MEMBERS OF THE JURY FOR THE 2TH INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
FOR SOLO INSTRUMENT
WITH OR WITHOUT PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT
Richard Causton was born in London in 1971 and received his early musical education at the ILEA Centre for Young Musicians. On leaving school he travelled in India, and subsequently studied composition privately with Param Vir. Between 1990 and 1994, he studied at the University of York with Roger Marsh and graduated with first-class honours in 1993, taking his M.A. in Composition the following year. He was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Jeremy Dale Roberts and conducting with Edwin Roxburgh, winning both the Kit and Constant Lambert and Herbert Howells Prizes.
The Persistence of Memory (1995) was premièred by Oliver Knussen and the London Sinfonietta at the South Bank Centre (and revived under Paul Daniel in the London Sinfonietta's 1997 State of the Nation weekend) and later won the Third International 'Nuove Sincronie' Composition Competition. In October 1999 it was performed in the ICSM World Music Days in Chisinau, Moldova. Other distinctions include the SPNM George Butterworth Award for the solo piano work, 'Non mi comporto male' (1993), and the first ever Fast Forward composition award for Two Pieces for two clarines (1995). His works have been performed at the Spitalfields and Cheltenham Festivals and the York Early Music Festival (as the culmination of a theatrical project with disabled people run by the Accessible Arts Club); performers have included the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, Sinfonia 21, Jane Manning, Barrie Webb, the Composers Ensemble and Ensemble Corrente (of which he is a founding member).
In May 1997 he was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship in its 150th anniversary year (previous holders have included Turnage, Martland, Butler, Ferneyhough and Sir Arthur Sullivan), as a result of which he studied electroacoustic composition at the Scuola Civica di Musica, Milan. Causton is the founder of the RCM Gamelan project and has been awarded a bursary as part of the New Generation Scheme at the Royal College of Music. Recent premières include Rituals of Hunting and Blooding, performed by the Nash Ensemble at the Purcell Room in March 2000 and an orchestral work, Millennium Scenes, for the BBC's 'Sounding the Century', premièred at the Royal Festival Hall by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis in March 1999. Current projects include a Concerto for Solo Percussion and Gamelan for Evelyn Glennie, to be premièred at this year's Cheltenham Festival.
Paolo Furlani graduated in Clarinet, Choral music and Composition at the conservatory of Venice and in Instrumentation at the conservatory of Parma with Luciano Berengo and Fadio Vecchi. He studied electronic music with Alvise Vidolin. He specialized in Composition with Azio Corghi at the Fondazione Toscanini in Parma. He also graduated in Painting at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Venice where he lives. He is the composer of five lyric operas, all already presented: "El roverso mondo", from Ruzante, published by Sonzogno (that won the 1st prize at the competition for new works for the chamber musical theatre "Città di Udine" 1995). "Il teatrino delle meraviglie" from Cervantes (Lugo 1995) and "Le parole al buio" from Paolo Puppa (that won the 1st at the international competition "Orpheus 1998" of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto, president of thr jury: Luciano Berio) published by Ricordi.
The Teatro Sociale of Rovigo and La Fenice of Venice assigned him a work for youngers -"Incanto di Natale"- on the booklet of Riccardo Diana -presented in Rovigo and Mestre in the February 2000
The Europa Festival of Ferentino assigned him a flash-opera: "Singin' in the brain" on the booklet of Elena Barbalich, inspired to Oliver Sachs, presented in Ferentino on the 22 of July 2000.
He won the 1st prize at the eminent competition "Wiener Internatonaler Kompositionswettbewerb 2000" (artistic director, Claudio Abbado ) with his piece "Albero dei violini accesi", a chamber opera for children that will be presented in Vienna. "La casa dei mostri"(from a novel by Maria Vago) has been awarded at the competition "Quarant'anni nel 2000"and it will be presented during the next season in one of the CEMAT workshops. his project for a lyric opera "Il birraio di Preston" from a novel by Andrea Camilleri, is in the finals of the "International Competition Giuseppe Verdi for the composition of a lyric opera", held by the National Comitee for the celebrations for the 1st centenary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi. Some of his pieces had been awarded or mentioned in competitions of composition and published by some Italia publishing houses. He is one of the foundators of the Laboratorio Nova musica and of the Ensamble Paul Klee of Venice : those two groups are specialised in playing music of the twentieth century and contemporary music.
