The Results of the

International Composition Competition - in honour of the Greek poet Pindar and the athletes of the ancient Hellas
Hellenikon Idyllion spoke with the jury member Werner Schulze, Professor at the University of Music and Art Vienna, about the results of the international composition competition.

How did the jury judged the received compositions?

....We paid attention on certain characteristics, for example whether the five ancient disciplines run, long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling became effective, whether the metrical measure of Pindar’s text was converted, how the orchestra and the choir or speakers were used or how the quality of a composition is jugged in general. We did not prefer any specific style; It was important to try to go towards a new direction. We examined whether the composer -by dealing with the topic- was able to develop his own view, with the courage to find and express his own personal language. Further it was important, that people who are interested in music are able to find an access to the musical representation of the topic. The piece of work, which had a too popular style or on the other hand a too avant-garde style one was less in demand.....(The hole interview with Prof. Werner Schulze can be read at the end of this message.)
more information about the Composer's Competition

 

Twentyone compositions from eleven countries - Brazil, Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, Austria, Finland, Germany, Greatbritain, Greece and Spain – were submitted. The jury met on Saturday, July 12th 2003, under the presidency of the competition´s initiator Andreas Drekis at Hellenikon Idyllion. Personalities from Austria, Germany and Greece formed the jury.

 Unanimously one first, two second and special prices were assigned:

1.      Price:    Andrew Michael March (London, Greatbritain)
           - "5 Songs of Pindar" for Soprano Solo, Choir und Orchestra - (1 or 2 pianos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, Bb Clarinets, 2 bassoons, piccolo, cor anglais, clarinet in A, Contrabassoon, 4 french horn, 2 Bb trumpets, 2 Trombones, bass trombone, tuba, doubling trumbets in C, Timpani, bass drums, 4 low tom-toms, crash cymbals, medium stand-mounted suspended cymbal, triangle, large tam-tam, large thunder sheet, fine grade sandpaper blocks, fine bead maracas, crotales, chimes, Glockenspiel, marimba, 1 harp, 16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 violoncellos, 8 bouble basses)

Concert in honour of the First Prize Winner

 and to hear the first taste of the 'Wrestling' discipline transforming
the ancient Greek athletic spirit into music inspired
by the text of Pindar.

 
click here

2.   Price:    Ken Ito (Tokyo, Japan)
                       - "Choreia Pteroessa" („Flying Choir“) for Tenor Solo, Choir und Orchestra - (2 flutes, 2nd. doubling with piccolo flute, 2 oboes, 2 nd. doubling with corno inglais, 2 clarinets in B flat, 2 bassons, 2nd. doubling with double basson, 4 horns in F, 2 Trumpets in C, 2 Tenor Trombone, 1 bass trombone, 1 bass Tuba, Timpani, 2 suspended cymbales, 1 anvil, 1 sistre, 1 triangel, chromatic cymbales antiques (with water bath), 1 glockenspiel, 1 xylophone, 1 vibraphone (without motor, with double bass bow), 1 marimba, 1 pair of small crush cymbales, 1 small Tam-tam (or Korean SAMULNORI middle-sized Tam-tam), 2 tom-toms, 2 caw-bells, 1 triangle, 1 chromatic tubular bells, the same instrument for that of Perc.3 player is available; 1 pair of large crush cymbales, 1 gran cassa, 1 tam-tam grave, 1 snare drum, 1 pair of bongoes, 1 pair of congas, 1 triangel, 1 chromatic tubulas bells, the same instrument for that of Perc. 2 player is available; 1 celesta, 1 Pianoforte, 1 harp, wood winds, brass, strings)

2.      Price:    Shigeru Kan-no (Fukushima, Japan - Hilgenroth, Germany)
           - "Millenium Soldier III - Hymnen Pindars“ for Choir und Orchestra - (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 fagottes, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 tenor trombone, bass trombone and tuba, timpani, metal percussion, violins, violas, violoncello, contra bass)

A special price was given to Aaron David Miller (Bowling Green, Ohio, USA) - "Five Hymns of Pindar" for Soprano Solo, Tenor Solo, Choir und Orchestra. (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in Bb, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani (4 drums), glockenspiel, chimes, suspended cymbal, tam-tams, bass drum, tom-toms, sleigh bells, triangel, bell tree, crotales, snare drums, violins 1&2, violas, cellos, basses)

 

A special price for young composers was given to

 Enrique Hernandis Martínez (25 years, Cárcer/Valencia, Spain) - "The Musical Games 2004"for Choir und Orchestra.

