The Los Angeles-based composer Todd Lerew has won the American Composers Forum’s 2014 National Composition Contest for his work flagging entrainment of ultradian rhythms and the consequences thereof. In addition to a $2,000 cash prize, the award guarantees future performances of Lerew’s piece by the So Percussion ensemble. Lerew’s piece and works by the two other competition finalists, Michael Aurello and Kristina Warren, were premiered at the American Composers Forum’s Summer Institute at Princeton University on July 20, where So Percussion was a partner. Lerew works with invented acoustic instruments, repurposed found objects, and unique preparations of traditional instruments. He is the inventor of the Quartz Cantabile, which uses principles of thermoacoustics to convert heat into sound, and is the founder of Telephone Music, a collaborative music and memory project based on the children’s game of Telephone. The ACF’s National Composition Contest was launched in the 2010-11 season and has previously paired composers with the JACK Quartet and the ensemble eighth blackbird.
Posted July 29, 2014
