The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Music Composition

Adjudicators announce finalists and semi-finalists

The University of Connecticut Department of Music announces that the adjudicators of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Music Composition have selected three semifinalists for the 2008 competition. They are:

Nathan Currier — Greenwood, Virginia
Currier has received wide recognition for his compositions, including an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a grant from the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship at Tanglewood, and the Barlow Prize. Further information
David Liptak — Rochester, New York
Liptak holds the position of professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music, where he has been a member of the composition faculty since 1987. His composition awards include prizes in the 1986 Georges Enesco International Composition Competition and the 1978 Minnesota Orchestra 75th Anniversary Composers Competition. Further information
Ian Munro — Sydney, Australia
Ian Munro is one of Australia's most distinguished musicians, with a career that has taken him to 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. His award in 2003 of Premier Grand Prix for composition at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition (Belgium) is a unique achievement for an Australian. His prize-winning piano concerto, Dreams, was subsequently played by the 12 finalists of the piano competition. Munro has performed as soloist in over 60 piano concerti. Further information

Semi-finalists

The 2008 prize is for a composition of 15 to 25 minutes in length for a concerto for piano and wind instruments, with the same instrumentation as the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments by Igor Stravinsky. For further information about the competition, which awards the winner $20,000, please see the Sackler Prize website.