“The Emerging Black Composers Project, the joint commissioning and mentorship program announced last year by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony, has awarded its first annual prize to composer Trevor Weston,” writes Joshua Kosman in Wednesday’s (6/14) San Francisco Chronicle. “The prize … brings a $15,000 commission for a new orchestral work to be premiered by the Symphony and Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen in the fall of 2022. Weston will also receive mentorship from conductor Michael Morgan, music director of the Oakland Symphony, among other members of the selection committee…. Weston, 54, is … chair of the Music Department at Drew University in Madison, N.J.… Weston’s compositions include the opera ‘4,’ about the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala.; ‘Griot Legacies,’ for chorus and orchestra; several orchestral works … and a wealth of chamber and solo vocal music. He also reconstructed the orchestral score for the Piano Concerto (1932-34) of … Florence Price…. In addition to Weston, the committee also gave $8,000 commissions to composers Jonathan Bingham … Shawn Okpebholo … and Sumi Tonooka. Each of them will compose works to be premiered by the Oakland Symphony, the Conservatory or the National Brass Ensemble during the 2022-23 season.”
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