Joseph H. Bearns Prize
Encyclopedia
The Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music was established on February 3, 1921 by Lillia M. Bearns, in memory of her father. It was her desire to encourage talented young composers in the United States. The Prize, administered by Columbia University
, is open to United States
citizens who are at least 18 and no more than 25 years of age, and is divided among larger-form works (orchestral, choral, etc.) and smaller-form works (soli, quartet, sextet, etc.). The Prize is one of the largest given to young American composers, totaling $7200 in 2006.
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, is open to United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citizens who are at least 18 and no more than 25 years of age, and is divided among larger-form works (orchestral, choral, etc.) and smaller-form works (soli, quartet, sextet, etc.). The Prize is one of the largest given to young American composers, totaling $7200 in 2006.
Past winners
- Milton BabbittMilton BabbittMilton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
(for Music for the Mass) - Christopher Bailey (for Six Songs on Poems of John Monroe)
- Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
(1929, for Violin Sonata, and again in 1933, for School for Scandal Overture) - William BergsmaWilliam Bergsma-Biography:After studying piano with his mother, a former opera singer, and then the viola, Bergsma moved on to study composition; his most significant teachers were Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. Bergsma attended Stanford University for two years before moving on to the Eastman School of...
- Stephen Cabell (2004, for Cosmicomic)
- Ronald Caltabiano (1981, 1983)
- Carlos R. Carrillo Cotto (1993, for Cantares)
- William Coble
- Glen Cortese
- Alvin CurranAlvin CurranComposer Alvin Curran , is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. Curran's music often makes use of electronics and environmental found sounds....
- Richard DanielpourRichard DanielpourRichard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
(1982) - Mario DavidovskyMario DavidovskyMario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...
- Jonathan Dawe
- Charles DodgeCharles Dodge (composer)Charles Dodge is an American composer best known for his electronic music, specifically his computer music. He is a former student of Darius Milhaud and Gunther Schuller.-Education and teaching career:...
- Michael Eckert
- Renee Favand (1995, for Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.)
- Mark Gustavson (1983, for Textures of Time)
- Daron HagenDaron HagenDaron Aric Hagen , is an American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, librettist, and stage director of contemporary classical music and opera.- Early life and education :...
(1985, for Trio Concertante) - Mark Hagerty
- Kevin Hanlon
- William Harvey (for Cuerpo Garrido)
- Joel Hoffman (1975, for Variations for violin, cello, and harp)
- Stephen JaffeStephen JaffeStephen Jaffe is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, USA, and serves on the music faculty of Duke University, where he holds the post of Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition; his colleagues there include composers Scott...
(1976, for Four Nocturnes) - Pierre Jalbert
- Evan Johnson (2006)
- Brooke Joyce (1999)
- Louis Karchin
- Aaron Jay KernisAaron Jay KernisAaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
- Kenneth Lampl
- Paul Lansky (1964)
- Anne LeBaronAnne LeBaronAlice Anne LeBaron is an United States composer and harpist.-Biography:Anne LeBaron holds a B.A. in music from the University of Alabama , an M.A. in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook , and a D.M.A. from Columbia University...
(1978) - Roland Leich (1933 for Housman Songs, and 1937 for String Quartet)
- Leonard Mark Lewis (1999)
- Steven MackeySteven MackeySteven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...
- Shafer Mahoney
- Paul MoravecPaul MoravecPaul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
- Lynn David Newton (1965, for Sonata for Piano)
- Paul NordoffPaul NordoffPaul Nordoff was an American composer and music therapist. His music is generally tonal and neo-Romantic in style.-Career:...
(1933, for Piano Concerto) - Joshua Penman (2004, for Aevum)
- Daniel Perlongo (for Seven Pieces)
- Tobias PickerTobias PickerTobias Picker is an American composer. Picker began composing at the age of eight and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt...
- James Primosch (1981)
- David Rakowski (1984, for Violin Concerto)
- Jason Roth (1995, for Second String Quartet)
- Jake Rundall (2006)
- Eric W. SawyerEric W. SawyerEric W. Sawyer or Eric Sawyer is an American composer, pianist and associate professor of music at Amherst College. He has studied as an undergraduate at Harvard College, where he was selected as a Harvard Junior Fellow...
(1987) - Carl Schimmel (1999, for Capa Cocha)
- Joseph SchwantnerJoseph SchwantnerJoseph C. Schwantner is a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer and educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize....
(1967) - Harold ShaperoHarold ShaperoHarold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
(1946, for Symphony for String Orchestra) - Alexander Sigman (2006)
- David Soley
- Anthony Strilko
- Louise TalmaLouise TalmaLouise Talma was a composer. She was raised in New York City and studied at the Institute of Musical Arts , 1922–1930, and received her bachelor of music degree from New York University and masters of arts degree from Columbia University...
(1932) - Bruce Taub (1971, for Variations 11.7.3.3.4)
- Reynold TharpReynold TharpReynold Tharp is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His music reflects a fascination with transitory physical aspects of sound, such as resonance and decay....
(1996, for Drift) - Christopher Theofanidis
- Augusta Read ThomasAugusta Read ThomasAugusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...
- Richard ToensingRichard ToensingRichard Toensing is an American composer and music educator. He studied composition at St. Olaf College and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1967...
- Christopher Trapani
- Dan Visconti
- David Ward-SteinmanDavid Ward-SteinmanDavid Ward-Steinman is an American composer and music professor.Ward-Steinman studied at Florida State University and the University of Illinois, where he received the Kinley Memorial Fellowship for foreign study. After receiving his doctorate, he was a fellow at Princeton University from 1970...
(1959, for Symphony) - Hugo WeisgallHugo WeisgallHugo David Weisgall was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions...
- Richard Willis (for Symphony No. 1)
- Cynthia Lee Wong (2004, for Fates and Furies)
- Maurice Wright (1974)
- Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
(1958, 1959, and 1961)