CONGRATULATIONS!
Paul Novak
First Prize winner
Division 2 (Ages 21 and under)
2019 Young Composer Competition

Congratulations to Paul Novak!  His trio, Anatomies of Fragile Things, has won the Tribeca New Music 2019 Young Composer Competition, Division 2, for ages 21 and under.

Paul Novak (b. 1998) writes music that is lyrical but fragmented, exploring the subtleties of instrumental color and drawing influences from literature, art, and poetry. He has been selected as the recipient of numerous national awards, most recently from the Frost Competition, Texas Young Composer’s Competition, Young Composer’s Challenge, and YoungArts Foundation, and has participated in festivals including the first-ever Composer Apprenticeship with NYO-USA, Bowdoin Festival, fresh inc festival, Atlantic Music Festival, BUTI, and more. Originally from Reno, NV, Novak is an undergraduate student at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he has studied with Pierre Jalbert, Anthony Brandt, and Karim Al-Zand. Recent performances include the Austin Symphony’s performance of his orchestral work on buoyancy and the Chicago Ensemble’s performance of his flute/piano duo 3 Night Pieces. 

As the First Prize winner of the 2019 Young Composer Competition, Division 2, Paul will receive a $1,000 award, and his trio, Anatomies of Fragile Things, will be performed on the Tribeca New Music 2019 Festival in NYC.  Performance date TBA.

Honorable Mentions:

Charles Berofsky for his Uneasy Dreams

Gabriel Crist for his Intermezzo

Yash Pazhianur for his Quartet for Winds and Piano

Jonathan Petrini for his Kaleidoscope

Katie Pieschala for her Rain 395

Matthew Schultheis for his Stilleven

Emerging Composers:

Leigha Amick for her From Lost Palms

Jacob Beranek for his Romanza for English Horn and Strings

Caroline Bragg for her Paradise Lost: This Pendant World

Bram Fisher for his Tête-à-tête

Max Friedman for his Dress British, Think Yiddish

Stella Gitelman Willoughby for her Expectations for String Orchestra

Haeon Lee for her Adrift in Maroon

Marina Lee for her The Ghost in Budapest

Lilian Rona for her Samboni

Avik Sarkar for his From Voices, for String Quartet and Tape

Athena Zhang for her New England Winter