Winners of First Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition

At the Music Teachers National Convention held in Chicago, Hal Leonard Corporation announced the winners of the inaugural Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition.

Hal Leonard created this online student piano composition competition in honor of Carol Klose (1945-2013), a popular piano teacher and prolific Hal Leonard composer. The purpose of the competition is to encourage the creative musical spirit that Carol always fostered, by giving piano students a platform to compose, perform and share their original pieces.

Nearly 200 contestants created original compositions and submitted YouTube videos of their performances in the competition’s three age categories: Junior Composer (ages 12 and under); Teen Composer (ages 13-18); and Collegiate Composer (ages 19-23). They vied for prizes of generous Hal Leonard gift certificates. The collegiate winner, Changhee Lee, will also have his piece published as sheet music in the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library Showcase Solos series. The complete list of winners follows, and their performances are posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5hhox49YD7y02gjqKvE2Q/playlists

Jennifer Linn, manager of educational piano publications for Hal Leonard, comments, “We’re thrilled to have gotten so many entries for a competition requiring composition notation skills and a YouTube performance – not exactly something that’s easy for most kids to do. It’s been truly inspiring to see so much creativity given a forum that is accessible and groundbreaking. We expect the competition to be even bigger over the coming years. We miss Carol terribly, but I’m sure she would be incredibly proud to see these talented students.”

Please stay tuned for details of the 2015 Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition, which will be posted here:

http://www.halleonard.com/klosecompetition/

Carol Klose/Hal Leonard Composition Competition Winners

JUNIOR COMPOSER

(Ages 12 and under)

GOLD

ALEXANDER AND LEONID NEDIAK

Kingston, Ontario

Composition: Elegie

Piano Teacher: John Burge, Michael Berkovsky

SILVER

(tie)

EMMA ERICKSON

Murrieta, California

Composition: Mysterious Dreams

Piano Teacher: Yiyi Ku

ABHIK MAZUMDER

Columbus, Ohio

Composition: Soaring

Piano Teacher: Mark Flugge

BRONZE

THOMAS FILIPIUK

Palatine, Illinois

Composition: Waltz in D Minor

Piano Teacher: Janice Razaq

HONORABLE MENTION

TAYLOR WANG, Centerville, Ohio

Composition: Polka in D

Piano Teacher: Dr. Eric Street

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

TEEN COMPOSER

(Ages 13-18)

GOLD

BEN HENAULT

Lexington, Kentucky

Composition: Rain

Piano Teacher: Julie Jones

SILVER

CADE SUTTON

Pocatello, Idaho

Composition: The Last Ride

Piano Teacher: Laura Larson

BRONZE

DAVID BESONEN

Apple Valley, Minnesota

Composition: Mist in May

Piano Teacher: Christine Wolf

HONORABLE MENTION

DANIEL COLLINS, Bushnell, Illinois

Composition: Synthetic Prelude for Piano

Piano Teacher:

Rose Marie Wood 

SARAH KITTEN, Beaverton, Oregon

Composition: Thrive

Piano Teacher: Suzanne Hamlin

ODETTE MOOLTEN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Composition: Piano Suite: Something, Nothing

Piano Teacher:

Luke Carlson

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

COLLEGIATE COMPOSER

(Ages 19-23)

GOLD

CHANGHEE LEE

Rochester, New York

Composition: Mambo

School: Eastman School of Music

Piano Teacher: Douglas Humpherys

SILVER

JONATHAN MAIOCCO

Rosell, Georgia

Composition: Snow

School: Georgia State University

Piano Teacher: Dr. Geoffrey Haydon

BRONZE

JONATHAN CARLISLE

Taylor Mill, Kentucky

Composition: Tower of Babel

School: Northern Kentucky University

Piano Teacher: Dr. Ingrid Keller

HONORABLE MENTION

NATHAN PEZZOTTI

New York, New York

Composition: Somniloquy

School: The Juillard School

Piano Teacher: Marcantonio Barone

RUTH TARACTECAN

Hillsborough, New Jersey

Composition: Ballade

School: Lancaster Bible College

Piano Teacher: Dr. Krystal Grant