Southeast Region
|
Atlanta Chamber PlayersFounded in 1976, the Atlanta Chamber Players (ACP) have earned a national reputation as a pioneer among chamber music groups and is Atlanta’s premier chamber ensemble. For over 40 years, the ACP has performed critically acclaimed concerts in cities throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, premiering 125+ works in Atlanta, and reaching thousands annually through live concerts and radio. The ensemble appears in 15 or more performances each season, including traditional public concerts in unique venues, and soirée concert events in fine homes for a subscription-based audience. |
SOUTHEAST SEMI-FINALS CONCERT:
Southeastern Rapido! Semi-Finals
November 13, 2018 7:30pm
Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse
Atlanta, GA
Southeast Winner: Mason Johnston!
The Wild Card Winner is also from Southeast: Ben Robichaux!
RAPIDO! TAKE FIVE!!
2018 SOUTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
Mason Johnston, Atlanta, GA
Mason Johnston is a composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at New England Conservatory. He has attended the Brevard Music Institute and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in past summers, and his works have been performed or recorded by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra, the Daedalus Quartet, and members of the BUTI Young Artists Orchestra. While in high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mr. Johnston collaborated frequently with choreographers from the contemporary dance department, creating music for both stage pieces and site-specific installations. An Atlanta native, he plays cello and guitar in a rock band called Big Motion, which performs at small shows around the city.
Badie Khaleghian, Athens, GA
Badie Khaleghian is an Iranian contemporary music composer, who incorporates western and eastern music. He was born in Kerman, Iran in 1985. He started his journey with violin with his father at the age of 7, and composition when he was 15. He studied piano performance at Baha’i Institute of Higher Education in Tehran, Iran. In January 2014 he came to U.S. as a religious refugee. His music is influenced by culture, society, and personal emotions. He is interested in using middle-eastern modes and micro tonality in his music, in addition to interdisciplinary collaborations and projects. Badie has composed for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal combinations in addition to his work in electronic music. Badie is a social activist and recently finished producing a documentary “APACI: A Refugee Story” about an Iranian religious refugee cellist who live in Turkey; music is the main narrator of the film. Badie’s music has performed at Iran, Austria, New Zealand, and around United States.
Ben Robichaux, Athens, GA
Ben Robichaux is a dedicated composer whose interest for expanding his compositional style has always been a top priority. His chamber works have been featured at the Alba International Music Festival in Alba, Italy, the New York City Alectroacoustic Music Festival, the SPLICE Festival II, the 2018 Society of Composers, Incorporated Student National Conference, the SEAMUS 2018 National Conference, the 2017 Electronic Music Midwest Festival, the 2017 Atlantic Music Festival, the Electrobrass II Conference, the 2017 Society of Composers, Incorporated Region IV Conference, the 2016 NACUSA/SCI Snapshot Conference, and the 2016 Society of Composers, Incorporated National Conference among others. His choir music has been performed by the Academy of Voices of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Dekalb Choral Guild of Atlanta, Georgia and the Repertory Singers of the University of Georgia. As a recipient of a James E. Croft Grant for Young and Emerging Band Composers, his wind ensemble works have been performed by the University of Georgia Concert Band, the Nicholls State University Wind Ensemble, the E.D. White Catholic High School Band, and the Bayou Community Band. He was recently appointed to the Society of Composers, Incorporated student council where he helps implement initiatives that increase student member involvement across the United States.
He received a Master's Degree in Music Composition at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia in 2016. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Instrumental Music Education at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana in 2014. He has studied composition with Natalie Williams, Leonard V. Ball, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Adrian Childs, and Emily Koh. Additionally, he has been involved in masterclasses and private lessons with Jesse Jones, Melinda Wagner, Paul Koonce, Ben Hjertmann, David Ludwig, Pierre Jalbert, Ken Ueno, Nils Vigeland, Donald Crockett, George Tsontakis, Hannah Lash, Robert Cuckson, Jennifer Jolley, Joseph Dangerfield, Elliott McKinley, Luke Dahn, Robert Paterson, Xi Wang and Mari Kimura. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia. He is published by Noteworthy Sheet Music, LLC and is affiliated with BMI. He currently teaches music technology and audio engineering at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
RAPIDO! TAKE FOUR!!
2015 SOUTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
Eric Benaim, Aventura, FL
Eric Benaim (b. 1990) is a composer born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from Florida International University. Eric began piano and solfege lessons at the age of four, followed by drum set and guitar lessons by the age of nine and twelve respectively. At the age of twelve, Eric started receiving music theory and guitar lessons for several years before finishing his high school studies. After moving to the United States, Eric began his Bachelor Degree in Music Composition under the teachings of Dr. Orlando Garcia. During this period, he won several awards and prizes including a first place in Klezmer Company Orchestra's 2014 Composition Competition for writing a Latin/Jazz tune that featured several Jewish folk tunes. He also obtained a second place in their 2015 Composition Competition by writing a Fugue based on a Jewish folk tune arranged in a Jazz style for a Big Band ensemble. Eric Benaim enjoys writing in a wide variety of styles. His career goal is to become composer for Motion Pictures and Video Games.
