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

Program Notes

This 7-minute electroacoustic composition is inspired by Travelers among Mountains and Streams, a renowned painting by Fan Kuan, a Chinese landscape painter of the Song dynasty. The piece delves into both traditional and extended techniques on the Chinese pipa, combined with the sounds of a modular synthesizer and processed electronics.

 The sonic landscape of this composition seeks to evoke the painting’s unique “raindrop stroke” technique, where each brushstroke meticulously accumulates like raindrops or grains of sand to form the expansive landscape. The composition begins by closely examining a caravan moving through mountainous terrain, as depicted in the painting. As the piece progresses, the sounds of pipa and electronics sonically construct the scene’s majestic, towering peaks and the dramatic waterfalls cascading over a dark valley. Besides, the sounds of the modular synthesizer are crafted to mimic rich natural and animalistic elements, enhancing the depiction of a deep mountainous atmosphere. Midway through, the composition introduces a contrasting element: a monk walking in the opposite direction of the caravan, heading towards a temple. This juxtaposition of the mundane journey of the caravan with the spiritual quest of the monk invites listeners to reflect on life’s deeper meanings from a Daoist perspective. Through a blend of overlapping and contrasting sounds, the composition engages the audience in a meditative exploration of the intertwining paths of the spiritual and the temporal.

 

Urban Sketches-New York City is full of diverse culture and energy. Its five boroughs—the Bronx,Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—exhibit many different ethnic groups, including Chinese, Jamaican, Russian, Italian, and Indian. The city is immersed in a mélange of sound and it is the city where many people see their dreams come true. New York is the epitome of the American melting pot. Aside from the residents, tourists from all over the world pour into this city. In New York, people’s lives intricately intertwine and their interactions stimulate all different activities which come together to form a variety of sounds. New York is the center of all excitements!

In order to capture and reflect the sound, feeling and vibrancy of hundreds of neighborhoods within the five boroughs of New York City, I start with a mix of music from the “melting pot” of different cultures—Chinese, Latin, and Jazz. The beginning reflects the hustle and bustle of daily life in New York City: horning, barking, shouting and siren ringing. While the “melting pot” materials continue, the nature theme furtively sneaks in and is juxtaposed with the original materials. The theme represents the harmony of the universe, its beauty and elegance subduing the dissonant and over crowded sound world. When the nature theme organically grows, the theme is then rejoined by a variation of recycled materials from the beginning, which are transformed to resonate with the nature theme, creating a harmony that is full of joy and excitement. This ending section signals a brighter and more sustainable New York City.

 

20 years is a symbolic soundscape narrative of my personal experience of September 11th, 2001, in downtown Manhattan. I was inspired to write it upon hearing an announcer on NPR conversationally mention that we had been at war for 17 years. The title of the piece changed each year to reflect the distance from that day in time, until we reached 20 years, at which point I let it rest. The proportional timing of the musical elements in the piece corresponds to the timing of the events of that deeply devastating day, beginning with the impact of the first plane and finishing with the collapse of the towers. I had a fairly personal, immediate experience of September 11th, placed within the context of the larger American story of the events of that day and far greater losses than my own. I lived on Sixth Street and Avenue A. I watched the World Trade Center towers burn, and subsequently fall, from my roof; friends evacuated to our apartment, and someone we knew died in the collapse. Our neighborhood was filled with persistent smoke and a terrible odor for what seemed like months. We walked out through the police barricades at 14th street and fled the city, left that apartment, changed the entire trajectories of our lives. In the course of my work on another piece, I went through boxes and boxes of old Mini-dv tapes of footage I had recorded from 1999 until about 2010. In looking for particularly nostalgic, summer images and sounds that I remembered capturing, I stumbled upon my first-hand footage of September 11th. At the time, I watched it, and cried, and put it aside. When I began composing what was at the time called “18 years,” I revisited the tapes from that day. The digital audio was very good quality, and I had captured some fleeting strange beauty. A man in Washington Square Park was playing John Coltrane’s “Naima” that morning, along with the sounds of sirens. My neighbors footsteps and muted urgent conversation, humming under the squeaks of children improbably swinging on the playground swings. Those sounds, and the sound of the rain that finally extinguished the fires completely, became part of the piece. I hope that it honors the dead and theirmemories.

 

In I Think I Should Have Loved You, I incorporate fragments of texts from early 20th century women writers to create a collage of a single moment. In writing the piece for small ensemble and electronics, I feel this constant push and pull between the greater aural reality of disembodied voices and the visual reality of three humans alone onstage. The flute and saxophone act both in tandem with and as foils to the voice, twirling and echoing like ghosts of those who have spoken these thoughts before. The electronics often become indistinguishable with the instruments, so that this greater whole is one and the same with its parts. This piece came as I was reading through anthologies of early 20th century women poets over the summer. These writers, many of whom were my age at the time they were writing, were searching for the same answers I am searching for in my own work. They were looking around themselves and writing about the natural world, housework, mundane happenings of life, etc. (topics that were quote-un-quote appropriate for women to be discussing), and they were searching for god in the details.

As a pianist, I am always captivated by the sound world that Ravel composed and created in his Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit for piano solo. The vivid imagery and the story of the poem inspired me to compose a vocal ensemble with fixed media piece for the Quince Ensemble. The text is from the poem “Ondine” in Gaspard de la Nuit: Fantasies in the Manner of Rembrandt by Callot Aloysius Bertrand. The piece is in both French and English.

 

Romantic Nebula is a composition that draws its inspiration from a celestial spectacle—the Rosette Nebula. The music unfolds in stages, tracing the nebula’s evolution from the nascent stirrings of energy to its explosive formation and the subsequent dispersal of cosmic particles. This celestial journey is mirrored through a vivid interplay of musical elements.

The piece employs a rich tapestry of tonal contrasts, weaving dissonant minor seconds with more consonant intervals. These dissonances serve to evoke the vast, mysterious backdrop of the cosmos, while the consonant sounds anchor the nebula’s gradual emergence into clarity and form. Throughout the composition, improvised elements are introduced, enhancing the sense of cosmic unpredictability and spontaneity. A significant feature of this piece is its innovative use of live electronics, which are integral to the narrative flow and thematic expression. The electronic backdrop is crafted with environmental sounds that are digitally manipulated to evoke the natural interactions and transformations within the universe. These sounds form a deep, immersive sonic environment that interacts dynamically with the acoustic instruments.

Foregrounding the texture are electronic synthesizers that engage in a live dialogue with the traditional instruments. This interaction is designed to reflect the modern, transformative aspects of the nebula’s development, blending the timbres of flute, clarinet, piano, violin, and contrabass with synthetic sonorities to create a seamless orchestral fusion. Overall, the piece is a narrative exploration of the Rosette Nebula’s life cycle, expressed through the fluid and evolving relationship between natural and synthesized sounds, mirroring the celestial phenomenon’s majestic and ever-changing presence in the universe.

 

Waves, composed for the Grover von Kampen duo. The piece emerges from the depths of pulsating hearts, intertwining with percussion’s rhythmic tides. Within this composition, waves unfurl a vast sea under the cloak of night’s obsidian embrace. Here, naught exists save the waves within, ebbing and flowing beyond human sway, surrendered wholly to nature’s unbridled dance.