The 2018 BCMCC Competition was a special competition open exclusively to female composers for a solo work.  The BCMCC collaborated with the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition for a second time after the success of the 2014 Competition.  The winning work was required for the 2019 MQVC, a competition for young women bassoonists in the Americas. megquigley.org

WINNER:

Cindi Hsu - Spring Fever for Bassoon and Piano

• Music published by Imagine Music Publishing

• Spring Fever was a required work for the 2019 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition

Honorable Mention:

There were so many wonderful entries that Honorable Mention goes to: Juhi Bansal - From Shadows, Emerge for Bassoon and Piano

ABOUT THE WINNERS:

Cindi Hsu’s music is noted for its richness in color, expressive melodic lines and open sincerity. Her music inspires to capture the essence of true human emotions and feelings, expressing wit and a sparkling sense of humor at times, as well as the capacity for expressions of deep pathos. Her “storytelling” composition style was instilled in her early childhood, as she loved the spur of the moment bedtime stories that her father made up and told her each night.

A recipient of numerous ASCAP Plus Awards, Ms. Hsu’s music has been performed in Asia, Europe, and the United States in numerous venues including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. As the only woman composer whose work was selected, the West Point Band premiered her composition “Salute” at the Trinity Church in NYC for their September 11, 2016 remembrance concert. Her music has been described as being “Powerful, with incredible depth and perception into the human soul. It is poetry without words.”

Ms. Hsu holds a B.F.A. degree in piano performance from Tunghai University in Taiwan, and a Master of Arts degree in composition from New York University. She has studied composition with Justin Dello Joio, David Diamond, Dinu Ghezzo, Philip Lasser, and Gordon Chin. Passionate about education at all levels, Cindi Hsu served on the composition and piano faculty of the Music Conservatory of Westchester in New York since 2001 prior moving to Colorado in May 2017. 

Spring Fever was composed in the spring of 2017, following my recent move from the hustle and bustle of New York City to a quiet community near Denver, Colorado. The coming of spring was announced with an abundance of beautiful wild flowers blooming in the yard of my new Colorado home and the neighboring open fields, providing wonderful inspiration for my composition. The beginning of the 1st movement, “Pastoral”, captures the aura created by the gentle sunlight of a quiet spring afternoon, as it shines through the window and brightens my studio with a warm glow. The calm is suddenly interrupted with a spirited Vivace section that depicts the sound and energy of the neighborhood children at play, and their ensuing laughter and delight! In the end, the peaceful and tranquil opening passage is recapitulated to reflect the warm spring day. The 2nd movement, “Fever”, begins with an energetic pattern established by the solo bassoon, with driving rhythmic and melodic lines that are carried throughout the entire movement between both the bassoon and piano. The colorful harmonies and syncopated rhythms are somewhat bluesy and suggestive of ragtime. Abrupt changes in dynamics and registers in both instruments serve to create textures and develop thematic ideas, while keeping the syncopated motion driving relentlessly forward. The music relaxes momentarily in a fleeting cantabile section, like briefly catching one’s breath, only to have the bassoon abruptly and emphatically restating the opening “Fever” theme and bringing the movement to its driven conclusion.

Described as “radiant and transcendent” (New Classic LA), the music of Juhi Bansal takes its inspiration from a disparate set of elements. As an Indian composer brought up in Hong Kong, her pieces draw subtly on those traditions, entwining them closely and intricately with the gestures of classical music. Expressive and emotive, much of her music begins with extramusical origins: visual stills from nature, poetry, or prose.

Her works have received numerous awards, including the Five Colleges New Music Festival Competition, ASCAP Lotte Lehman Foundation Art song Competition, Boston Metro Opera International Composers Competition, and multiple ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards. She has been awarded fellowships by the Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera, the Atlantic Music Center, Seasons Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium, and the Pacific Music Festival. Recent commissions include Sirens, in collaboration with Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre and LA Opera; Begin, commissioned by the LA Philharmonic Association; Where Shadow Chases Light, commissioned by the Oakland East Bay Symphony; and I’ve Looked For You, commissioned by the AIDS Quilt Songbook 20th Anniversary project.

An active conductor as well as composer, Juhi often premieres works of other composers as well as her own. She is currently on faculty at Pasadena City College. 

2018 Judges:

Amy Pollard, bassoonist, University of Georgia

Ryan Reynolds, bassoonist, Akropolis Quartet

Ryan Romine, bassoonist, Shenandoah University

Staci Spring, bassoonist, Lee University

Jacqueline Wilson, bassoonist, Southeast Missouri State University

Jason Worzbyt, bassoonist, Indiana University of Pennsylvania