Nickitas Demos, Atlanta, GA
Nickitas Demos (b. 1962) holds a DMA in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Donald Erb (1927-2008). His commissions include works for the Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Ballet, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Georgia Music Teachers Association and the National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a MacDowell Fellowship (2012), Grand Prize: 2004 Millennium Arts International Competition for Composers, Grand Prize: 2005 Holyoke Civic Symphony Composition Competition and 17 ASCAP Awards among others. His music is self-published through Sylvan Lake Press (ASCAP) and recorded on Ablaze Records, Albany Records, Capstone Records and MSR Classics. Professor of Music Composition and Coordinator of Composition Studies at the Georgia State University School of Music, Demos is the Artistic Director of the neoPhonia New Music Ensemble and serves on the Board of Directors for the MacDowell Colony. For more information, please visit: nickitasdemos.com.
Peter Van Zandt Lane, Athens, GA
Peter Van Zandt Lane (b. 1985) is an American composer of instrumental and electroacoustic music. His his music has been hailed was a New York Times Critic's Pick, praised as "refreshingly relevant." (The New York Times). Peter has received fellowships from Composers Now, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and has received commissions from the Barlow Endowment, Sydney Conservatorium Wind Symphony, Emory Wind Ensemble, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and Dinosaur Annex, among others. His music has been played by top-tier ensembles such as the Cleveland Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and the Lydian String Quartet. Peter holds degrees from Brandeis University and the University of Miami, and is currently Assistant Professor of Composition and Director of the Dancz Center for New Music at the University of Georgia.
RAPIDO! TAKE THREE!!
2012 SOUTHEAST REGION SEMI-FINALISTS:
KEVIN BEAVERS - West Virginia
Kevin Beavers (b. 1971, Medellín, Colombia) spent his early years in Keyser, West Virginia, a small town along the Potomac River in Appalachia. He has degrees from West Virginia University (BM) and the University of Michigan (MM and DMA) and has studied at Tanglewood Music Festival and in Amsterdam (Fulbright). His teachers have included William Albright, Leslie Bassett, John Beall, William Bolcom, Evan Chambers, and Theo Loevendie. Beavers has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp, the University of Texas in Austin, and at Colorado University (Boulder). He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and commissions including the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Centennial Composition Competition, the Nissim Prize from ASCAP, and has received commissions from many major orchestras and chamber music organizations. He has also held a three-year residency with the California Symphony. His compositions include a range of orchestral, band, chamber, and vocal works.
PIOTR SZEWCZYK - Florida
Piotr Szewczyk, Polish-born violinist and composer, is a violinist in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida since 2007 and is also the Winner of the 2008 Jacksonville Symphony Fresh Ink - Florida Composers’ Competition. In 2007 Mr. Szewczyk completed a 3-year fellowship at the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas where he served as a rotating concertmaster and was a winner of the 2006 Concerto Competition. During the summers Mr. Szewczyk performs at the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder.
As a composer, Mr. Szewczyk has received numerous awards including those from Rapido! Composition Contest by Atlanta Chamber Players, Third Millennium Ensemble in Washington D.C., American Composers Forum, Society of Composers, Jacksonville Symphony, VoxNovus 60x60 Project, Fauxharmonic Adagio Contest, UPBEAT Hvar - Croatia, ACCENT Competition at Music X Festival and others. Mr. Szewczyk’s music has been performed by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Florida State University Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Chamber Players, Third Millennium Ensemble, Ensemble GREEN (Los Angeles), ALIAS Ensemble (Nashville), Sybarite Chamber Players (NYC), Juventas Ensemble (Boston), Chroma Quartet, Trio Archetto (Poland), Degas Quartet, ACCORD Quartet, Eastern Music Festival, International Double Reed Conference, OWU/NOW Festival, Santa Fe New Music, St Augustine Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, FSU New Music Festival and many others, and was featured on NPR Performance Today and CBS Early Show.
As a violinist Mr. Szewczyk is the creator and performer of the critically acclaimed Violin Futura Project, a recital of brand new, short, exciting and innovative solo violin pieces written and dedicated to him by renowned composers from around the world.
ROGER ZARE - Florida
Roger Zare has been praised for his “enviable grasp of orchestration” (New York Times) and for writing music with “formal clarity and an alluringly mercurial surface.” He was born in Sarasota, FL, and has written for a wide variety of ensembles, from solo instruments to full orchestra. His works have been performed across the United States by such ensembles as the American Composers Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Omaha Chamber Symphony, the Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, and the New York Youth Symphony. An award winning composer, Zare has received honors from the ASCAP and BMI foundations, including the 2009 ASCAP Nissim Prize. He has also received a New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, the 2008 American Composers Orchestra Underwood Commission, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and many other local and regional honors. Residencies include the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, Salt Bay Chamberfest, and the SONAR new music ensemble. Zare holds a DMA ('12) from the University of Michigan, where he has studied with Michael Daugherty, Paul Schoenfield, Bright Sheng, and Kristin Kuster. He holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory (MM '09) and the University of Southern California (BM '07), and his previous teachers include Christopher Theofanidis, Derek Bermel, David Smooke, Donald Crockett, Tamar Diesendruck, Fredrick Lesemann, and Morten Lauridsen.
