FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Society for Chamber Music in Rochester Announces 2015 College Composition Competition Winner
Society for Chamber Music in Rochester is pleased to announce that Harry Stafylakis, student at City
University of New York is the college winner of the Composition Competition.
ROCHESTER, NY, 13 April 2015 – Society of Chamber Music in Rochester’s (SCMR) college Composition Competition winner is Harry Stafylakis, a doctoral candidate at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Stafylakis’s composition, Never the Same River for two violins, cello, bassoon and piano will receive a cash award of $1,000 and a performance in a SCRM concert during an upcoming season.
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| Harry Stafylakis |
Stafylakis (b. 1982, Montreal) is a Canadian-American composer based in NYC. Described as “dreamy yet rhythmic” (NY Times), his concert music strives for dramatic emotional and intellectual expression, integrating idioms drawn from classical and popular styles. Stafylakis’s works have been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, McGill Chamber Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, FSU Symphony, ICE, Mivos, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Cygnus, Lorelei, and American Modern Ensemble. Awards include the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, four SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers, and grants from the Canada Council and NYSCA. A graduate of McGill University, Stafylakis is a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, studying with Jason Eckardt and David Del Tredici, and serving on the music faculty at City College of New York. His doctoral research, supported by SSHRC, examines the conception of rhythm and meter in progressive metal.
SCMR’s Composition Competition began in 2003 as a regional high school competition. It expanded in 2007 to include a college level competition and in 2011 the competitions were further expanded to their current statewide format. Both Young Composer Competitions are supported with funding from the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music. This year, colleges entering the competition included Adelphi University, Bard College, City University of New York Graduate Center, Columbia University, Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, New York University, Stony Brook University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Potsdam, and Syracuse University.
The next SCMR Composition Competitions have been scheduled for 2017, details to be announced shortlyon SCMR’s website: www.chambermusicrochester.org.
About Society for Chamber Music in Rochester: SCMR is the oldest chamber music society in the
Rochester area. SCMR is a volunteer organization that provides an opportunity for the community to hear musicians of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, as well as selected local and visiting artists, in performances of the great works of chamber music of all periods and styles. In addition to concerts, SCMR has an award winning outreach program for primary and secondary school students, in which students participate in master classes and conversations with the musicians. SCMR also hosts Young Composers Competitions for high school and college students. The student winners receive a performance in an SCMR concert and a cash prize.
