COMMISSIONED COMPOSER COMPETITION
Chairperson: ESMA PASIC-FILIPOVIC (composercommission@njmta.com)
Every year, the NJMTA commissions a living composer to create original compositions for piano students to learn and perform in a competition. A performance of these pieces by the winners, chosen by the composer, is held in November at the NJMTA Conference to promote interest in new music by living composers.
COMPETITION DATE: Sunday, October 20, 2024
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Monday, September 30, 2024
PERFORMANCE DATE: November 16-17, 2024 (During the State Conference)
2024 COMMISSIONED COMPOSER IS…
Carmen Aurora Mateiescu
Carmen Aurora Mateiescu is a Romanian-American composer, theorist, ethnomusicologist, and educator. Dr. Mateiescu holds a MM from the University of Music Bucharest and a PhD in composition and theory from Rutgers University. She started to study piano and music theory at a young age. Her three piano teachers, from first grade to graduate school – Marta Paladi, Stefania Cumpata and Mariana Soimaru – had been pupils of “Miss Maestra Florica Musicescu” who also trained the legendary pianist Dinu Lipatti. The distinctive feature of their teaching was the emphasis on expression and tone quality.
In Romania Mateiescu was a music teacher for grades 1-12 then an ethnomusicologist with the “Constantin Brailoiu Folklore Institute.” She carried out a great number of field recordings, transcribed hundreds of songs and dance melodies, studied the variation field of the lyric song, co-authored the inaugural LP The Traditional Folk Music Band of the Romanian National Collection of Folklore, and contributed substantially to the first Romanian Dictionary of Musical Terms.
In the US, Dr. Mateiescu has been teaching composition, theory, ethnomusicology, and piano at Rutgers University, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Westminster Conservatory of Music, and privately. She also organized and presented concerts of early music and Romanian traditional music at venues in Princeton, New York, and Washington DC. As a member of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Carmen Mateiescu oversaw the student composer competition for many years.
Mateiescu’s compositions – for piano, voice and piano, chamber ensembles, as well as the fairy tale-opera Youth without Age and Life without Death based on a Romanian traditional tale, are all imbued with melodic, rhythmic, and ornamental structures derived from the music of the oral tradition of the cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea – Romania, the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, and Northern Africa.
COMMISSIONED Repertoire
Elementary - Cheerful Chirping Chicks
Intermediate - The Enchanted Meadow
Advanced - Cumulonimbus Rondo
Chamber music - The Flowery Mountain (VIolin/Piano or Piano Four Hands, the same music)
In respect of copyright laws for our CCC composers, teachers should purchase separate copies for each student, or ask the parents to order the music from NJMTA themselves. Thank you for joining us in the effort to support our composers.
By participating in any NJMTA event, parents give permission to the New Jersey Music Teachers Association(NJMTA) to use photographs or videos of your child taken by NJMTA representative, with appropriate captions, in NJMTA publications, on the NJMTA website, social media and/or in the local newspapers. If you do not wish NJMTA to use your child’s photos/videos in any way, kindly notify the chairperson of the event in which your child is participating.
2023 Commissioned Composer: Kaori Tanioka
Kaori Tanioka is an accomplished composer and pianist based in New York City. Originally from Kobe, Japan, she began taking music lessons at an early age and started composing at the age of 10. Her talent as a pianist was recognized when she was selected to perform with the Kyoto Chamber Orchestra in the Opus Piano Concerto in 1997.
In 1998, Kaori received a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied Jazz and contemporary music. She holds Bachelor's degrees in both Jazz Performance and Jazz Composition, and in 2003, her big-band piece called "Marglit" won first prize in the International Association for Jazz Education's College Jazz Composition Competition.
Kaori attended the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop in New York between 2004 and 2007. She later completed a Master's degree in classical composition at Aaron Copland School of Music in 2010. Her works include compositions for string quartets, solo marimba, solo piano, woodwind quintets, koto (a traditional Japanese instrument), and orchestra. Her organ piece "WA" and Harpsichord concerto were premiered by J.P.Knijff (Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne in 1997).
Kaori is certified as a music education specialist at YAMAHA Music Education USA, and dedicates much of her time to teaching young musicians piano and composition. She has also commissioned four chamber pieces written for young musicians, which were performed at the Art Festival at Lincoln Center in NYC in 2013 and 2014.
Kaori's impressive career and dedication to music education makes her a valued member of the musical community. Her passion for composition and performance is evident in the range and depth of her work, and her commitment to nurturing future talent is a testament to her dedication to the art of music.
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/@kaoritanioka7989
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kaori-tanioka
Website: kaoritanioka.com
COMMISSIONED Repertoire
PIANO SOLO:
Elementary: Under the Tree
Intermediate: Sky (Sora)
Advanced: Kaleidoscope
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Day after the Coronation - Violin and Piano Duo