He teaches Harmony and Counterpoint at the conservatory "V.Bellini" of Palermo.
Armando Ghidoni, composer and arranger, has written many instrumental compositions, which have been rewarded in international and national competitions (Musical French Confederation and French Federation for Musical Teaching). His compositions have been published by many different publishers in Italy, Switzerland and France and actually he is one of the most quoted composer of the French publisher Alphonse Leduc (Paris).
He is a composer very eclectic and versatile and he has his own style, with a huge musical production which comprises Chamber music. Church music, concerts and Operas.
His opera "Minou and Garmoulon" has received many consents: it has been commissioned by the city Chaville-Paris for the opening of the theatre Atrium. This opera has been represented even in Austria in Wien, where has been completely translated in German language. At the realisation of the CD "Concertino" which is composed by Ghidoni's compositions, many important musicians participated. Among them Roger Boutry, conducting and piano ( Gran Prix de Rome) and Sylvie
Hyut, clarinet.
Lojze Lebic, born in 1934 in Prevaljc, Carinthia, took is degree in archeology (1957)at the university of Ljubljana. At the same time he studied music at the academy of music, going in for condicting wiyh Danilo S'vara and composition with Marjan Kozina. He graduated in 1972.
L. Lebic conducted the academy Choir of Tone Tomisic. From1962 to 1972 he conducted also the Ljubljana RTV Chamber Choir. The high quality of these choirs was confirmed by several tours to attend international festivals,by recordings done for foreing producers and by the numerous awards obteined.
Lebic' was rewarded in 1967 with the Pres'eren Fund prize, in 1972 with the London BBC Plaque for the best performance of contemporary music at the "Let people sing" contest and many others.
He taught conducting at the Pedagogical academy and, since 1986 he has been professor in theoretical subjects in music at the Musicological Department of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana.
As a composer he emerged from the group ProMusica viva and improved his knowledge by attending seminars in contemporary music in Darmstadt.
After an intense and critical confrontation with contemporary trends in composition, L.
Lebic formed his own mode of expression, ranging between the impetuosity of the sound and the restraint of meditation as well as between cosmopolitan modernism and his own sensitivity to the heritage of traditional cultures and civilizations.
The most notable among his compositions are the vocal and instrumental pieces The Burnt Grass, November Songs, the choral-instrumental-scenic piece Fauvel 86, the Music about time ajdna, his simphonic sentences for two Pianos and Orchestra, Voices, Nicina, queensland Music, Organ Symphony, the chamber music of Tangram, the String Orchestra, the Percussion Quartet, the electroacoustic Atelier II, solo pieces, solo singing pieces, choir music etc..
Lebic works have been performed at numerous festivals such as the ISCM (in Bruxelles,1981 and in Zurich 1991) the Music Biennals in Berlin and Zagreb, the Protocol in graz,the Pan music Festival in Seul, the Warsaw autumn and others.
In 1994 L.Lebic was awarded with the Pres'crn prize for his compositions and since 1995 he is a regular member or the Slovenian Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
J.Javier Torres Maldonado was born in Cheturnal (Mexico) in 1968. He graduated in Composition with the maximum at the National Conservatory of Mexico and at the conservatory "G.Verdi" of Milan, where he studied with S.Gorli and A. Solbiati.
He attended many specialization courses of composition helded by masters like G.Ligeti and F. Donatoni (Accademia Chiegiana of Siena: degree of merit) and A. Corghi (Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia of Rome)
In 1998 he won the first prize at the International competitions "Città di Barletta", "Ad referendum II"(Quebec) and "Reina Maria Josè 2000 " in Geneve . He also won the second prize at the 7th International Mozart Competition Saltzburg 1997-99.
His work, "Uris", has been mentioned at the XXVI International competition "G.D'Arezzo" and he recived many awards from Mexican and International organizations like: FONCA - The International Endowement for Culture and Arts-Istituto Italo-latinoamericano - Fundacion Cultural Dombeq - Ambassy of Austria in Mexico he has been invitated by the Montreal University and by the Nouvel Ensamble Moderne as the rappresentant composer for Center and South America at the Forum '98.
