Copland House Announces 2013 Residency Winners

Copland House today announced that eight gifted American composers from five states and Great Britain have been selected for coveted, all-expenses-paid residencies during the 2013-14 season at Aaron Copland's National Historic Landmark home in New York's lower Hudson Valley. The winners of the 2013 Copland House Residency Awards are Keith Fitch (47, Cleveland Heights, OH), Saad Haddad (20, Northridge, CA), Aaron Holloway-Nahum (30, London, UK), Tonia Ko (24, Ithaca, NY), Nicholas Omiccioli (31, Kansas City, MO), Kurt Rohde (46, San Francisco, CA), Christopher Theofanidis (45, New Haven, CT), and Dale Trumbore (25, Los Angeles, CA). This year's eminent jury, which included composers Eric Chasalow (himself a former Copland House Resident), Daren Hagen, and Paul Moravec, reviewed the applications of 99 composers from 26 states and 5 countries. This is the start of the 16th round of coveted composer residencies since Copland House, celebrating its 15th Anniversary this season, welcomed its first composer just before Thanksgiving in 1998.

As Copland House's Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin noted, "These residencies have always embraced both emerging and established artists, and we're very pleased that this year's residents range widely from a well-known, much-performed figure like Chris Theofanidis to young composers at the very beginnings of their careers, like Saad Haddad and Dale Trumbore." The Residents will live and work, one at a time, at Copland's rustic, hilltop home one hour north of Manhattan for stays ranging from three- to eight-weeks. There, they will be able to focus uninterruptedly on their creative work in the same bucolic, inspiring surroundings that Copland so enjoyed during the last 30 years of his life. As Copland House Residents, they will also become eligible for post-residency awards and performances that advance their work, including the Sylvia Goldstein Award, Borromeo String Quartet Award, Hoff-Barthelson Music School Commission, and others, and their work may be showcased in performance by the Music from Copland House ensemble.

Reflecting on his Copland House stay earlier this year, David Hertzberg wrote, "the weeks I spent there were utterly transformative - a remarkably fruitful time for me creatively [and] truly spiritually rejuvenating, as well. I know I will continue to look back on it as an important and even somewhat charmed time in my musical life." Copland House Residencies occupy the House for 42 to 45 weeks throughout the year, and are among the organization's core programs. To date, Copland House has hosted residencies for over 125 composers from nearly 30 states and 4 countries. Works created during Copland House stays have won awards from ASCAP, BMI, the American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, European American Music Alliance, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and many others, and have been premiered by leading artists and performing organizations around the world.

An Official Project of the federal Save America's Treasures program, Copland House is the only composer's home in the U.S. devoted to nurturing and renewing America's rich musical heritage through a broad range of creative, educational, and performance programs. Additional information about Copland House, its residencies, and other activities can be found at www.coplandhouse.org.