Nearly $75,000 goes to 23 recipients of SOCAN Foundation Awards

The SOCAN Foundation has distributed nearly $75,000 among 23 award recipients of its annual competitions. With more than 350 submissions, the Awards for Young Composers and Emerging Screen Composers were evaluated by juries of music industry professionals from across the country.

“SOCAN Foundation believes in celebrating the achievements of young emerging artists,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, SOCAN Foundation Executive Director. “These awards help support and foster the development of talented young SOCAN members across Canada.”

The SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers is designed to recognize Canadian composers 30 years of age or under, for original concert music works. Cash prizes in the total amount of $46,250 were awarded to the finalists in the competition’s five categories — The Choral Awards, The Electroacoustic Awards, The Solo and Duet Awards, The Chamber Ensemble Awards, and The Large Ensemble Awards. Jury members for this year’s award included Jared Miller, Analia Llugdar, and Lesley Hinger.

RECIPIENTS

Grand Prize
Francis Battah for Toccata no 2

The Choral Awards
1^st Prize—Katerina Gimon for Shadow/Light
2^nd Prize—Stephanie Orlando for kyrie
3^rd Prize and Young Composer Award—Benjamin Sigerson for Stratocumulus

The Electroacoustic Awards
1^st Prize—Dong Ho You for Look Straight, Don’t See
2^nd Prize—Dominic Jasmin for Ici
3^rd Prize—Thomas Quirion for Consequential
Young Composer Award—Michael Selvaggi for Marine Transmutations

The Solo and Duet Awards
1^st Prize— Nicholas Denton-Protsack for Into this Fracturing Land
2^nd Prize— James Lowrie for Chainsmoking;Index
3^rd Prize—Liam Ritz for Three Inventions
Young Composer Award— Henry From for Chorale and Variations

The Chamber Ensemble Awards
1^st Prize— Francis Battah for Codes, claves, accidents
2^nd Prize—Haotian Yu for Ritual IIIb
3^rd Prize— Sami Seif for Orientalism
Young Composer Award—Michael Selvaggi for Midwinter Fractures

The Large Ensemble
1^st Prize—Nicholas Denton-Protsack for Iterations on a Theme by Antonio Salieri
2^nd Prize—Sami Seif for Harp Concerto
3^rd Prize—Liam Ritz for Chamber Dances
Young Composer Award—Henry From for Petawawa Gorges

Katrina Gimon (Ice Forms), Stephanie Orlando (riptide), and Liam Ritz (Chamber Dances) have been selected for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada’s mentorship program. They will be invited to attend an NYOC rehearsal reading of their orchestral composition.

The SOCAN Foundation Awards for Emerging Screen Composers is designed to recognize Canadian screen composers 30 years of age or under, for original musical themes or scores created exclusively for the screen, in audio-visual support (TV, film, etc.). Cash prizes worth $26,000 in total were presented to the winners of the competition’s four categories. Jury members included recognized film composers Steffan Andrews, Stephanie Hamelin Tomala, and Neil Parfitt.

RECIPIENTS

Grand Prize
Dillon Baldassero for The Family (Escape)
Dillon Baldassero for Girl – Best Original Theme (2021)

Best Original Score—Animated
1^st Prize—Medhat Hanbali for Trashy Friends
2^nd Prize—Joey Reda for Drought

Best Original Score—Fiction
1^st Prize— Virginia de Vasconcelos Kilbertus for Endlings: Season 2
2^nd Prize— Iva Delic for I Can’t Said the Ant

Best Original Score—Non-Fiction
1^st Prize— Andrés Galindo Arteaga for In Despair
2^nd Prize—MAO YU for music for Wrought (spoil section)

Best Original Theme (opening or closing)
1^st Prize—Spencer Creaghan for Letters To Satan Clause
2^nd Prize— Lora Bidner for Elephant Sheets

For more information on SOCAN Foundation award winners, click here.

The registration deadlines for the 2022 SOCAN Foundation awards will be posted on the organization’s website in the early months of 2022.