Northeast Region
BOSTON MUSICA VIVA
Music Director Richard Pittman founded Boston Musica Viva in 1969 as the first ensemble in Boston devoted to contemporary
chamber music. Over the past 46 years, BMV's commissioning program has brought into being over 175 new works for
chamber ensemble including music for young audiences, operas, music theater works, and multimedia collaborations.
http://bmv.org
NORTHEAST SEMI-FINALS CONCERT:
Rapido! Northeast Semi-Finals
November 17, 2018 8pm
Tsai Performance Center at Boston University
Boston, MA
Northeast Winner: Eric Segerstrom!
RAPIDO! TAKE FIVE!!
2018 NORTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
Cody Forrest, Brookline, MA
Cody W. Forrest (b. 1988) has been commissioned by Dinosaur Annex, conductor Daniel Hege, and the Cochran Wrenn Duo. His music has been performed by the Cassatt String Quartet and internationally by violinist Léo Marillier, awarded the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition grand prize, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, NEC Honors Ensemble Award, and selected for the 2015 EarShot New Music Readings. He served as composer-in-residence for Chamber Music Campania’s 2016 festival in Varano, Italy.
Cody earned his D.M.A. from New England Conservatory, M.M. from Syracuse University, and B.M. from the University of North Texas. At Syracuse University, he was a recipient of the Heaton Fellowship, and at UNT he received the Martin Mailman Scholarship and the Outstanding Undergraduate in Composition Award his senior year. His teachers include Kati Agócs, Malcolm Peyton, Daniel Godfrey, Andrew Waggoner, and Cindy McTee.
Sam Friedman, New York, NY
Sam Friedman is a composer and trumpet player from New York City. He is currently pursuing a B.M. in Composition and Trumpet Performance at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones. During high school he pursued a major in composition with hones from Mannes Pre-College, and attended Kinhaven Music School, where he studied composition with Nicolar Scherzinger. In August 2018, he attended the highSCORE new music and composition festival in Pavia, Italy, He has had lessons and participated in master classes with Kaija Saariaho, Missy Mazzoli, Amy Beth Kirsten, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Dmitri Tymoczko, and Billy Childs. His works have been performed by JACK Quartet, De Capo Chamber Players, Talea Ensemble, PUBLIQuarter, unassisted fold, and the Boston University Trombone Choir among others. His works have been performed at Symphony Space (Manhattan, NYC), Roulette (Brooklyn, NYC), DiMenna Center for Classical Music (Manhatta, NYC), Spectrum (Manhattan, NYC), Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall at Mannes School of Music (Manhattan, NYC), Boston University College of the Arts (Boston), and Ecolie Massillon (Paris, France).
Eric Segerstrom, Delmar, NY
Eric Segerstrom has had his music performed across the Northeast by ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Boston Music Viva, and the Fourth Wall. Segerstrom received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where he was the recipient of the Palmer-Dixon Prize for Best Composition in 2015 for his orchestral work, Non-Figurant. After graduating, he took a hiatus from writing music, but has recently began composing again, focusing on educational music for beginning string orchestra and band. As a semi-finalist in the 2012 Rapido! Take Three!! Competition, this is his second appearance in the Rapido! National Composition Competition. Segerstrom is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering while working as a line cook."
RAPIDO! TAKE FOUR!!
2015 NORTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
Louis Cruz, New York, NY
Louis Cruz (b. 1991) is an award-winning composer based in New York City. Currently, Louis is working on a commission from the New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute. Recently, his a cappella setting of Whitman's "A Clear Midnight" won the Manhattan Choral Ensemble's 2015 composition competition. His orchestral work, Calafia, was awarded the Jim Highsmith award, making Louis the youngest recipient in the prize's history. The San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra premiered this work as part of the 2012 - 2013 season. In 2011, his work for string quartet, Le Coucher de Soleil, was premiered as part of the Shanghai Spring Festival at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Louis has received honors from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in music history, theory, and composition; he has also received honors from the European American Music Alliance in keyboard harmony, counterpoint, and score reading. Mr. Cruz received his M.M. in composition at Juilliard and his B.M. at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Robert Beaser, David Conte, and Philip Lasser. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the C. V. Starr Doctoral Fellows program at the Juilliard School.
J.P. Redmond, Yonkers, NY
J.P. Redmond was born in Newport Beach, California in 1999 and resides in Yonkers, New York. He studies composition and theory at Concordia Conservatory with Matt Van Brink, piano with Ann Schein, and on the fly with his uncle, jazz bassist and composer John Patitucci. J.P. has received a number of composition and piano honors: he was selected as one of three Northeastern Semi-Finalists in the 2015 Rapido! Take Four!! contest and will travel to Boston for the Semi-Finals; he has been recognized with three ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards - including the 2015 Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship - and one Honorable Mention; he is a 2015 National YoungArts Foundation Merit Winner in composition; and he received an Honorable Mention for the 2015 Brian M. Israel Prize. He participated in the 2014 NYU/ASCAP Foundation Film Scoring Workshop in Memory of Buddy Baker; he is a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award recipient and was featured on the NPR show From the Top in September 2013. Additionally, J.P. has received awards from The Royal Conservatory Music Development Program, NYSSMA, NAfME, NFMC, Composers Concordance, and Composer’s Voice. He has performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Zankel Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall.
In 2015 J.P. attended the Young Artist Summer Program for composition at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with David Ludwig and Shinuh Lee. In his spare time, J.P. enjoys historical fiction and nonfiction, record collecting, model railroading, and good movies with extra popcorn.