 

Other compositions recommended for performance:

Gerold Amann (Schlins, Austria)
-
"Olympias Agona" humanistic peace for Speaker, Choir (4 mimes) and Orchestra (2 flutes, oboe, clarinete in B, fagot, 3 horns in F,  2 trumpets in Bb, 2 Trombones, tuba          

Dinos Constantinides (Athens,Greece - Baton Rouge, LA, USA)
-
"Hellenikon Idyllion" for Speaker and Orchestra

Claude Lachapelle (Gatineau, Québec, Canada)
- "
Olympic Music" for Speaker and Orchestra

Spiros Mazis (Athens, Greece)
-
"Pindar´s Hymns" for Lyric Soprano,Mixed Choir and Orchestra  (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarintes in Bb, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F, 2 trumpets in Bb, 2 Trombones, glockenspiel, suspended cymbales, castanets, 3 gongs, bass drum, xylophone, temple block, tubular bells, snar, crotales, marimba, tambourine, tamburello, 3 timpani, chinese cymbal, violins 1&2, violas, violoncellos, bouble basses)                                                                                                  
Tina Ternes (Ludwigshafen, Germany)
-
"Five Rings" for Solo Singer, Choir and Orchestra (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 2 french horns, 2 trombones, 1 tuba, 4 timpani, percussion, strings)

John White (Denver, Colorado, USA)
"Hymns of Pindar" for SATB Choir und Orchestra (2 flutes, 2nd piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 B flat clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 french horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (2 players), strings)

The jury was impressed by the general high level of the submitted compositions. In total the compositions solved the competition´s task, to remind the present on the antique olympic games, in an outstanding way.

 

Initiator of the competition:

Andreas Drekis


Manager of the cultural centre “Hellenikon Idyllion”

 

Jury:

Alois Springer
                                                                                                         
Principal conductor, director of music
Frankfurt/Main

Werner Schulze


University professor for music and representing art Vienna, composer
Vienna

Rafaïl Pylarinos


Conductor, composer
Athens, Greece

  
Andreas Drekis, Rafaïl Pilarinos, Werner Schulze            Rafaïl Pilarinos,Werner Schulze and Alois Springer
and Alois Springer

 

  
  
1st Prize

 

Andrew Michael March

Andrews Biographie :

Born 1973, studied composition and orchestration with Jeremy Dale Roberts at the Royal College of Music from 1992 - 1996 gaining BMus (Hons) RCM.

Performances (inter alia)
Marine - à travers les arbres (1997)       Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
                                                               
European Union Youth Orchestra, Conductor Vladimir
                                                                Ashkenazy
A Stirring in the Heavenlies (2000)        London Symphony Orchestra, (World Premiere)
Nymphéas for 2 Pianos (2002)               piece was premiered in the Royal Palace, Stockholm in Autumn
                                                                2002, and received a total of 5 live performances in and around
                                                                Scandinavia in 2002

Awards (inter alia)
1996                                                        Winner
at The Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize
1998                                                        Winner at Masterprize International Composing Competition
PINDAR  -  the greatest lyric poet of Ancient Greece522 - 446 v.Ch.

   Concert in honour of the First Prize Winner and to hear the first taste of the 'Wrestling' discipline transforming the athletic spirit into music inspired by the text of Pindar.  

 

 

Pindar-Text Song Video with choir (half) (Click the right mouse button and press SAVE TARGET

Video "Pale"with Choir (full)" He Pale" "Wrestling"  (Click the right mouse button and press SAVE TARGET AS)   -  a part of Andrew March's Composition 

 


 

T
his competition discipline "Wrestling" is performed by the Chorus Urbanus of Gozo (Malta) in the Ancient Greek language with piano instead of orchestra. The conductor was John Galea. The concert took place in the Archeological Museum in Egion, September the 20th / 2003. Present at the concert; (pictured above left), was the Mayor of Egion, Mr. Andreas Drekis President of Hellenikon Idyllion,
composer Enrique Hernandis Martínez winner of the Young Persons' Prize, the composer Andrew March winner of the 1st Prize and the president of Chorus Urbanus. Also present was competition jury member Alois Springer, the Chief of Police for Egion, the High Priest of the Greek Orthodox Church and Professors of the University of Patras.   

