top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

IPS proudly announces the

Jan Gippo International Piccolo Composition Competition

Thank you for your interest in the Jan Gippo International Piccolo Composition Competition. Please check back SOON for details about the 2016 Composition Competition!

 

 

JAN GIPPO was Piccolo/Flutist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1972-2008. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, he taught at Webster University from 1980-2010, was on the faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and presented recitals and masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. As Director of Winds at Webster University, he was a founding member of the Webster Wind Quintet and the Webster Chamber Players, and was the originator of the course, “The Practical World of Music Business and The Performance of Baroque Ornamentation on Modern Instruments.”

 

Mr. Gippo is also the owner/publisher of Meridian Publishing LLC that publishes the Gaubert Suite for flute and piano and piccolo works: Spindrift, Broughton’s Concerto for Piccolo, and Loeb’s Preludes Volume III, and more. He has also served as principal flute for the Bach Society of St. Louis. He was the music director of “From the Garden-LIVE!” a live radio chamber music broadcast on Classic 99-KFUO FM, where he hosted international figures in the classical music world including Garrick Ohlsson, Anne Akiko Meyers, Emmanuel Ax, Joseph Silverstein, and Leonard Slatkin.

 

From 2002-2006, Mr. Gippo served as Chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, ICSOM. This organization represents 52 major orchestras of the United States and over 5000 musicians. Founder of the Piccolo Committee of the National Flute Association, Jan helped raise over $120,000 to commission 15 new works for the instrument. The total number of works commissioned by Gippo has now reached 31 with Eric Ewazen’s Wildflowers, Trio for Piccolo, Clarinet and Piano, and Ewazen’s Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra (with wind ensemble re-orchestration by the composer).

 

Gippo has served on the board of directors for the National Flute Association where he was the spearhead for the creation of the Piccolo Artist Competition. In addition, he was co-chair of the St. Louis Symphony’s orchestra committee and was the creator of “Let’s Talk Picc” and has continued as author, contributing editor, and editor-at-large of Flute Talk Magazine, an Instrumentalist publication. He was a member of the board of directors for the St. Louis Cathedral Concert Series and the managing director of the Union Avenue Opera Theater. He is the author and editor of “The Complete Piccolo:  A Comprehensive Guide to Fingerings, Repertoire, and History,” published by the Theodore Presser Company and in its third printing. www.jangippo.com

"To the Nth Degree" (Sonata No.3) for piccolo and piano by Matt Smith, winner of the 2013 IPS Jan Gippo Piccolo Composition Competition. Performed by Christine Beard, piccolo and Christi Zuniga, piano at the 2013 NFA Convention (New Orleans, LA)

"Flash!" for piccolo and piano by Daniel Dorff, winner of the 2009 IPS Composition Competition. Performed by Kate Prestia Schaub, piccolo and Christi Zuniga, piano at IPS 2009.

2013 COMPOSITION COMPETITION OVERVIEW

 

Adjudication Panel

Jan Gippo, Chair

Cynthia Ellis

Lois Herbine

Peter Verhoyen

 

FIRST PLACE

  • MATT SMITH (UK): "To the Nth Degree" (Sonata No. 3) for piccolo and piano (2012) [published by MattSmithMusic]

    • Matt Smith (b. 1984) studied flute with Ian Clarke, Phillipa Davis and Sarah Newbold, piccolo with Sharon Williams and composition with Adam Melvin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he graduated in 2007. Before starting at the Guildhall he attended Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet where he studied with Simon Walton. He was a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and also attended the junior school of the Guildhall. Since leaving the Guildhall he now freelances as a flautist playing for different orchestras, shows and ensembles and has recorded for TV and Radio. He is the flautist in the Kariosa Ensemble (www.kariosaensemble.co.uk), a chamber ensemble that performs regularly at concert series around the UK and who are also proud to work with ‘Live Music Now’. He also teaches at a number of schools where he directs and coaches various ensembles. Whilst studying, his ‘Sonata No.1 for piccolo and piano’ was added to the Trinity Guildhall exam syllabus for grades 7 and 8. This lead to the work - along with another - being published by United Music Publishers in 2006. Since then his works have been performed at festivals and concerts in different countries around the world including the United States, Slovenia, Canada, Costa Rica and Australia. In 2010 Matt was commissioned by Trinity Guildhall to write three new pieces for a new series of books entitled ‘Musical Moments’ which will form part of the new flute syllabus for 2013. "To the Nth Degree" (Sonata No. 3) was commissioned by Michael Beard in 2012 as a surprise birthday gift to his wife - American piccoloist Christine Beard. Both the title and the work's recurring motive were inspired by Matt's brother, Dan, who likes to take jokes/pranks to the extreme (i.e. to the "nth degree") which severely grates on Matt's nerves. www.mattsmithmusic.com