Nathan J. Stumpff, Northfield, VT
Nathan J. Stumpff (b.1978) is a musician, builder and solar energy professional originally from Maine. Nathan holds degrees from The Manhattan School of Music and Brown University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Listaháskóli Islands (Iceland Academy of the Arts.) His many mentors include Nils Vigeland, Julia Wolfe, Mist Þorkelsdóttir, Gerald Shapiro and Elaine Bearer.
Over the past seven years Nathan has built solar energy and remote power systems across the Mid-Atlantic States, Alaska and now his native New England; indeed, Nathan has embraced a diverse career, discovering the music of manual labor and bringing the mindset of a craftsman to composition. The Icelandic word for composer is tónsmiður, or ‘sound-builder.’ It is from this spirit Nathan’s work has evolved.
Musical honors include selection for the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute and Reading Sessions, 1st Prizes in the Washington International Prize for Composers and the Cappella Gloriana Competition for Composers, and residency with the California E.A.R. Unit in Arcosanti, AZ. An active performer and conductor, Nathan’s recent engagements include Opera Fairbanks' production of Carmen, performances with Alarm Will Sound, the Manhattan School of Music Percussion ensemble, the new music ensemble TACTUS and with the bands Nancy’s Problem and Steel Toe Booty. Nathan’s music can be heard on Ablaze Records. Please find more at lostloonmusic.com.
RAPIDO! TAKE THREE!!
2012 NORTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
MARK BERGER - Massachusetts
Mark Berger is highly active as a performer in the Boston freelance scene and has performed with many of Boston’s finest orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Esplanade, Emmanuel Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Opera Boston, and Boston Lyric Opera. An avid chamber musician, he is a member of Music at Eden’s Edge, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, has a duo partnership “The Two Composers” with pianist/composer Ketty Nez, and has performed with the Lydian String Quartet and Radius Ensemble. Strongly devoted to the performance of new music, Mark appears regularly with many of Boston’s new music ensembles including Sound Icon, ALEA III and Ludovico Ensemble. Mark has performed at summer festivals including Kneisel Hall and Tanglewood, where he was a member of the New Fromm Players, new music ensemble-in-residence. Mark can be heard performing the music of Ketty Nez on Albany Records.
As composer, Mark’s works have been presented locally by Boston Musica Viva, the New York New Music Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, ALEA III, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, Xanthos Ensemble, Music at Eden’s Edge, QX String Quartet, and the Lydian String Quartet, as well as nationally and internationally by the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Ensemble Permutaciones (Mexico) and the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music (Greece). Mark has received awards from the League of Composers/ISCM and ASCAP, and he has received grants from NEFA and the Brannen-Cooper Fund. Mark received degrees from Boston University and Brandeis University, and currently teaches courses at Boston College, UMass Lowell, Middlesex Community College, and is a member of the string faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
DEREK HURST - Massachusetts
Derek Hurst’s music broadly exhibits a balance between visceral solemnity and muscular jocularity. His work is almost equally split between electronic and acoustic concert music and reflects his experience as a guitarist and research in electroacoustic music studios. He has received a Fromm Foundation Commission, an Artist's Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and awards and fellowships from The Copland House Residency, the Irving Fine Fellowship for Music Composition, Berklee Faculty Fellowship and Wellesley Composer’s Conference. His Interloper for piano trio was the winning composition of the 2001 Wayne Peterson Prize.
Derek has worked with many prominent young performers and new music groups, often in close collaboration. These include: Brian Sacawa, Winston Choi, Ian Pace, Stephen Gosling and by ensembles such as Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The Firebird Ensemble,Left Coast Ensemble, Brave New Works, The Contemporary Keyboard Society and Firebird Ensemble, with works featured on concert events of League-ISCM, SEAMUS, ICMC, Boston Cyberarts and the Computer Arts Festival (Padova, It). His Bacchanalia Skiapodorum, for alto saxophone and electronics, was released on the critically acclaimed CD American Voices (Brian Sacawa, saxophones).
Earning the Ph.D. in composition/theory from Brandeis University, Derek has studied composition with Tomas Svoboda, John Melby, Eric Chasalow, Martin Boykan, Yehudi Wyner and David Rakowski and electronic music with Scott Wyatt, Eric Chasalow. Currently he teaches courses in music theory, composition and electronic music as Visiting Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music.
ERIC SEGERSTROM - New York
Eric Segerstrom is an award-winning American composer who has written for a variety of ensembles including the New York Philharmonic and the Fourth Wall. In 2011 he appeared on the radio program From the Top as a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award recipient for composition and percussion performance. Later that year, he received a 2011 YoungArts Honorable Mention Award. In 2010, he was the winner of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Audience of the Future Composition Competition. Eric attended the Boston University at Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artist Composers Program during the summers of 2009 and 2010, and has also been a part the NYSSMA Young Composers Honors Concert in 2009 and 2010. As a native of Delmar, New York, Eric is a graduate of the Bethlehem Central High School where he was active as a percussionist and composer. He is also a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College division, where he attended every Saturday for two years to study composition with Eric Ewazen and percussion with Jonathan Haas, Greg Giannascoli, and Pablo Rieppi. Eric was a recipient of the division’s Outstanding Achievement Award. Eric is now continuing his education at the Juilliard School as a first year undergraduate student studying composition with Robert Beaser. He also works the New York Philharmonic’s Bridge program teaching basic composition and music theory to elementary school children in New York.
