September 2023: Commissioned Composer of the Year Updates
Louise Nedela, NCTM, WSMTA Commissioned Composer of the Year Chair
Mission Statement: The WSMTA Commissioned Composer of the Year is the Washington State segment of the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program. MTNA is dedicated to encouraging the creation of new works by American composers, and annually assists its affiliated State Associations with the generation and performance of new music through the national Composer Commissioning program. A newly commissioned work receives its premiere performance at the convention of the State MTA, which is then submitted to a panel of recognized composers for selection of the MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year.
Sean Osborn, 2023 WSMTA Commissioned Composer
Sean Osborn, 2023 Commissioned Composer of the Year
The performance of the 2023 Commissioned Composer of the Year was held at the June WSMTA conference: Sean Osborn’s commissioned work will now be forwarded to MTNA for the national portion of the Commissioned Composer project. We wish him success! A recording will be on the WSMTA website soon.
Celtic Sonata for Flute and Piano, Sean Osborn, 2023 CCOY
- Cerridwen
- Morrigan
- Taliesin
Sarah Bassingthwaighte, Flute
Dainius Vaičekonis, Piano
WSMTA 2024 Commissioned Composer of the Year
Nathan Campbell, 2024 WSMTA Commissioned Composer
Nathan Campbell, WSMTA Commissioned Composer, 2024
We are pleased to announce the 2024 Commissioned Composer of the Year, Nathan Campbell, composer, pianist, and music educator in Bellingham, Washington. He earned a BM in Composition at Chapman University, and completed his MM in Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Nathan was the winner of the 2013 San Francisco Shanghai International Chamber Music Competition. He also was the winner of the 2014 Highsmith competition, and the 2023 Marsha Wright Sonatina Festival. He has worked with such groups as Friction Quartet, FEARnoMUSIC, The Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, The SFCM Orchestra, The Firebird Ensemble, Beyond Pluck, Phonochrome, and the International Low Brass Trio.
More about Nathan and his music can be found on his website and on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/nathan-campbell-composer
Nathan’s Proposal for the WSMTA 2024 CCOY, to be performed at the 2024 WSMTA Conference:
“Having watched a few recent interviews with the crew of NASA’s next Artemis mission, I’ve found myself spending more time gazing up at the stars and thinking about the planets and their orbits around the sun. I’ve found myself comparing our own routines to the orbits of planets. We pass in and out of each other’s lives on a daily, weekly, or yearly basis, but yet somehow, we remain connected through the influence of these orbits as our routines bring us in and out of each other’s lives.”
“I plan to capture this idea in a composition for piano and cello. The piano will create a minimalistic texture of overlapping harmonic progressions moving at different speeds, with each progression representing an orbit. The cello will present a melodic line highlighting the shared notes of each progression and act as a representation of the connection and influence between the orbits.”
Louise Nedela, NCTM, WSMTA CCOY Chair
