Xavier Muzik Wins Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP) Prize

The San Francisco Symphony, led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, will give the world premiere of his work during the 2024-2025 season.

By: Jun. 02, 2023
Xavier Muzik Wins Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP) Prize

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), in partnership with the San Francisco Symphony and the SFCM President’s Advisory Council on Equity and Inclusion, announced that Xavier Muzik is the winner of the third annual Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP) prize. The San Francisco Symphony, led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, will give the world premiere of his work during the 2024-2025 season.

In addition to announcing Muzik as the newest winner, the EBCP award will now be called the Michael Morgan Prize. Morgan was music director of the Oakland Symphony and the first chair and co-founder of the EBCP before he died in 2021. Morgan was dedicated to music education and a believer in the power of music to change communities for the better.

“The Oakland Symphony is thrilled to have this prize named after Michael Morgan. This project was extremely important to him as a lifelong champion of living, lost, and underrepresented composers. He will forever be our guiding light and force behind those values we continue to uplift as an orchestra. With this new honor, he will aptly live on in the notes of every prize winning composer,” said Oakland Symphony Executive Director Dr. Mieko Hatano.

As winner of the Michael Morgan Prize, Muzik will receive a $15,000 commissioning fee, mentorship from committee members, and resources to workshop his piece with SFCM, along with a premiere of the work at Davies Symphony Hall. Muzik joins Jens Ibsen, Trevor Weston, Sumi Tonooka, Jonathan Bingham, and Shawn Okpebholo as winners of the ten-year project.

Xavier Muzik is a Los Angeles based composer whose music is known for its driving nature and rich harmonic language. He aspires to increase the reach of contemporary concert music to more people of color and people of varying social and economic classes with the goal of making the world of contemporary concert music a more inclusive one, which he believes is key to the future of the genre. 

“Music is history and music is culture. Composition is the practice of balancing these forces through creation, which has, for me, helped enlighten my identity. And I’m so grateful for this opportunity to continue that practice in collaboration with the amazing people, players, and administrators of these fine institutions,” said Muzik.

Muzik was selected as the winner through an anonymous review process overseen by a selection committee led by EBCP Chair Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser and including SFCM Music Director Edwin Outwater and Salonen.

"We are extremely happy with our winner this year and were unified in our approval of Xavier Musik's work. It was my pleasure to let him know he won and receive his heartfelt and surprised reaction. It was also my pleasure to communicate to him our wholehearted enthusiasm for his work. We are very much looking forward not only to the work that he will create for the commission, but to working with him as he develops relationships with the many orchestras that will invariably want to collaborate with him,” said Bartholomew-Poyser.

“Xavier's music has great depth and drama, and really digs into big orchestral sounds and gestures. I'm really looking forward to hearing what he writes next for the San Francisco Symphony,” Edwin Outwater added. 

Xavier Muzik holds a Master's Degree in Music Composition and a graduate minor in Creative Community Development from the Mannes School of Music at The New School. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of the Arts. 

The Emerging Black Composers Project intends to spotlight early-career Black American composers and their music. It was launched in 2020 with the first-place commission given in June of 2021 to Trevor Weston.

The Emerging Black Composers Project is made possible through the generosity of Michèle and Laurence Corash.



RELATED STORIES - San Francisco / Bay Area

1
Eleven ICB Artists Selected For The Prestigious 2023 De Young Open Juried Community Art Ex Photo
Eleven ICB Artists Selected For The Prestigious 2023 De Young Open Juried Community Art Exhibition

Eleven ICB Artists Selected For The Prestigious 2023 de Young Open Juried Community Art Exhibition showcases the work of talented artists from the ICB community. Don't miss this exciting exhibition from September 30, 2023, to January 7, 2024.

2
Review: POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE at  Photo
Review: POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE at Berkeley Repertory Theatre

What did our critic think of POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIV at Berkeley Repertory Theatre?

3
The Marsh Adds Three Free Performances of THE WAITING PERIOD Photo
The Marsh Adds Three Free Performances of THE WAITING PERIOD

The Marsh San Francisco has added three free performances of award-winning playwright and actor Brian Copeland’s The Waiting Period on select dates in October and November 2023.  Learn more about how to attend here!

4
Wagners LOHENGRIN Comes to San Francisco Opera in October Photo
Wagner's LOHENGRIN Comes to San Francisco Opera in October

San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's Lohengrin from October 15–November 1 in director David Alden's staging, a co-production of London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Antwerp's Opera Vlaanderen. Learn more about the opera here!

More Hot Stories For You

Videos


#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical
Victoria Theatre (9/08-10/01)Tracker
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Crowns
Lesher Center for the Arts - Margaret Lesher Theatre (9/09-10/06)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Sondheim on Sondheim
Guggenheim Entertainment at 3Below (11/25-12/17)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Smuin Dance Series 1 - San Francisco
Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture (9/29-10/07)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Darksmith, People Skills, Seymour Glass, Relay For Death
Peacock Lounge (10/12-10/12)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Mamma Mia!
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts (12/12-12/17)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Mrs. Christie
Mountain View Center for Performing Arts (10/04-10/29)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Z is for...Zombie: An Improvised Zombie Apocalypse
Lesher Center for the Arts - George & Sonja Vukasin Theatre (10/19-10/29)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# The Evolution of Hip Hop Dance
The American Theater Company (1/01-12/31)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Forever Plaid
The Gateway Theatre (4/18-5/05)
VIEW ALL SHOWS  ADD A SHOW  

Recommended For You