I hope you’re aware of ACP’s upcoming season opening concert
– this Sunday Oct 14th. But what I’d like to quickly share is how
far reaching and how successful our Rapido 14 Day Composition Contest has
become. From Boston to San Francisco and from Chicago to Dallas, Rapido has
grown quickly from its beginnings in 2009 in just Atlanta and just the SE
region to be a 50 state composition contest impressing and impacting.
I have been fortunate to travel in the last days to hear our
partner ensembles’ regional competition concerts, speak with the composers and
audiences and judges. In Boston I was greeted warmly by Pulitzer-Prize winning
composer John Harbison (who was serving as a judge for the Boston Musica Viva
NE concert.) John was eager to say how
“impressed” he was with the Rapido concept and that all of the three regional
Semi-Finalist works performed that evening were works of real merit, making the
selection of just one Finalist a real challenge for him and judge colleagues
Martin Brody (faculty Wellesley College) and Sam Headrick (faculty Boston
University.)
In Dallas this past weekend, SW Semi-Finalist composer Ann
Gebuhr (PhD. Indiana University in theory, specialist in Hildegarde von Bingen)
was commenting about the excellent prognosis for the future of composition
which Rapido afforded her. Hearing the hip-hop and jazz influenced Rapido works
of 21 year old Charles Zoll (who won the region) and 23 year old Drew Worden
made Dr. Gebuhr feel more confident that the future of composition was in good
hands with this next generation.
From almost 400 entries received this past June, to 15
Semi-Finalists in our five US regions, to 5 Finalists… Rapido is an exciting
adventure to experience live! Join us in this exciting search to offer multiple
premiere performances, online videos and radio broadcasts to underserved
composers whose music clearly deserves our attention.
All the best,
Paula Peace
