Judging Criteria

Judging Criteria for the Compositions will include up to 5 points assigned to each of the following 3 categories:

1. Originality/Creativity; 2. Technical Proficiency; 3. Orchestration and Overall Effectiveness

   Note that the majority of entries are entered on just one instrument, so don’t worry if the orchestration is just piano or violin.

About Judges for 2025 Competition

1. Andrew Sigler - Andrew Sigler’s music has been commissioned, performed, and awarded by the Wellesley Composers Conference, Meir Rimon Commissioning Fund of the International Horn Society, World Saxophone Congress, Composer’s Inc. Suzanne and Lee Ettelson award, Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition, Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, SCI and NACUSA National Festivals, Nief-Norf, Oregon Bach Festival, Seasons Festival, International Brass Symposium, TUTTI Festival, Open Space New Music Festival, University of Texas New Music Ensemble, University of Tennessee Faculty Brass Quintet, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, Hear No Evil, Simple Measures, Bold City Contemporary Ensemble, and Fast>>Forward>>Austin. His writing has been featured in NewMusicBox and Opera News. Andrew is Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of Tennessee and president of the National Association of Composers, USA. Please visit andrewsigler.com for more information

2. Donald Sloan - an award-winning composer of varied works for chamber and larger ensembles. His music has been performed and recorded by various players and ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. He is currently Professor of Music at Coastal Carolina University, where he directs the Composition and Music Theory curriculum. Originally from Long Island, NY, Sloan has degrees from Cornell University, University of Michigan, The Eastman School of Music and Binghamton University. His musical influences come from a variety of sources, including Jewish music, jazz, French music and others. In more trivial matters, he is a three time champion on Jeopardy! I have posted a sampling of Prof. Sloan’s delightful compositions and an expanded bio.

3. Mengmeng Wang - as a composer, she has had her pieces performed all around the world at events including ACO Earshort Reading, the MATA festival, the SEAMUS 2021 Digital Conference, the concert of Chicago Composer’s Consortium: Experimental Sound Studio, June in Buffalo, the Atlantic Center of the Arts, Ithaca NY, Glasgow UK, and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Her music was awarded the 2022 Petrichor International Music Competition the Third Prize and an Honor Award at the 1st eARTS Digital Audio Competition etc. She was chosen as a residency composer by both Atlantic Center of the Arts and Ragdale Foundation. She has had the privilege of working with a number of ensembles and performers, including Naples Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente and International Contemporary Ensemble. 

4. Giovanni Piacentini - Featured in the Los Angeles Times in 2021, Dr. Piacentini is a composer, performer, educator and advocate for the music of others. Recently praised as “paying homage to the important cultural heritage of music in the west” by Forbes magazine, his original music has been described as “...able to encapsulate tiny, winsome worlds as if passing through a gallery of paintings” (Winnipeg free press), and as “Stunningly beautiful with accessible compositional language.”(The Clarinet Magazine). Giovanni has established himself as a significant voice in Latin American classical music. As a true embodiment of a Composer/Performer, Giovanni has drawn the attention and praise of the guitar world. Arkiv Magazine described Piacentini’s playing as “displaying degrees of sophistication and control that can’t help but mark him as a virtuoso.” He was invited to do a solo guitar tour of China in 2018 and has performed his own compositions in prestigious halls such as the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, the Museo Nacional in Mexico City and Carnegie Hall. His music has been performed by some of the worlds greatest instrumentalists like classical guitarist Eliot Fisk, the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, the Lyris string quartet, violinists Tim Fain and Movses Pogossian among many more. He has released 5 albums that have earned him a feature on the prestigious British music magazine Gramophone and a nomination for an Independent Music Award in 2020.

   He graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA., earned his MA in Composition under renowned American composer Richard Danielpour and

   recently earned his PhD in Music Composition at the University of California Los Angeles where he served as Teaching Fellow in music theory and aural skills.

   In October 2022 he premiered a concerto for guitar and orchestra dedicated and performed by legendary classical guitarist Eliot Fisk with the Orquesta Juvenil Carlos

   Chavez in Mexico City, Mexico. He was recently appointed Teaching Artist Fellow by the prestigious Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He resides in Los Angeles where he

   teaches at Mt. San Antonio College and the National Children’s Chorus.

5. Paul Brody was born in California, USA, and trained as a musician at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Brody works regularly as a sound artist, composer and trumpeter at the Théâtre de Vidy in Switzerland, the Munich Kammerspiele, the Berliner Ensemble, the MC93 Paris, the New York Harlem Opera and the Vienna Burgtheater, among others. He works closely with the music producer John Zorn. His album “Behind the Words”,  won the best-of list of the German Record Critics' Award. Paul Brody was nominated for the Europe Broadcasting Festival, and was chosen for Artist in Residence for sound art at the Museums Quartier in Vienna, and at the Munich Kammerspiele. He has been commissioned to compose a number of operas and symphonies. A few are at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, the Oldenburg Symphony, and the Badische State Opera. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany. Website is PaulBrody.net
   

6. Murphy Severtson (b. 1999) is a composer, administrator, teacher, theater artist, vocalist, and accordionist. Based in New York City, they make music centered in care, reciprocity, and human connection. Their music has been performed by the Rhythm Method, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the St. Olaf Band, at Lincoln Center, the Dimenna Center, and National Sawdust.
    
   As an educator, they currently work at the New York Philharmonic at the Very Young Composers Bridge program, teaching composers between 8 and 13. In March 2024, they served on a panel of four guest composers at a masterclass, teaching four student composers from the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s.  Murphy worked as a teaching and research assistant at St. Olaf College and Mannes College at the New School. Furthermore, they give lectures and workshops about making art during the climate crisis and the work of Pauline Oliveros.
   
   They work as an events manager and organizer, most recently with the American Composers Orchestra and composer Paul Pinto. Murphy is a founding member of Mosaic Composers Collective, a group of fresh collaborators and composers working in New York City.
    
   They studied with Timothy Mahr, Yan Pang, JC Sanford, and Justin Merritt at St. Olaf, graduating summa cum laude in 2022. Murphy studies with Valerie Coleman and Alyssa Weinberg at the Mannes College of Music at the New School.