The AGO Student Commissioning Project is the AGO’s most recent new music venture. Each year, grants of $1,000 are awarded to four collaborative composer-and-organist pairs for the composition and performance of four new works for the organ. In the fall, as the academic year begins, a student pair submits a joint application describing a proposed work and its performance. There are no restrictions with regard to work’s compositional style, however, all composers and organists must be enrolled as full- or part-time students at an accredited U.S. college, university, or conservatory. After the new work is approved by the AGO Committee on New Music, the organist must premiere the work and present two additional performances.
Award: Four grants of $1,000 will be awarded each year to four composer and organist pairs by the AGO Committee on New Music.
These four composer/organist pairs were selected in the fall of 2019 for the 2019-2020 student projects:
Charles Berofsky and Bradley Vogel at the Eastman School of Music, J. Alexander Bennett and Amber Dahlberg at Brigham Young University, Matthew Hazzard and Jim Roman at The University of Houston, and Seo Yoon Kim and Wendy Johnston at the Peabody Institute.
2018-19 Student Composer/Organist Pairs
Mark Vaughn (composer) and Christoph Hintermüller (organist) – The content of this piece is almost entirely comprised of works written by famous composers for the organ. When composing in this way, it becomes clear that there are multiple frameworks for perceiving music.
Mark Vaughn
Composer
Christopher Hintermüller Organist
Jasmine Thomasian (composer) and Zhen Piao (organist) – The performance of Translucent Threads requires a laptop, two speakers (one monitor), two condenser microphones, and a mixer. The cluster glissandi require a different technique from standard performance practice in this piece written for organ and electronics.
Jasmine Thomasian
Composer
Zhen Piao
Organist
Gu Wei (composer) and Mi Zhou (organist). When the Mountains Sing is based on a folk song from Sichuan China. The piece seeks to convey the feeling of longing and hope that is present in the original song.
Listen to When the Mountains Sing
Gu Wei
Composer
Mi Zhou
Organist
Carle Wirshba (composer) and Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie (organist) – Interrupted Introduction & Listen to Interrupted Introduction and Passacaglia in C#
Carle Wirshba
Composer
Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie
Organist
Past Student Commissioning Projects
2017-18 John Lempke and Karen Taylor
2017-18 Joshua Malavé and Josh Ring
2016-17 Alex Umfleet – Carina Sturdy
2016-17 Jonathan Cziner – Colin MacKnight
2015-16 Hon Ki Cheung – Alexander Meszler
2014-15 George Katehis – Alexander Meszler
Committee on New Music
Louise Mundinger, MM, Director Email
David J. Hurd, Jr., MusD Email
Carol Feather Martin, MM Email
Alexander Meszler, MM Email
Eileen Hunt, AAGO, DMA, ex officio (Vice President/Councillor for Competitions and New Music) Email
AGO Headquarters Email
