2011 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition Winner
Earplay is pleased to announce the winning composition of the 2011 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition. The competition honors the late Donald Aird, a Bay Area composer, conductor, and Earplay board member, who actively supported the creation and performance of new works.
Strom (2010) by Sven Daigger (Germany) is the winning composition. Daigger receives a $1,000.00 cash prize, and Earplay will perform Strom on May 10, 2012, during Earplay's 27th season, as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Daigger's quartet for flute, clarinet, cello and piano was selected from 202 entries from 34 countries by a panel of composers and performers specializing in contemporary chamber music.
The other 2011 Aird prize finalists are:
- Intermezzo (2009) for prepared piano by José-Luis Hurtado (Mexico) and
- Après le Silence (2004/2005) for violin, cello and piano by Dieter Ammann (Switzerland).
Mary Chun, Earplay's conductor, observes: "From the first beat, Strom displays a visceral energy of rhythm and color from the 4 instruments. It's obvious to the listener that this is a composer to follow."
Sven Daigger was born in 1984 in the German town of Eberbach/Neckar and raised in Heidelberg. He moved to northern Germany in 2007 to study composition with Prof. Peter Manfred Wolf and music theory with Prof. Dr. Birger Petersen at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock. During his studies there, he composed works for various chamber ensembles and orchestra. In 2010 he began studies with Prof Adriana Hölszky in Salzburg, Austria. Sven Daigger has participated in masterclasses with Helmut Lachenmann, Martin Smolka, Beat Furrer, Friedhelm Döhl and Adriana Hölszky, and his compositions have been performed at a variety of European festivals, including the 2011 Salzburg Bienniale.
The deadline for the 2012 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition is March 31, 2012.
