary composer, performer, educator and researcher working to merge universes through music. In her view, music is a human joy, and everyone deserves to make it and love it; moreover everything that anyone says is music, is music. LeMieux’s favorite styles include (in alphabetical order) americana, apocalypse folk, bluegrass, chamber, electroacoustic, electronic, experimental, hip-hop, jazz, soundscape and string music. She and her band have played at the National Women in Blues Festival, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Hartford’s Infinity Hall, and the historic Oakdale Theater. The Sarah LeMieux Quintet won “Best Jazz” at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Connecticut Music Awards, with “Moments Musicaux” winning Album of the Year for 2015. LeMieux also composes for and performs with the award-winning six piece Americana band The Girls from Ruby Falls, and Madame Thalia’s Vaudeville Revue, as well as creating music for her original score for “Monday and the Winter Moon” won Best Composer at CIFT Festival of Toronto, was an Official Selection at the Southeast International Film and Music Festival 2020, and was Semi-Finalist, Best Composer, Montreal Independent Film Festival (November 2020). In June 2023, “The Specious Present” premiered at NYCEMF, kicking off LeMieux’s installation “Acousmacity” at the Living Room NYC. As an educator and program designer and director in music and arts education, LeMieux takes a flexible, responsive and joyful approach to teaching, meeting students where they are and helping them get where they want to be. LeMieux has 15+ years of experience providing individualized instrumental and vocal instruction, designing and delivering classes in music composition, theory and technology, and inclusive and culturally reflective music history. She has extensive experience working with student musicians with disabilities, and a demonstrated commitment to bringing the kind of child-centered arts access available in communities of privilege to everyone, especially underserved families. Her multimodal background in music, educational psychology and curriculum design results in an individually tailored approach to meet the needs of each student. LeMieux is currently conducting PhD research that combines music composition and neuropsychology. https://sarahlemieux.com

Lucy Shirley‘s works are polystylistic and playful, often focusing on personal experience and aspects of the human voice. Shirley’s honors include selection in the 2024 SOLI Chamber Ensemble 30x30x30 Project, a 2022 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and 2nd prize in the 2021 UMKC Chamber Music Composition Competition. She has attended the Norfolk New Music Workshop, June in Buffalo, Fresh Inc Festival, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. Shirley is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Music Composition at the University of Iowa. https://lucygraceshirley.com

Qingye Wu was born into a musical family in China. Qingye received BM and MM degree in composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and DMA in composition from College-Conservatory of Music in University of Cincinnati. Wu has composed over 30 works, including symphonies, chamber music, vocal pieces, solo instrumental works, electronic music, film music, and music for drama. Many of her compositions have been commissioned by musicians in the United States, Asia and Europe. Her works have received more than ten international and domestic awards in China, the United States, Austria, Italy, and other countries. Two of her electronic pieces were featured in the Society of Composers, Inc. 2020 Summer Student Mixtape and Ablaze Records Electronic Masters. She also released her personal CD Winter Sketches. https://qingyewu.com

Sum Yee Lee is a Chinese-American composer and pianist raised in Seattle Washington and Guangzhou, China. Her music is often inspired by nature, human experiences, art works, and is characterized by spontaneous change in dynamics, color, characters and textures. Yee’s works have been selected and played by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Dal Niente Ensemble, Quince Ensemble, Wintergreen Chamber Ensemble, and Western Washington Symphony Orchestra. She has received recognition from the New York Youth Symphony as well as featured in festivals such as She Scores Concert Series, MOXsonic, SPLICE Institute and Wintergreen Music Festival. Yee earned her piano and composition degree from Western Washington University and a biology degree from University of Washington. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at Bowling Green State University with Dr. Christopher Dietz, Dr. Mikel Kuehn, Dr. Elainie Lillios, and Dr. Piyawat Louilarpprasert. https://www.sumyeeleemusic.com

Ningxin Zhang is an electroacoustic composer, multimedia artist, electronic instrument designer, and pipa player born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. She studied translation, interpreting, and intercultural studies at Hong Kong Baptist University and electronic production and design at Berklee College of Music. She is currently studying music, science, and technology at Stanford University. Ningxin’s electroacoustic music, audio-visual works, and research have been showcased/presented at the SEAMUS National Conference, the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Interdisciplinary Conference on Musical Media (IIICON), New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), International Csound Conference (ICSC), etc. She has also actively performed as a pipa/electric pipa player at many concerts, including her multichannel works at the Interdisciplinary Arts Institute, microtonal music at the Micro-jam concert with the Planet MicroJam Institute, and traditional Chinese music at the International Folk Festival. Ningxin was awarded 1st prize in the Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest and 2nd in the SWEETWATER/SEAMUS award for her electroacoustic composition Kagemusha. Additionally, Ningxin has received the Max Mathews Award, was twice the recipient of the John Towse Scholarship from Berklee, and earned The School of Humanities and Sciences Fellowship from Stanford University. https://www.ningxinmusic.com