Rice composition professor wins international Masterprize composing competition

CONTACT: Ellen Chang
PHONE:
(713) 348-6777
EMAIL: ellenc@rice.edu

RICE
COMPOSITION PROFESSOR WINS
INTERNATIONAL MASTERPRIZE COMPOSING
COMPETITION

Pierre Jalbert,
assistant professor of composition and theory at Rice University, won the
$44,000 Masterprize composing competition for new classical music.

Jalbert, who also is the
current California Symphony Young American Composer-in Residence, was announced
the winner of the competition in London Oct. 10.

The Masterprize is
considered one of the world’s most important international prizes for composers
of classical music. The announcement was made following a performance of each of
the five finalists’ work by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican
Centre. The competition and award ceremony was broadcast on the European
Broadcasting Union, BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service, with an estimated
worldwide audience of 100 million. It was also broadcast internationally via the
competition’s Web site.

In total, 51,000 people
worldwide listened to the five pieces selected as finalists via the World Wide
Web and CD-ROMs distributed with BBC Magazine’s August issue, and submitted a
vote. The final decision was based one half on the public vote, with the
remainder determined by recommendation from a live panel of distinguished judges
and a vote by London Symphony Orchestra members.

Pierre Jalbert was
awarded the Masterprize for his piece “In Aeternam” (Latin for eternity or
forever), which was
commissioned by Barry Jekowsky and the California Symphony and received its
world premiere in May 2000 at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in
Walnut Creek, Calif.

The four remaining
finalists each received a cash prize of $1600. The finalists were Carter Pann
and Anthony Iannaccone, from the United States; Qigang Chen, China; and Alastair
King, United Kingdom.

Jalbert, 33, resides in
Stafford, Texas. He was born in Manchester, N.H., and received his musical
training at the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Pennsylvania. He has
won numerous awards for his compositions, including a residency at the Copland
House, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two BMI Foundation Composition Awards, three
ASCAP Foundation Awards, a Society of Composers Award, the Bearns Prize in
Composition and a Tanglewood Music Center fellowship. He has recently returned
from a year’s fellowship at the American Academy in Rome as a winner of the
prestigious Rome Prize in composition. Jalbert’s works have been performed
throughout the United States and he has received numerous commissions.