Cory Band Composition Prize
Cory Band, in association with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) and sponsor New Moon Insurance, will be broadcasting the four shortlisted finalists in its 2022 Composition Prize from next week, 3rd October. This is the fifth time the competition has taken place, although the first time since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and there will be several changes in the way the new music is presented. From an initial entry of over 30 pieces, a shortlist of four was drawn up, and Cory Band recorded all four pieces at the RWCMD earlier this year. Over the course of four days next week, each piece will be released across Cory’s social media channels, after which the public will be invited to vote for their favourite. Three official judges will also be on hand to add their voices and the winner will be announced on Monday 10th October.
The four shortlisted pieces and broadcast dates are as follows:
Monday 3rd October – Dance With the Brass Tonight (Kateřina Horká – Czech Republic)
Tuesday 4th October – Reminiscence (Hendrik de Boer – The Netherlands)
Wednesday 5th October – The Tortoise and the Hare (Ben Fuller – USA)
Thursday 6th October – Aspects of the Sky (Hans Loirs – France)
The official judges are composer Liz Lane, Cory Band’s Musical Consultant Nigel Seaman, and Musical Director Philip Harper. Philip commented: “It’s one of our most important objectives at Cory Band to encourage the creation of new music for brass band and I’m delighted to be able to bring this competition back to our schedule, albeit in a new way. One of the silver linings of the cloud of the pandemic years was the way we were able to expand our online following, and we now have over 50,000 followers on Facebook – more than double the number before lockdown. So we wanted a way to involve this whole online community in the celebration of these new pieces and we hope to have engagement from around the world when we launch the videos next week.
“The shortlisted finalists are a diverse, cosmopolitan group, and they all bring something new and fresh to the table. Each broadcast also includes an interview with the composer so it will be possible for viewers to get to know the people as well as the music.” New Moon Insurance will be providing sponsorship of the competition, offering a cash prize of £300 for the winner, as well as a commitment by Cory Band to add the piece to its concert programmes, and a publishing contract with Wright and Round Music Publishers.
Videos will be released from 3rd October on Cory Band’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter pages.
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