• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

American Guild of Organists

Member Login

  • About
    • AGO AT-A-GLANCE
    • Mission, Vision, and Value Proposition
    • Strategic Plan
    • History & Purpose
      • Past AGO Wardens and Presidents
    • 2022 National Election Results
    • National Council
      • Officers
        • President
        • Vice President/Councillor for Competitions & New Music
        • Secretary/Councillor for Communications
        • Treasurer/Councillor for Finance & Development
        • Chaplain
      • National Councillors
    • National Committees & Task Forces
    • Board of Regional Councillors
    • Regions, Chapters, & Member Communities
      • Regions
      • Great Lakes
      • Mid-Atlantic
      • North Central
      • Northeast
      • Southeast
      • Southwest
      • West
    • Headquarters
    • Guild Documents
    • Antitrust Compliance
  • Chapters
    • Chapter Documents
    • Chapter Websites
    • Chapter Leadership Toolkits
      • Chapter Leadership Webinars
      • Online Programming for Chapters
    • Chapter Specialist Support Teams
  • Membership
    • Why Join?
    • Join the Guild
      • Join As a Chapter Member or Friend
      • Join As an Independent Member
      • Subscribe to The American Organist (TAO)
      • Institutional TAO Subscription
      • AGO Affiliate Membership for RCO Members
    • Membership Comparison & Dues
    • Welcome New Members
    • Renew Membership/Update Personal Information
    • AGO Young Organists
  • Shop
  • Contribute
    • AGO Funds
      • Annual Fund
      • Endowment Fund
      • Michael Bedford New Music Fund
      • New Organist Fund
      • Nita Akin Fund
      • Edward A. Hansen Memorial Fund
      • S. Lewis Elmer Fund
    • Clarence Dickinson Society
    • Lifetime Membership
    • 2023 Gala
  • Education
    • Webinars, Recitals, and Workshops
    • The New Organist
    • Certification
    • AGO Scholarships
    • Pipe Organ Encounters
    • Educational Resources
    • Academic Degree Programs
    • Organ Auditions Guide
  • Careers
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find an Organ Teacher
    • Find a Substitute Organist
    • Grievances
    • Codes & Procedures
    • Employment
    • Career Development & Support
      • Employing Musicians Handbook
  • Competitions & New Music
    • New Music Competitions
      • AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition
      • AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition
      • Ronald G. Pogorzelski and Lester D. Yankee Annual Competition
      • AGO Student Commissioning Project
    • Performance Competitions
      • AGO/Quimby Regional Competitions for Young Organists (RCYO)
      • AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP)
      • AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation (NCOI)
    • AGO New Music Commissions
    • Looking for New Music?
  • TAO & Advertising
    • Read TAO Online
    • The American Organist
      • Subscribe to The American Organist (TAO)
      • TAO Feature Articles
      • Submit Material
        • Recent Installations
        • Calendar Dates
        • Organ Auditions Guide Form
    • Advertising
  • Conventions
    • Regional Conventions
    • National Conventions
    • OrganFest
    • January Jubilee

AGO Student Commissioning Project

The AGO Student Commissioning Project is the AGO’s most recent new music initiative. 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 a 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 provide a video recording. 2024 Project Guidelines.

Award: Four grants of $1,000 will be awarded each year to four composer and organist pairs by the AGO Committee on New Music

2023 Award Winners

Four composer-organist student pairs were selected in the fall of 2022:  Victor Cui (composer) and Midori Ataka (organist) from Johns Hopkins University; Owen Johnson (composer) from the New England Conservatory and Jacob Gruss (organist) from Juilliard; Nara Lee (composer) and Jihye Choi (organist) from Indiana University; and Christopher Enloe (composer) from Johns Hopkins University and Grant Smith (organist) from Rice University.  Videos of their winning compositions are below.

