Multiple COMP winner HyunJun Yoo with Jeanne Sinquefield of the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation
Mizzou’s Creating Original Music Project (COMP) will mark 10 years of showcasing the works of Missouri student composers in grades K-12 with the 2015 COMP Festival, which will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, April 18 in the Fine Arts Building on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Admission to the festival is free and open to the public. The junior division concert, featuring works from elementary and middle school winners, begins at 10:30 a.m., with the senior division concert of music by high school winners following at 2:30 p.m..
The festival also will be streamed live online at http://music.missouri.edu/concert_streaming.html, with the audio stream going live 10 minutes before the start of each concert.
COMP was founded in 2005 to encourage students in Missouri to write original musical works and provide performance opportunities for those works. It is a joint venture of the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, which provides an annual gift of $80,000 to sponsor the competition.
Every year, in addition to having their music performed at the COMP Festival, the winning composers in each age group and category and their schools receive cash prizes, and high school winners also receive a scholarship to attend Mizzou’s high school summer music composition camp.
“It’s always a joy to see young composers developing their talents and expressing themselves,” said Jeanne Sinquefield of the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. “Over the past ten years, we’ve seen increasing recognition for Missouri as a center for new music, and COMP has been an important part of that.
“Through the annual competition and summer COMP camp, we’ve been able to provide encouragement and opportunities for hundreds of Missouri students,” Sinquefield said. “Some past winners already have gone on to become music majors in college and, in a couple of cases, have even started playing or composing music professionally.”
The 2015 Creating Original Music Project (COMP) competition categories and winners are:
Elementary School – Songs with Words
1) Nathan Fee-Wiley & Michael Marshall of Bristol Elementary School, Webster Groves, for “Champion.” Sponsor: Sara Wichard.
2) Sadie Tanner of Maplewood-Richmond Heights Elementary School, Richmond Heights, for “Springtime.” Sponsor: John Israel.
3) Taylor Anderson & Braden Wicker of Chaffee Elementary School, Chaffee, for “I Wanna Be Loved.” Sponsor: Carrie Cain.
Elementary School – Instrumental
1) Lochlan Stewart of Ellisville Elementary School, Ellisville, for “The Everlasting Battle.” Sponsor: Katie Brown.
2) Judah Robbins Bernal of Russell Boulevard Elementary School, Columbia, for “Broken Video Game.” Music teacher: Paola Savvidou. Sponsor: Jared Smith.
3) Brandon Kim of Paxton Keeley Elementary School, Columbia, for “Knights of the Round Table.” Sponsor: Elizabeth Gergian.
Middle School – Popular
1) Ande Celeste Siegel of Ladue Middle School, Ladue, for “Rate Your Pain.” Sponsor: Leah Alrutz.
2) Samuel Luetkemeyer of Immanuel Lutheran School, Jefferson City, for “Closing Hours.” Sponsor: Kristi Schleade.
3) Menea Kefalov of Ladue Middle School, Ladue, for “Moving On.” Sponsor: Jeff Lindhorst.
Middle School – Fine Art
1) Brandon Thibodeau of Kearney Junior High School, Kearney, for “Roundabout.” Music teacher: Narong Prangcharoen. Sponsor: Jamie Heil.
2) Audrey McCulley of South Iron R-1 School District, Annapolis, for “A New Year.” Sponsor: Eva Barnes.
3) HyunJun Yoo of West Middle School, Columbia, for “Into the Storm.” Sponsor: Julie Swope.
High School – Popular
1) Anthony Delia of St. Louis University High School, St. Louis, for “Little Bit of Your Time.” Sponsor: Jeff Pottinger.
2) Sarah Meadows of David H. Hickman High School, Columbia, for “Just Wait for Me.” Sponsor: Robin Steinhaus.
3) Hera Scher-Zagier of Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis, for “Hurricane.” Sponsor: Hugh Jones.
High School – Fine Art
1) Hans Heruth of Liberty Senior High School, Liberty, for “Autumn’s Orchestra.” Sponsor: Rika Heruth.
2) Julia Riew of John Burroughs School, St. Louis, for “Laughing Lake.” Sponsor: Robert M. Carter.
3) Mary Park of David H. Hickman High School, Columbia, for “The Reminiscence.” Music teacher: Eun Kim. Sponsor: Margaret Lawless.
Each student who enters the competition must have the signature and sponsorship of his or her school’s music teacher. Community agencies, churches, after-school programs, private teachers and other musical mentors also may sponsor their young musicians in partnership with the student’s school music teacher.