 

SECOND PLACE

  • DANA JORAS (USA): "Quirks of Quarks" for solo piccolo (2012) [self-published]

    • A recipient of the Musicians Club of Women Farwell-Trust Award, Dana H. Joras is also a winner of the Jonathan Myall Piccolo Prize and was awarded second prize at the 2013 British Flute Society Young Artist Competition. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Samuel Coles, Kate Hill and Patricia Morris. She completed her BM degree in Flute Performance at DePaul University's School of Music in Chicago under Mary Stolper. Other teachers include Jennifer Clippert and Susan Levitin. As a composer, Dana regularly enjoys writing music for her own performances on flute and piccolo. She recently composed two pieces for the Royal Academy of Music Flute Ensemble entitled Fantasy on Disney Themes and Ulterior Motive. Her composition, Carnival Pieces for flute ensemble was selected as the winner of the 2013 National Flute Association Flute Choir Composition Competition and will be performed by the NFA Collegiate Flute Choir at the 2013 NFA Convention in New Orleans in August. www.danajoras.com 

 

HONORABLE MENTION

  • MARTIN KENNEDY (UK/USA): "Desplazamiento" for piccolo and piano (2013) [published by Theodore Presser]

    • Born in England (1978), British-American composer and pianist Martin Kennedy began his formal training at Indiana University, where he received Bachelors of Music in both Composition and Piano Performance.  He went on to earn a Master of Music in Composition at Indiana University and a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Juilliard School where he was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.  His principal teachers in composition include Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Claude Baker, David Dzubay, Don Freund, and Sydney Hodkinson. His principal teachers in piano include Jeremy Denk, Eveylne Brancart, and Pamela Penick. Kennedy's music has been performed internationally by numerous artists and ensembles, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Teatro Comunale di Bologna, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Philharmonic, Bloomington Camerata, Haddonfield Symphony, and Tuscaloosa Symphony. He is the recipient of several prestigious prizes, including the ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize, the '2 Agosto' International Composition Prize, a BMI Student Composer Award, five ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Suzanne and Lee Ettleson prize, the ASCAP Raymond Hubbel Award, a MacDowell Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award, and two Indiana University Dean's Prizes in Composition. Kennedy’s music is available on the Ancalagon, Anbardy, Azica, Centaur, and Riax labels and is published by Theodore Presser Company and G. Schirmer.  He currently serves as Music Theory Coordinator at Central Washington University, where he is an Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory. www.martinkennedy.com



FINALISTS (Listed Aplhabetically)

  • Jeremy Franklin Goodman (USA): "The Screaming Twig" for piccolo and piano (2013)

  • Vincenzo Sorrentino (Italy): "...in tempo" for piccolo and piano (2013) [published by VigorMusic at www.vigormusic.it]

  • P. Kellach Waddle (USA): "The Shadows the Sirens Make as They Lure the Innocent to the Vampire’s Lighthouse" for piccolo and piano (2013) 

 

 

Previous Winners of the IPS Composition Competition:

2013 - Matt Smith: Sonata No. 3 "To the Nth Degree" for piccolo and piano [published by MattSmithMusic]

2009 - Daniel Dorff: "Flash!" for piccolo and piano [published by Theodore Presser] www.danieldorff.com

bottom of page