{"id":407,"date":"2016-04-28T22:51:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T22:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalbandassociation.org\/?page_id=407"},"modified":"2024-04-29T11:00:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T15:00:08","slug":"composition-contests","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nationalbandassociation.org\/composition-contests\/","title":{"rendered":"Composition Contests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NBA\/William D. Revelli Composition Contest<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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NBA\/William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest<\/h2>\n

Sponsored by J.W. Pepper<\/em><\/p>\n

The William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977. It is named after Dr. William Revelli, who served as Director of Bands at the University of Michigan for 36 years, and served as NBA President from 1976-78. It is the desire of the National Band Association that the winning compositions from this contest reflect its mission in helping further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. Additionally, works chosen as winners should be those not only of significant structural, analytical, and technical quality, but also of such nature that will allow bands to program them as part of their standard repertoire. As a result, a glance through our list of past winners will reveal some very familiar names.<\/p>\n

Each year the contest receives approximately 50-80 entries from all over the world. Entries range in scope and quality and are from new to well established veteran composers.\u00a0 During the evaluation process, entries are narrowed down to a select number of finalists, which are brought to Chicago each December during the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. There, a panel of leading public school, university, and military band directors meets to determine a winner.<\/p>\n

2024 Revelli Composition Contest Flyer and Guidelines (to be posted soon)<\/strong><\/p>\n

2023 Contest Winner: Viet Cuong<\/h3>\n

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Each year, the NBA William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest Committee gathers at the Midwest Conference to select the piece they believe best reflects the mission to help further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. \u00a0The 2023 winner is Viet Cuong with his winning work titled Deciduous.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Called \u201calluring\u201d and \u201cwildly inventive\u201d by The New York Times<\/em>, the \u201carresting\u201d (Gramophone<\/em>) and \u201cirresistible\u201d (San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>) music of Vietnamese-American composer Viet Cuong (b. 1990) has been commissioned and performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Eighth Blackbird, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, S\u014d Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Atlanta Symphony, Sandbox Percussion, Albany Symphony, PRISM Quartet, and Dallas Winds, among many others. Cuong\u2019s music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, and Library of Congress, and his works for wind ensemble have amassed several hundreds of performances worldwide, including at Midwest, WASBE, and CBDNA conferences.<\/p>\n

In his music Cuong enjoys exploring the unexpected and whimsical, and he is often drawn to projects where he can make peculiar combinations and sounds feel enchanting or oddly satisfying. His notable works thus include concerti for tuba and dueling oboes, percussion quartets utilizing wine glasses and sandpaper, and pieces for double reed sextet, cello octet, and solo snare drum. This eclecticism extends to the variety of musical groups he writes for, and he has worked closely with ensembles ranging from middle school bands to Grammy-winning orchestras and chamber ensembles. His wind ensemble works are widely performed, having been programmed by the world\u2019s preeminent wind bands such as the Dallas Winds and military bands including the United States Navy Band, \u201cPresident\u2019s Own\u201d Marine Band, \u201cPershing\u2019s Own\u201d Army Band, Army Field Band, Coast Guard Band, and Air Force Band. These works have also been performed by the top wind ensembles at academic institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of North Texas, Louisiana State University, University of Miami, and Michigan State University. Passionate about bringing all these different facets of the contemporary music community together, his recent works include Vital Sines<\/em>, a concerto for Eighth Blackbird and the United States Navy Band, and Re(new)al<\/em>, a concerto for percussion quartet with a variety of ensemble accompaniments.<\/p>\n

Cuong serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Theory the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches composition, orchestration, and music theory. He holds degrees in music composition from Princeton University (MFA\/PhD), the Curtis Institute of Music (Artist Diploma), and the Peabody Conservatory (BM\/MM). His mentors include Jennifer Higdon, David Serkin Ludwig, Donnacha Dennehy, Steve Mackey, Dan Trueman, Dmitri Tymoczko, Kevin Puts, and Oscar Bettison. During his studies, he held the Daniel W. Dietrich II Composition Fellowship at Curtis, Naumburg and Roger Sessions Fellowships at Princeton, and Evergreen House Foundation scholarship at Peabody, where he was also awarded the Peabody Alumni Award (the Valedictorian honor) and Gustav Klemm Award. A scholarship student at the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Lake Champlain music festivals, Cuong has been a fellow at the Orchestra of St. Luke\u2019s DeGaetano Institute, Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, Mizzou International Composers Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Cabrillo Festival\u2019s Young Composer Workshop, Cortona Sessions, and Copland House\u2019s CULTIVATE workshop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For more information on the composer and his work, visit his <\/span>website<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Contest Selection Committee<\/h4>\n