Gardner Laureates

Gardner Competition Laureates

The American Viola Society congratulates the winners of the 2022 Maurice Gardner Competition for Composers! Please explore the links below to learn about our most recent winners, as well as all of the winning composers and compositions in the competition’s history.

2022 Laureates

D. Sabz Square

Daniel Sabzghabaei, First Prize Winner – …under this blue of my land, for viola and voice
Score
Recording (Ledah Finck, viola, Emma Nicholson, voice)
Project page
Composer website

Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei ( دانیال†رضا†سبزقبایی†) is a creator who aims to emphasize the malleability of time and how we experience it, not just in the concert hall but in everyday life as well. His work has been presented and commissioned by organizations including: the JACK Quartet, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Youth Symphony, National Sawdust, Intimacy of Creativity Festival, TAK Ensemble, Beth Morrison Projects, the New York Festival of Song, loadbang, bassist Robert Black, the Banff Centre, Contemporaneous, Guerilla Opera, the Moab Music Festival, [Switch~] Ensemble, the Young New Yorkers Chorus, Pro Coro Canada, The Esoterics, OPERA America, and VocalEssence among others. Daniel’s current research focuses on time and form within Persian moosiqi sonnati. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas and the Peabody Conservatory and is currently a doctoral candidate and Sage Fellow at Cornell University. Outside of music and sound-based projects, Daniel also translates Persian poetry, most recently exploring the works of Hafez, Rumi, and Saadi. 

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Deniz Çağlarcan, Second Prize Winner – Void, for viola and electronic media
Score
Recording (Deniz Çağlarcan, viola)
Project page
Composer website

Deniz Çağlarcan is a Los Angeles-based composer, violist, and conductor initially from Istanbul, Turkey. He investigates the sonic quality of electronic music by any means and realizes this idealized environment as a model for his musical language. Çağlarcan’s music explores the interaction between acoustic instruments and electronic sounds within their sonic morphology. Besides, he is intrigued to create an environment by utilizing various immersive audio technique as well as visuals and spatial elements that surround the audience. He performs interdisciplinary works collaborating with media artists, computer graphics developers, and machine learning engineers. His works include solo instrumental pieces, chamber music, large ensembles, tape/electroacoustic works, live-electronic, mixed works, audio/visual compositions, site-specific sound installations, arrangements as well as film and video games scores.

Besides his composition career as a violist, he performs in solo concerts, chamber music, new music ensembles, and popular music. He is a co-founder of the ADE Duo ensemble, where he released the rendition of Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley in 2021. He studied orchestral conducting for over eight years, and at Central Michigan University, he continued very in-depth study with José-Luis Maúrtua. He holds degrees in Master of Music in Viola Performance from Central Michigan University and a Master of Arts in Composition from Bilkent University.

Çağlarcan is currently a Ph.D. student in Composition at the University of California Santa Barbara, studying with Professors João Pedro Oliveira and Curtis Roads. He has studied with notable composers and performers; Mark Andre, Beat Furrer, Bruno Mantovani, Ken Ueno, Pierluigi Billone, Clara Iannotta, Alberto Posadas, Isabel Mundry, UlrichmKreppein, Laura San Martin, Jay C. Batzner, Alicia Valoti, Sheila Browne, Scott Woolweaver, Yuri Gandelsman, Tatjana Masurenko, Walter Küssner, Hartmut Rohde, AlexanderZemtsov, Ulrich Mertin, Christine Rutledge.

Wajdi Photo 1

Wajdi Abou Diab, Honorable Mention – The Moraba’ Dance, for solo viola
Recording (Noemi Chemaly, viola)
Composer website

Devin Cholodenko Portraits 71

Devin Cholodenko, Honorable Mention – Duo for Viola and Piano
Score
Recording
Composer website

Daniel Temkin

Daniel Temkin, Honorable Mention – Unspoken, for solo viola
Recording (Ayane Kozasa, viola)
Composer website

2020 Laureates

Max Vinetz, First Prize Winner – Other, for solo viola
Score
Recording (Sebastian Stefanovic, viola)
Composer website

Maxwell Lowery, Second Prize Winner – Nostalgia, for solo viola
Score
Recording (Molly Wise, viola)
Composer website

Christopher Farrell, Honorable Mention – Poem for One, for solo viola
Score
Recording (Christopher Farrell, viola)
Composer website

Will Rowe, Honorable Mention – [paused], for flute and viola
Score
Recording (Leanne Hampton, flute; Mark Hatlestad, viola)

Jordan Alexander Key, Honorable Mention – Viola Sonata No. 1, “Ceol Mor”
Score
Recording
Composer website

2016 Laureates

Qi Jing, Winner – Sonata for solo viola, “Threnody”
Performed at the 2016 American Viola Festival, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music by Yu Jin.
Recording (Yu Jin, viola)

2014 Laureates

Matthew Browne, Winner – Exit, Pursued by a Bear, for solo viola
Performed at the 2014 Primrose Festival at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, CA, by Jarita Ng.
Score
Recording
Composer website

2012 Laureates

Michael Djupstrom, Winner – Walimai, for viola and piano
Score sample
Recording (Milena Pajaro van de Stadt, viola, and Michael Djupstrom, piano)
Composer website

Katerina Kramarchuk, Finalist – Momentum, for viola and piano
Score [UPLOAD AND LINK]

Massimo Lauricella, Finalist – Kariòs, for solo viola
Score [UPLOAD AND LINK]

Nicholas Pavkovic, Finalist – Rhapsody, for viola and piano
Recording (Jonathan Vinocour, viola, and Robin Sutherland, piano)
Composer website

Dan Visconti, Finalist – Hard Knock Stomp, for solo viola
Score sample [UPLOAD AND LINK]
Recording (Melia Watras, viola)
Composer website

2010 Laureates

Rachel Matthews, Winner – Dreams, for viola and piano
Premiered at the 38th International Viola Congress in Cincinnati, Ohio by violist Scott Slapin.
Video recording – First movement (Scott Slapin, viola, and Rachel Matthews, piano)
Video recording – Second movement
Video recording – Third movement
Composer website