A pretaste of the other future performances of all honored compositions worldwide with symphonic orchestra and choir.
 

Speaker 1 mp3   

Speaker 2 mp3    


English Translation:

Wrestling (Isthm. 5, 56-63)


The long toil of their men is not hidden in blind darkness,
nor has thought of the expense fretted away their devotion to
their hopes. I praise Pytheas also among limb-subduing
pancratiasts, skillful with his hands in guiding straight the
course of Phylacidas' blows, and with a mind to match. Take
a garland for him, and bring him a fillet of fine wool, and
send along this winged new song.


 - "5 Songs of Pindar" -

 

Born 1973, studied composition and orchestration with Jeremy Dale Roberts at the Royal College of Music from 1992 - 1996 gaining BMus (Hons) RCM.

Performances (inter alia)
Marine - à travers les arbres (1997)       Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
                                                               
European Union Youth Orchestra, Conductor Vladimir
                                                                Ashkenazy
A Stirring in the Heavenlies (2000)        London Symphony Orchestra, (World Premiere)
Nymphéas for 2 Pianos (2002)               piece was premiered in the Royal Palace, Stockholm in Autumn
                                                                2002, and received a total of 5 live performances in and around
                                                                Scandinavia in 2002

Awards (inter alia)
1996                                                        Winner
at The Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize
1998                                                        Winner at Masterprize International Composing Competition


 

2nd Prize

Ken Ito

- "Choreia Pteroessa" („Flying Choir“) -

1965 in Tokyo, studied composition, piano, cello and physics in Tokyo.

Positions Held (inter alia)
Present                          
Professor of composition and conducting, University of Tokyo
                                       Commissions of Composing and Conducting
                                       Music Technological Collaboration with bigger Japanese companies
                                       Colaboration with visual media

Performances (inter alia)
1998                               
Orchestra Director of posthumous work by John Cage "Ocean" together
                                        with Merce Canningham and his Dance Company
2001                               
recording Beethoven´s "Symphony No. 5 " and Tchaikovsky´s
                                        "Violin Concerto"
2002                                Conducting Japan Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra

Awards (inter alia)
1993                                Awarded 1st Prize of Tokyo Metropolitan Competition of Orchestra
                                        Composition
1999                                Awarded Toru Takemistu Award judged by Luciano Berio
 

2nd Prize

Shigeru Kan-no

   - "Millenium Soldier III - Hymnen Pindars“ -

Born 1959 in Fukushima/ Japan, studied music and musicology in Tokyo, conducting at the college of music Vienna, composition at the college of music Stuttgart and conducting and composition at the college of music Frankfurt from 1980 - 1997.

Performances (inter alia)
1986 - 1992                 conducting for example with the Tokyo Symphonie Orchestra and the Radio Symphonie
                                    Orchestra Stuttgart particularly within the range of "New Music"
1992                            Assistent for Professor Karlheinz Stockhausen with Ensemble Modern Frankfurt
since 1998                  conduction for example at the Lisboa Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphonie
                                    Orchestra Uzbekistan

Awards (inter alia)
2000                            2nd Prize at Quebec/Canada French Chorus Composition Concour
2001                            3rd Prize at 2 Agosto in Bologna/Italia
2001                            1st Prize at Cantus Ensemble in Croatia

 

 


                              
Special Prize

Aaron David Miller

 - "Five Hymns of Pindar" -

born 1972, studied Composition and Organ Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, New York, NY, graduated D.M.A. in 1999

Positions Held (inter alia)
1998 - 2002                
several larger compositions and public recording, especially for organ
2001 - 2002                 several professional engagements for festivals in the USA
1997 - present           
Assistant Musicologist, Scarsdale, NY
                                    Music transcriptions and analysis for copyright infringement disputes

Awards (inter alia)
1998
                          Improvisation and Bach Prizes, Calgary International Organ Festival and
                                  Competition, Calgary, Canada
1999                          Helen Cohn Award for Research in Medieval and Renaissance Music,
                                  Manhattan School of Music, New York, NY

 

Special Prize for young composers

Enrique Hernandis Martínez

- "The Musical Games 2004" -

born 1977 in Spain, studied music in Valencia and graduated "Profesor de Percusión, Composición e Instrumentación" (2000).

