By: Joseph Rivers
The Béla Rózsa Music Composition Competition took place on Feb. 15. The compositions of four competing TU student composers were performed by outstanding TU student musicians.
The winners were Kyleigh Taylor: first prize, for “To Earthward” for voice, violin, viola, cello and piano; Cole Cribbs: second prize, for “Let Your Soul Be at Rest” for string quartet; Caden Meador: third place (tie), for “Tango de la Rosa” for mixed ensemble; and Luke Arrington: third place (tie), for “Lament” for voice and piano.
All four compositions were performed for the Béla Rózsa Memorial Concert, which was held on March 29 in Gussman Concert Hall, rescheduled from February due to the snowstorm. Also featured at the Memorial Concert was the first place winning composition of the 2021 Rózsa Competition, “The Ocean’s Motions,” for clarinet and string quartet, by Caleb Taing, who was present to conduct the performance of his composition. Faculty members Danny Arthurs, Amy Cottingham and Joseph Rivers also performed their own original compositions during this concert.
J. Donald Feagin Visiting Artists and film composers/orchestrators Ann Moore Miller and Lisa Bloom were in residency at TU on March 8-9, and they visited several classes in film studies, film scoring and composition, as did J. Donald Feagin Artist composer Paul Cristo during his residency at TU on April 7-8. Several guest composers met with students during the twice-monthly Composition Seminar, including Michael Bedford, Amy Cottingham, Paul Humphrey, Paul Cristo and Zach Malavolti. Senior composition major Luke Arrington gave his senior recital on Wednesday, April 27.