Swan Composition Prize

The University of Minnesota School of Music is pleased to announce that the winning work of the 2011 Craig and Janet Swan Composer Prize is a choral work, Cantus Jubilus by Zvonimir Nagy. This choral work will be premiered by the University Singers under the batons of Kathy Saltzman Romey and Matthew Mehaffey on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Nagy has been invited to attend dress rehearsals, workshops, and the premiere performance. The $1,500 Swan Composer Prize will be awarded formally at the work’s premiere. As winner of the Swan Commission, Nagy is invited to join the School of Music as artist in residence in April 2011 for the premiere of his work Cantus Jubilus at the University of Minnesota School of Music.

The Swan Composer Prize competition, underwritten by the Swans, is an annual event and the emphasis rotates among choral, wind ensemble, and orchestral works. The competition was created in response to the generosity, vision and abiding interest in music as a living art on the part of Craig and Janet Swan. The Swan Prize competition is open to composers in the earlier career stages currently residing in the United States; all entries remain anonymous throughout the entire two-tier adjudication process. The American Composers Forum and the University of Minnesota School of Music administered the competition.

The American Composers Forum is committed to supporting composers and developing new markets for their music. Through granting, commissioning, and performance programs, the Forum provides composers at all stages of their careers with valuable resources for professional and artistic development. By linking communities with composers and performers, the Forum fosters a demand for new music, enriches communities, and helps develop the next generation of composers, musicians, and music patrons. Visit www.composersforum.org for more information.

Established in 1902, the University of Minnesota School of Music offers a dynamic, comprehensive program to more than 500 music students in undergraduate and graduate programs, led by a world-class faculty of over 50 artists, scholars and teachers.