Positions Held (inter alia)
Present
                                Director de la Unión Artística Musical de Navajas (Castellón)
                                             Professor de Armonía, Análisis y Fundamentos de Composición
                                                en los Conservatorios Profesionales de Chella y Amussafes (Valencia)   
                                             several recordings for Orchestra for brass band and Symphonyorchestra
                                             several broadcasts at Spanish broadcasting stations

Awards (inter alia)
2001                                        1st Price
in Concurso Nacional de Composición Musical"Ciudad de
                                                Alicante"
2002                                        1st Price
in Concurso de Composición de Tolosa (Guipúzcoa)

 

Other compositions recommended for performance:

Gerold Amann

- "Olympias Agona" -

born 1937 in Voralberg/Austria, studied (i.a.) sience of music, Professor for Middleschool and Composition
 

Dinos Constantinides

- "Hellenikon Idyllion" -

studied first in Athens and later Composition und Violin in U:S:A:, Boyd Professor und Coordinator of Composition at the School of Music at Louisiana State University
 

Claude Lachapelle

- "Olympic Music" -

born 1951 in Drummondville (Québec), Professor for Music


Spiros Mazis

- "Pindar´s Hymns" -

born 1957 at Korfu, studied (i.a.) Composition, Director of the "Classic and Contemporary Music and Center of Elektronic Music" Conservatory in Athens

Tina Ternes

- "Five Rings" -

born 1969 in Kaiserslautern/Germany, studierd (i.a.) School- and Filmmusic, Collegeteacher


John White

"Hymns of Pindar"  -

studied Cello und Composition, Ph.D., Professor for Music


 

Interview: 12.07.2003

 

“… that’ s the athletic idea!”

 

Hellenikon Idyllion spoke with the jury member Werner Schulze, Professor at the University of Music and Art Vienna, about the results of the international composition competition.

 

HELLENIKON IDYLLION: Did you expect that so many composers from all over the world would develop such an enthusiasm for this competition?

SCHULZE: To be honest: No! The task was not that simple to solve, because there were ancient Greek texts and sports of the ancient  games supposed to be converted into music. As you know ancient Greek is not spoken any longer nowadays as well as it is taught less and less. We were very happy about such a worldwide interest. However without Hellenikon Idyllion and the initiator of this competition, Andreas Drekis, it wouldn’t be possible to make it that known. Indefatigable he sent electronic post to every kind of musical institution around the world and answered a multiplicity of questions. A big “Thank You” to him.

 

Classical music and the athletic games, how does this fit together?

For us it was important to express the ancient athletic idea with the means of the art of music. Moreover sports training and artistic activity were both an equivalent part of an extensive education in the antiquity. Sports and art were regarded as absolutely equal and important.

 

How did the jury judged the received compositions?

We paid attention on certain characteristics, for example whether the five ancient disciplines run, long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling became effective, whether the metrical measure of Pindar’s text was converted, how the orchestra and the choir or speakers were used or how the quality of a composition is jugged in general. We did not prefer any specific style; It was important to try to go towards a new direction. We examined whether the composer -by dealing with the topic- was able to develop his own view, with the courage to find and express his own personal language. Further it was important, that people who are interested in music are able to find an access to the musical representation of the topic. The piece of work, which had a too popular style or on the other hand a too avant-garde style one was less in demand.

 

Could you tell more details about the participants?

We received twenty-one compositions from four continents; among them there were two female composers. We were glad to see that also younger musicians took part in the competition.

 

Is it known already, when and where the compositions are going to be presented for the first time?

For a first impression, an orchestra is planning to play a concert on the island Kefalonia, in Olympia, in Corinth, in Galaxithi near Delphi and at Hellenikon Idyllion in the end of July End of July. Where honored pieces will be presented. Furthermore two recommended compositions for representation will be presented for the first time this July and September in concerts, in Athens, Olympia und Corinth.

 

So far a successful competition?

Absolutely! Noticeable was the generally good dealing with the verse measure of the Pindar text. And it was marvelous to hold works in our hands from all over the world-from Brazil to Australia- that represents exactly the ancient Greek athletic Idea!