COMPOSITION COMPETITION

Adjudicators

Mikhail Zemtzov

Mikhail Zemtsov is an internationally acclaimed and versatile musician, being a prominent soloist, teacher, educator, chamber musician and conductor.

Mikhail Zemtsov first took violin lessons from his mother Loudmila Levinson at the age of 5, later studying viola and composition at the conservatories of Moscow, Hamburg and Maastricht with G. Odinets, B. Dinerstein, M. Nichetianu, M. Kugel.

Mikhail has studied Masters in Orchestral Conducting at the Lithuanian National Music Academy with Juozas Domarkas, he also took conducting lessons and masterclasses with Lev Markiz, Neeme Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, Gianandrea Noseda.

Zemtsov's solo appearances include performances with the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra,

National Symphony Orchestras of Mexico, Estonia and Lithuania; Luxembourg Philharmonic

Wiener Volksoper, Hamburger Symphoniker, Stavanger Symphony (Norway), The Hague Philharmonic (Netherlands) with the conductors as Neeme Jarvi, Jaap van Zweden, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko.

Dr. ANDREW MARK SAUERWEIN

Andy has been studying, teaching, and composing music for three decades. He has written more than eighty works in a variety of genres, from solo and chamber works to choral and orchestral pieces, as well as songs, improvisatory works, electronic music, and pieces combining Western instruments with Balinese gamelan. His music has been performed on the concert stage, in churches, in schools, at conferences and public events, on mission trips, at homes, in pubs and coffee shops, and annually on Belhaven University’s Singing Christmas Tree. His work has traveled across the United States and to Canada, Israel, Peru, and Japan.

 Andy’s compositional voice varies with the topic and occasion, yet fairly consistently favors an integrated musical language over a blend of disparate elements — eccentric, perhaps, rather than eclectic — fusing together the familiar and the mysterious in search of calm intensity, pensive wonder, thoughtful curiosity, and a subtle sense of playful humor. He has persistent interests in fathoming the nature of creative activity, fostering community and collaboration in musical practice, and cultivating a thoughtful, circumspect approach to music-making.

Crafton beck

Crafton Beck enters his twenty-first season as Music Director of MSO.  In 2019, he concluded twenty-two years as Music Director and Conductor of the Lima Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. From 1996-2001, he was Music Director of the Florida Symphonic Pops Orchestra in Boca Raton.  He has also appeared as guest conductor with many American orchestras, including the Memphis Symphony, the Arkansas Symphony, and the Mobile Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Arkansas, Mr. Beck studied clarinet for many years before choosing a career in conducting.  He received a Doctorate in Conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 1987. Previous studies were at The Ohio State University and the Aspen School. While affiliated with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in the 1990’s, he arranged over fifty selections which appeared on the orchestra’s many recordings, most of which placed on the Billboard Classical/Crossover charts for best-selling albums. His symphonic work Passage, premiered by the MSO in 2014, received the 2015 Award for Musical Composition by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.

MSO finds great pleasure in claiming Crafton Beck as one of our own.