2023 Award Winning Projects

Midori Ataka plays Phoenix Contemplates God by Victor CUi
Phoenix Contemplates God is my first attempt at the organ. The instrument’s textural and coloristic complexity posed a great challenge to me. The piece is strictly monothematic, with one pentatonic motif whimsically shifting between distant key areas without preparation. The abrupt juxtaposition of contrasting keys reflects how my thought process generally is: erratic, unpredictable, always making imaginative leaps of faith though random associations.

Jacob Gruss plays Earth-Waves by Owen Johnson
Earth-Waves is inspired by the poem “The Treasure” by Robinson Jeffers. Rather than programmatically set this poem, I gravitated to the general perspective that it takes on, that of examining human life from the scale of the universe. What strikes me about Jeffers’s attitude is his ability to find comfort in this seemingly bleak, large-scale, way of thinking. He finds beauty in the “flash of activity” that is a human life and accepts it rather than being consumed by its brevity. Earth-Waves reconciles this idea with the micro-reality of my lived experience and confronts Jeffers’s treasure musically.

Jihye Choi plays The Creation by Nara Lee
The Creation depicts the scenes of the God’s Creation based on the bible verses. The prominent compositional technique being used throughout the piece is “half-pulled (drawn) stops”; exploiting the various sound effects which are produced by different ranges of drawing stop knobs. This technique is only possible on mechanical stop action organs. The desired sounds are created when one precisely controls drawing stop knobs with key(s) pressed. This idea came from the composer’s impression of the “half-pulled stops”. The process of making sound, from silent to sound, resembles “The Creation”. Rather than listening to the melodic or harmonic progression, I would like to suggest you listen to how the sound is formed and how it changes.

Grant Smith plays Exsultet by Christopher Enloe
Like the ancient Latin hymn, Exsultet is a triumphant exaltation of Christ as King victorious. Exsultet recontextualizes cellular fragments of three hymn tunes – Passion Chorale, Duke Street, and Lasst Uns Erfeuen – into richly varied musical contexts. While I was initially drawn to purely aesthetic features of these tunes, my associations with text drove the compositional arc. O Sacred Head Now Wounded, Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun, and All Creatures of Our God and King spun through my head throughout the writing process. In this piece, I glimpse the coming day when all creation will receive her King, the Prince of Peace, completing His victory over sin and death. “Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph!”

Committee on New Music
Alexander Meszler, DMA, Director  Email
Elisa W. Bickers, DMA, FAGO Email
Anne K. Laver, DMA Email
Bruce E. Neswick, MM, FRSCM, FAGO Email

M. Jonathan Ryan, MM, FAGO, ChM, ex officio (Vice President/Councillor for Competitions and New Music)  Email

AGO Headquarters Email

 

Primary Sidebar

AGO New Music Links

Pogorzelski-Yankee Competition
AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition
AGO Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition
Student Commissioning Project

Footer

Lessons for the New Organist

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Search help:

Put double quotation marks around multi-word searches. Hit Enter to process.

Mission Statement

The mission of the American Guild of Organists is to foster a thriving community of musicians who share their knowledge and inspire passion for the organ.

Achievement Awards
AGOYO
Antitrust Compliance
Ask the Organbuilder
Change of Address
Chapter Deans Contact
Chapter Documents
Chapter Liability Insurance
Chapter Toolkits
Classified Ads
Contact Us
Find a Job
Find an Organ Teacher
Guild Documents
Insurance for AGO members
Pipe Organ Encounters
Post a Job
Privacy Policy
Salary Guidelines
Strategic Growth Plan

PROFESSIONAL LINKS

Organbuilders & Associations
OrganLive
Other Organ and Choral Music
Other Professional Associations

Pipedreams
Vox Humana

Don’t Fall for Scams

Scammers are everywhere and chapter officers need to be vigilant. Don't respond to requests to send funds unless you know for sure that the request is valid.
American Guild of Organists 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260 New York, NY 10115
Phone: 212-870-2310 Email: info@agohq.org
© 2023 American Guild of Organists
Major support for this website was provided by the New York City AGO Chapter’s Centennial Millennium Fund.
GDPR CONSENT: The American Guild of Organists uses cookies on this website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept” you consent to the use of cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT