Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Continues Successful Young Composers Competition In 2018-2019 Season

The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) has opened another year of opportunity for talented young composers to participate in the Third Annual Young Composers Competition for the 2018-2019 season. PYO is calling on gifted composers, between the ages of 18 to 24, to submit an original orchestral piece. The winner will receive the honor of having the composition performed by the highly esteemed Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and recorded for a possible future broadcast on WRTI.

Composers born between September 1, 1994 and September 1, 2000, are invited to apply. The deadline for submission of scores is November 15, 2018. All scores submitted are not to have been previously professionally recorded or published with no performance history of any kind. Works should be between five and twelve minutes in duration.

The winning composer will be selected collaboratively by Maestro Louis Scaglione, and the director of the Young Composers Competition, Sheridan Seyfried, who is a Philadelphia-based composer. The work will be performed at the 79th Annual PYO Festival Concert on Sunday, June 2, 2019 in Verizon Hall of Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. The grand prize winner will receive a cash prize of $2,000. All details are available on the PYO website - www.pyos.org.

A PYO alumnus, Seyfried is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon and Ned Rorem. When asked about why he's looking forward to a third year of competition, Seyfried said, "We had a wonderful time collaborating with talented young composers over the last two years and bringing their pieces to life in Verizon Hall. This type of mentorship and development is an invaluable opportunity offered by PYO to these young musicians. It gives them a high-profile showcase for their work and impacts all subsequent writing they do for orchestra ."

There are additional prizes for the second place and third place winners. The second-place winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000. The third-place winner will receive a cash prize of $500.

Submissions should be made electronically as an e-mail to YCC@pyos.org and should contain the following information:

1. Composer's name, address, telephone number, e-mail address

2. Composer's age (required), country of citizenship and gender (optional)

3. Composer's current school with address and phone number

4. Resume and bio

5. A cover letter and/or statement explaining the composer's work is optional

6. A brief description of how the composer heard about this competition

About the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra:

Now in its 79th year of training tomorrow's leaders, the renowned Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization is one of the nation's oldest and most respected community music education and youth orchestra performance programs, providing talented young musicians from across the tri-state area with exceptional musical training. Students go on to excel in many diverse fields, and it is with pride that Philadelphia Youth Orchestra notes that many members of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra are alumni. For more information, please visit www.pyos.org.

The anchor group is the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), conducted by President and Music Director Louis Scaglione, featuring 120 gifted instrumentalists who range in age from 14-21. Young musicians 12-18 years old are featured in PYO's companion ensemble, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, which is led by Director and Conductor Maestra Rosalind Erwin, who is Music Director and Conductor of Drexel University Orchestra. Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra (PYMO), directed by Maestro Kenneth Bean, is a beginning to intermediate-level full symphonic orchestra that provides most students with their first introduction to large orchestral playing featuring students age 10-17 years old. Bravo Brass, directed by Curtis Institute Dean of Faculty and Students, Paul Bryan, is an all brass ensemble for promising middle and high-school instrumentalists. PRYSM (Philadelphia Region Youth String Music) and PRYSM Young Artists ensembles provide string large ensemble and sectional master class instruction for beginning and intermediate musicians ages 6-14. The director and conductor of PRYSM is Gloria DePasquale, cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conductor of PRYSM Young Artists is Andrea Weber. Tune Up Philly (TUP) is PYO's engagement program, directed by Paul Smith, that focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing children in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum.

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