Jack Hughes is double majoring in composition and music theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music, in the studio of Dr. Keith Fitch. His pieces for both large and small ensembles have gained recognition in many national and international contests for young composers. Jack received the 2010 National Band Association's Merrill Jones Award for young composers to the age of 40 for the piece After Rain, which has been published by Wingert-Jones. He has twice been a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. At CIM, Jack also studies trumpet with Michael Miller of the Cleveland Orchestra and plays in the University Circle Wind Ensemble. In high school, he was a Young Associate of the National Symphony Orchestra.

I have recently decided to pursue a music degree in addition to my physics degree, and I'm trying to get as involved in the music department here at MIT as I can. Last semester I took a class called "Stravinsky to the Present" which I found to be really inspirational and interesting and put a lot of what I learned at PPYC in perspective, and that sort of convinced me that I should focus more on music. I didn't write any music last year, but I'm starting to compose again. Along that vein, this January I have a month to spend studying basically whatever I want, and I'm planning to start doing some more rigorous ear training hopefully continuing into the semester. This is probably going to be mostly self-guided so I was wondering if you could recommend any books or resources to guide me in that.

This semester I am taking a Harmony and Counterpoint class which reviewed a bit of what I studied right before the AP exam but then focused on chromatic harmonies and composition. Right now, I am working on a classical Theme and Variations in rounded binary. So far I really like the music faculty here which is great. There is also a lot of new music happening on campus. Professor Evan Ziporyn is my chamber music coach and also the leader of the "Bang on a Can All-Stars." This ensemble has now performed 5 times in the auditorium on campus playing new music (especially music by Bang on a Can composers Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon). Last semester they did a "New Music Marathon" concert where they and the Kronos Quartet performed a number of works including a piece by Steve Reich of which I have forgotten the title, and I stayed for the whole 7 hours. This semester they performed a piece by Julia Wolfe called "Steel Hammer" which was a piece inspired by the folk-story of John Henry, and a minimalist piece by Michael Gordon called "Timber" which is written for six drummers and six two-by-fours for them to hit. They were arranged in a hexagon facing each other and each plank had a different range of frequencies amplified so one was very bass and another was high pitched. They played a variety of slowly changing patterns over the course of an hour, and I noticed that the upper resonances started sounding like a distant choir. There have been just a lot of new music concerts to go to which have pretty much all been really good experiences. On the 15th Terry Riley is coming to campus to play with or Gamelan ensemble.

Francesco Lecce-Chong has been appointed assistant conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra beginning in the fall of 2011. In addition to assisting Music Director Edo de Waart and guest conductors for all MSO subscription concerts, he will take the podium for outreach and education programs, a Wisconsin state tour, and special events.

Francesco grew up in Colorado and participated in several PPYC events as well as returning as a guest speaker for one of the workshops. He studied composition with Carlton Gamer before continuing his musical studies at the Mannes College of Music in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

A former student and former Pikes Peak Young Composer winner, will be attending Columbia College Chicago this fall on a Follett Fellowship to get her Masters of Fine Arts in Music Composition for Screen.

Allison always loved to compose but it was the brief time of lessons with Dr. Rhodes when she was 9 or 10 that gave her direction.

Dear Mr. Rhodes

I hope you remember me - I won the Pikes Peak Competition two years ago (Dan Kellogg's student). I will be graduating the Interlochen Arts Academy in May 2010 and will be studying composition at The Juilliard School!!!

Truly yours, Yuri

Matthew Browne (b.1988) has been writing music primarily for the concert stage since 2005. His music is largely neo-romantic, and draws upon styles of past composers such as Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich, Samuel Barber, and John Corigliano. He has written for many diverse groups, large and small, including the Symphony Orchestra, String Quartet, and Wind Ensemble. His music has been performed for and given masterclasses by various renowned artists such as Otis Murphy, George Crumb, and the Kronos String Quartet.
Over the past five years, Matthew has completed many new and diverse pieces, as well as several arrangements. In 2007, he received 3rd place for his Symphony for Concert Band (re-arranged as Sinfonietta for Orchestra) and an honorable mention for his Ostinato for Saxophone Quartet in the 13th annual Pikes Peak Young Composer's Competition. In 2008, he was the recipient of the University of Colorado College of Music Dean's Undergraduate Commission prize for his Variations on a Theme by Johannes Brahms for mixed octet. He is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in music composition from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he has studied under Dr. Richard Toensing, Dr. John Drumheller, and Dr. Daniel Kellogg.
Notable Works
Ostinato for Saxophone Quartet (2005)
Sinfonietta for Orchestra (2006)
Rhapsody for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2007)
Brahms Variations for Mixed Octet (2007)
Nightingale the Robber for Wind Ensemble (2008)
Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2008)
Starry Night over the Rhone for Concert Band (2008-9)
Prelude and Dance for Violoncello Solo (2009)
In the Deathroom (Film Score) (2009)
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (2009)
String Quartet ‘χάος’ (2009)
Polybius for Wind Ensemble (2009-10)

Now in his third year at Yale, Stephen conceived of a show featuring his chamber music performed with amplification, theatrical lighting, a set, and electronic beats designed by his friend, producer Ellis Ludwig-Leone. The group has taken off in a big way, performing for big groups of screaming audiences in New Haven and New York, of up to 2800 in size. Stephen is excited to be moving further in the direction of reaching a large, more mainstream audience without compromising the complexity of his music.

Stephen has also been writing and conducting student musicals at Yale, and is taking this coming year off to perform with the Whiffenpoofs, Yale's legendary all-male a cappella group. This summer he studied at the Bowdoin International Music Festival with Samuel Adler and Claude Baker, supported by a grant ralph lauren australia from ASCAP.