His music is frequently played and broadcasted during cultura festivals and events in Italy (Biennale of Venice, International Festival "Nuova Consonanza"), Austria (Mozart's Week , Mozarteum of Salzburg, "Tiroler Festpiele Er1"), Canada (Forum 98, Referendum II, XXII Saison de Radio Canada), Bulgaria (International Festival "Musica Nova", International Festival "Pianismo"),United States (Festival "New Time Music" Boston, Festival" The other voice" Cincinnati's Conservatory), Mexico (Foro Internacional de musica Nueva" Manuel Enriquez", XXXIV Temporada Sinfonica Nacional) and South America (XIX Temporada de la Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Chile and Festival "Nueva Practica "Argentina).
His piece "Orior" (played during the Mozart's week in 1999 in Salzburg) has been published by Universal Edition and it has been recorded on a CD in cooperation between the Mozarteum of Salzburg and Radio Salzburg.
In the year 2000 it has been published a CD with his piece "Exabrupto" played by the Nouvel Ensamble Moderne and produced by the University of Montreal and Radio Canada. He has been invited as permanent composer at the "Tiroler Festpiele Er1" that dedicated him a monographic concert during the "Beethoven Delirium". The Biennale of Venice 2000 and the Divertimento Ensamble assigned him the piece "Reflejo Espiral". All his Music, excepted "Orior", is published by Suvini Zerboni of Milan.
This year he has been invited by the Dunamys Ensamble as guest composer at the "Festival Internaciona de Caribe" in Mexico and he received important assignements by the Nationa Orchestra of Mexico and by the Ensamble of New Zealand "175 East". Presently he is the artistic director of the
"Dynamis Ensamble".
Massimo Priori, born in 1962, started to study music at the Conservatory of Brescia and then at the Conservatory of Bologna, graduating in composition. In the mean time he took the degree in Architecture at the University of Milan.
His studies of architecture made him try to find a way to integrate them to the music and the results of this search are: "Dialoges of Anwari, three pieces for twelve instruments","Architectures... Second quartet for string instruments", "Fragments from Heruka" for voice and thirteen instruments, "Sigune", a scenic cantata in one act and "Lanval", a chamber piece in three parts.
His latest work is a sacred oratorio "Giona's History" and he is now working on a cycle of pieces for orchestra where he wants to develop and deepen the theory of the" structural levels".
He won several international and national competitions and his works are published by Tonos Verlag in Darmstadt, Edipan in Rome and Salabert in Paris.
He teaches Composition at the Conservatory of Trento, in the seat of Riva del Garda.
Alain Riou ha studied guitar (E. N. M. of Orleans with Olivier Chassin and Academy Festival of Strings with Oscar Ghiglia) and History of Music and Musicology at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. He took his "Memoire de Maitrise" with the work "L'uvre our guitar de Maurice Ohana" and his "Diplome d'Etudes Apporofondies" with a monographic study about the composer Felix Ibarrondo. He has worked with the composer Frederic Nyst on the knowledge of the systems of sound synthesis and about the formalisations of the musical structures. The meeting with the composer Maurice Ohana has started his career as composer. He is greedy of poetic spaces and not explored imaginary and he defines himself as an independent composer of "chapelles et des ecoles" preferring the research of the senses instead of formal speculations, because the art for him is most of all "un subtil mélange de savoir.faire, da raison et d'instinct".
His catalogue comprises works for little instrumental ensembles (winds, strings, piano, etc), Espaces brisées for guitar and instrumental ensemble, Palmyre, for big orchestra, works for solo instrument and band, vocal pieces with piano or guitar, solo pieces, a chamber opera Inconciliables Mondes based on the poems of Lamartine and the novels of La Fontaine, and a musical poem, Songe, for actor, mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, cello and piano, based on his subject and the poems of Labé, Baudelaire, Poe, Laforgue. His works have been performed in different Countries: France, Italy, USA and Canada, played by famous ensembles as Micromega, Polycordes, Triades, Calliope and others, and famous performers as Anna Lavandier, John Pual Miles, Victor Betermin and others.