News
Faculty Composer takes First Prize
David Maw, Lecturer at Christ Church, Oriel College and The Queen's College, has won first prize at the International Composition Competition of the Festival de Comminges, St Bertrand de Comminges, for his organ piece, La vie de Jean Baptiste.
The composition competition was sponsored by the Fondation Pierre Lacroix pour l'Art et la Musique and stipulated an organ piece of roughly ten minutes' duration. The final was held in the Cathedral of St Bertrand de Comminges. Five pieces were performed, the work of composers from France, the Netherlands and the UK; they were adjudicated by a jury presided over by Pierre Lacroix and comprising in addition the composers Marc Bleuse and Thierry Escaich and the organists Jean-Patrice Brosse and Vincent Warnier. David Maw writes: 'My piece, La vie de Jean Baptiste, grew from ideas that emerged in a discussion about improvisation with Clive Driskill-Smith [Sub-Organist at Christ Church]. It is written in the form of a three-movement suite, each of its movements relating to a different episode in the life of John the Baptist as given in the Gospels: Annunciation (Luke), Mission (John) and Martyrdom (Matthew). In addition to receiving a monetary award, the piece will be prescribed for the Médaille d'or at the Conservatoire de Saint-Maur and will be performed as part of a concert series at the church of Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts in Paris in 2009.'