High School Composition Competition
Valley City State University Department of Music announces 2007 High School Composition Competition
The Department of Music at VCSU invites all students in grades 9-12 in North Dakota to compete for cash prizes of $150, $100, and $50 in conjunction with the Seventh Annual Composers Concert scheduled for May 1, 2008. Jocelyn Hagen, an award-winning composer and pianist, will guide them to the submission of a successful piece of music, encouraging them along the way to continuously improve and strengthen their musical ideas.
The department has again secured professional composer, Jocelyn Hagen of Minneapolis, MN, to mentor participants throughout the spring semester in preparation for the event. Hagen will review their work each month via email and provide feedback for strengthening the pieces in preparation for the contest in May. All participants are invited to the event at Valley City State University to meet Ms. Hagen and to perform their final pieces "live" in an afternoon preliminary event in which the performances will be adjudicated. The top performances will be chosen to compete in the evening concert when the cash prizes will be awarded.
Jocelyn recently completed her Masters in Composition at the University of Minnesota as a fellow, where she studied with Judith Lang Zaimont and Doug Geers. She has won several national awards, including the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composer Competition and the San Francisco Song Cycle Composition Competition and over 20 commissions from groups including Vocal Essence, the St. Olaf Band, and the North Dakota State University Wind Ensemble. She completed her undergraduate degree with distinction at St. Olaf College with majors in choral music education and theory. She also maintains a private piano studio and is co-owner of Graphite Publishing, an online publishing company specializing in 21st century choral music.
Students interested in participating in the Composers Contest should contact Dr. Sara Hagen at sara.hagen@vcsu.edu or call 1-800-532-8641 ext. 3-7270 for further details and to register for the event. The deadline for draft compositions to Dr. Hagen via email is the first of each month, beginning January1. Emails will be forwarded to Jocelyn Hagen for review. This is a free event, but students must register prior to January 1 in order to participate in the mentoring program. Students need not participate in the mentoring program in order to participate in the contest.
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