Classical Composer Commissions
The Festival has a strong history of commissioning new works by for classical music, having produced an impressive body of works since 1991. In 2006, with funding from The Mandel Foundation, a second commission for Classical Ensemble was added.
2010 Composer Commission for Chamber Ensemble
TBA soon.
Past Recipients of the Composer Commission for Chamber Ensemble
2006 Jefferson Friedman - 78
2007 Philippe Bodin – M/ue
2008 Keeril Makan – Mercury Songbirds
2009 Kurt Rohde - Fratturao Teatro for Clarinet, Piano, Cello & Percussion
The Commission for Chamber Ensemble is proudly supported by The Mandel Foundation.
University of Utah School of Music
Libby Gardner Concert Hall
2010 Composer Commission for Chamber Orchestra
Peter Knell, Composer
Peter Knell (b. 1970) has received awards in numerous national and international competitions, including First Prizes in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's 10th New Music Festival International Composers Competition, the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival/Louisville Orchestra Prize, and the Omaha Symphony Guild International New Music Competition, and Second Prizes in the Fourth International Witold Lutoslawski Composers Competition, the First International Composers' Competition "In Memoriam Zoltán Kodály", and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's Young Composers Competition. He has also received a Fulbright Fellowship, a BMI Student Composer Award, two ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, grants from the Paloheimo Foundation and Meet the Composer, and commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation/Ying Quartet, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, Utah Arts Festival, Pacific Serenades, Oakland East Bay Symphony, and Dale Warland Singers, among others.
Mr. Knell's music has been performed at the Aspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, June in Buffalo, Norfolk, Oregon Bach, Ernest Bloch, New Music North and MATA festivals, by ensembles such as the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, Filharmonia de Stat "Transilvania", Winnipeg, Omaha, Richmond, Memphis, and Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestras, the Onyx String Quartet, Verdi Quartett, Southwest Chamber Music, Volti Chamber Chorus, counter)induction, and by soloists including James Dunham, Martin Chalifour, and the German alto Ingeborg Danz. It has been broadcast nationally in Russia, Canada, Hungary and Finland, as well as in several US cities. His Seven Last Words, based on paintings of Rolf Stein, is available in a book/CD format from Valve-Hearts, Cologne. A compact disc featuring his orchestral work, "...the weakening eye of day" in a live performance by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, is available on the Artisjus label, and a compact disc featuring German pianist Susanne Kessel performing two of his Four Snapshots was released by OehmsClassics in February 2006. An upcoming CD of his complete piano music performed by Markus Pawlik is in process. His orchestral work LINES/ANGLES was the American selection for the ISCM World Music Days 2009 and will be performed in September 2009 by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Knell holds degrees from Princeton University (BA), the Juilliard School (MM), and the University of Texas at Austin (DMA), and he was a Fulbright Fellow at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. His principal composition teachers have included Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, and David Diamond. He is currently a freelance composer based in Los Angeles, and he served as Composer-in-Residence for the American Music Festival in Cluj, Romania, in November 2004
Artistic Director: Andrew Rindfleisch
Program Directors: John V. Costa, Henry Wolking
Past Recipients of the Composer Commission for Orchestra
1991 Henry Wolking -- Forests
1992 Stanley Funicelli – Symphony No.4
1993 Ann S Hankinson – Earth Songs
1994 Ricklen Nobis – Wishbone
1995 Stephen Jones -- …Sing the Earth…
1996 Tully Cathey – Disposable City
1997 Marie Barker Nelson – Ode to Antigone
1998 Robert Henderson – Einstein’s Violin
1999 Alfonso Tenreiro – Mountain Echoes
2000 John Vasconcelos Costa – Prima Vera
2001 Jeff Manookian – Nexus
2003 Jeffrey Price – Ex Libris: “Music for a Fantasy Library”
2005 David Dzubay – Triple Black Diamond
2006 Igor Iachimciuc – Variations
2007 Christopher Dietz – Gharra
2008 Miguel Chuaqui – Tiempo Norte, Tiempo Sur
2009 Jeffrey Hass - Postcards from the Canyons
Composer Commission Artistic Director
Andrew Rindfleisch
Classical Composer Commission Coordinators
John V. Costa
Henry Wolking
Local Classical and Chamber Orchestras and Programs
Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City
