Read bios of the Student Composer Award winners

2007 BMI Student Composer Award winners (l-r): Clint Needham, Eric Guinivan, Nathan Shields, Gabrielle Nina Haigh, Matthew Peterson, Roger Zare, Shawn Jaeger, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, Sebastian Chang, Bryan Christian, and Otto Muller

The 2007 awards were presented to Sebastian Chang (age 19, studies at the Curtis Institute of Music); Bryan Christian (age 22, studies at Indiana University); Eric Guinivan (age 23, studies at the University of Southern California); Gabrielle Nina Haigh (age 15, studies at the Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio); Aaron Holloway-Nahum (age 24, studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London); Shawn Jaeger (age 22, studies at the University of Michigan); Otto Muller (age 25, studies at the University of Buffalo (SUNY); Clint Needham (age 25, studies at Indiana University); Matthew Peterson (age 22, studies at Indiana University); Nathan Shields (age 23, studies at the Juilliard School), and Roger Zare (age 21, studies at the University of Southern California).

Milton Babbitt, Carlos Surinach Prize Winner Gabrielle Nina Haigh, BMI’s Del Bryant and Ralph Jackson

The BMI Student Composer Awards recognize superior creative talent and winners receive scholarship grants to be applied toward their musical education. In 2007, more than 400 manuscripts were submitted to the competition from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and all works were judged under pseudonyms. Cash awards totaled $20,000. Clint Needham was the named the winner of the William Schuman Prize, which is awarded to the score judged "most outstanding" in the competition. This special prize is given each year in memory of the late William Schuman, who served for 40 years as chairman, then chairman emeritus, of the BMI Student Composer Awards. Additionally, the Carlos Surinach Prize, awarded to the youngest winner in the competition, went to Gabrielle Nina Haigh.

Preliminary Judges (l-r): Chester Biscardi, Bernadette Speach, David Leisner, Awards Chairman Milton Babbitt, and Final Judge Ellen Taaffe Zwilch

The 2007 Student Composer Awards jury members were Richard Danielpour, David Dzubay, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The preliminary judges were Chester Biscardi, David Leisner and Bernadette Speach.

BMI has given 514 scholarship grants to young composers over the years, and many of today's most prominent and active classical composers received their first recognition from the BMI Student Composer Awards. Eleven former winners have gone on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music. The BMI Student Composer Awards competition is co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, Inc.

The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance, and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 95% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.

Eight young classical composers, ranging in age from 10 to 25, have been named winners in the 53rd Annual BMI Student Composer Awards. Del R. Bryant, BMI President & CEO, announced the decisions of the jury and presented the awards at a reception held June 6 at Le Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City. Composer Milton Babbitt, Chairman of the awards, and Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc. and Director of the awards, joined in the presentations.

Click here to read the winners bios

The 2005 BMI Student Composer Award winners are Preben Antonsen (age 14, studies privately with John Adams in Berkeley, California); Sebastian Chang (age 17, studies at Curtis Institute of Music); Glenn Crytzer (age 24, studies at Cleveland Institute of Music); Andrew Jeffrey Norman (age 25, studies privately with Donald Crockett in Los Angeles, California); Joseph Sheehan (age 24, studies at Indiana University); Jeff Stanek (age 21, studies at Indiana University); Conrad Tao (age 10, studies privately with Christopher Theofanidis in New York City); and Spencer Stuart Topel (age 25, studies at Cornell University).

BMI Lifetime Achievement winner George Crumb is congratulated by BMI's Del Bryant

A highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award, BMI's highest honor in the classical field, to composer George Crumb on the occasion of his 75th Birthday Year. Crumb, a 1956 BMI Student Composer Award winner, was cited as a "true American original," and honored for his "profound gift of music to the world." Among his many honors are the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a Grammy Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, a Cannes Classical Award, the Prince Pierre de Monaco Gold Medal, and the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1975 and was named "Composer of the Year" in 2004 by Musical America. Crumb held the position of Annenberg Professor of the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for over 30 years.

Pictured after the awards presnetation are (front row) winners Preben Antonsen, Sebastian Chang, and Conrad Tao, Awards Chairman Milton Babbitt, (back row) winners Spencer Topel, Jeff Stanek, Andrew Norman, Glenn Crytzer and Joseph Sheehan. Photo by Gary Gershoff

Joseph Sheehan was the named the winner of the William Schuman Prize, which is awarded to the score judged "most outstanding" in the competition. This special prize is given each year in memory of the late William Schuman, who served for 40 years as Chairman, then Chairman Emeritus, of the BMI Student Composer Awards. Additionally, two special Carlos Surinach Prizes, underwritten by the BMI Foundation's special endowed fund, were awarded to the youngest winners, Preben Antonsen and Conrad Tao.

The BMI Student Composer Awards recognize superior creative talent and winners receive scholarship grants to be applied toward their musical education. This year, more than 500 manuscripts were submitted to the competition from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and all works were judged under pseudonyms. Cash awards totaled $20,500.

This year's distinguished jury members included Robert Beaser, John Eaton, Steven Mackey, Cindy McTee, and Joseph Schwantner; the preliminary judges were Chester Biscardi, Shafer Mahoney and Bernadette Speach.

BMI has awarded 493 scholarship grants to young composers over the years, and many of today's most prominent and active classical composers received their first recognition from the BMI Student Composer Awards. Eleven former winners have gone on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music. The BMI Student Composer Awards competition is co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, Inc.]]> 2005-06-06T18:00:00+00:00