2013 Composition Contest Winners

1st Place
Sean William Calhoun (Vanderbilt University)
Core (violin, cello, piano)

Sean William Calhoun is a junior composition major at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where he has studied with the composition faculty. His compositions have been finalists in the MTNA Composition Competition and the ASCAPMorton Gould Young Composer Awards. His Introduction, Fugue, and Finale won the Murfreesboro Youth Orchestra Composition Competition in 2010 and was premiered in 2011. Sean’s orchestral works Elegy and Coruscation have been among the winners of the Tennessee Valley Music Festival Young Composers’ Forum in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and were performed there by the Festival Orchestra. At the request of Dr. Carolyn Huebl, a violin professor at Blair, Sean composed Escenas de Ecuador for eleven violins, which was performed at her studio recital, a benefit for Camp Hope in Ecuador. Recordings of Sean’s works may be found at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ComposerAndPianist

 

2nd Place
Fabian Beltran (University of Texas San Antonio)
The Cycles, Prelude No. 1 for Piano

Fabian Beltran was born in Bogota, Colombia where he became an accomplished guitarist and began writing music at an early age.  Fabian is currently completing a B.A. in Music Composition at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he is furthering his studies in composition, piano, and violin under the instruction of Dr. James Balentine, Dr. Ethan Wickman, and James Syler, M.M.

As an undergraduate student at UTSA, Fabian is a member of the Music Teachers National Association and has participated in piano and composition master classes with Marta Espinos, Jeffrey Biegel, and Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Moravec.  Fabian was awarded first place in the UTSA College of Fine Arts Music Competition, he received the 2011 UTSA Reed Holmes Music Composition Award, and has been presented with several academic recognitions such as the National Society of Collegiate Scholars Geico Award.