University of York music scholar wins national accolade
Posted on 2 December 2009
Dr Thomas Simaku, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music at York, won the award for Instrumental Solo or Duo with his composition Soliloquy V, Flauto Acerbo. He was presented with the award by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, CBE.
I am thrilled to be presented with this award from BASCA which has gained such a wide resonance nationwide
Dr Thomas Simaku
The judging panel unanimously agreed that Dr Simaku’s work redefines the instrument in “a visionary and entirely original way.” They praised it for its “virtuosity, depth of expression, and powerful imagination.”
Dr Simaku said: “I am thrilled to be presented with this award from BASCA which has gained such a wide resonance nationwide; it means a lot to me, and I wholeheartedly would like to thank Christopher Orton for his amazing performance of the work, and the BBC Performing Arts Fund for their initiative in commissioning it.”
Now in its seventh year, the Awards are presented by BASCA and sponsored by PRS for Music. In association with BBC Radio 3, the awards will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on Wednesday 2nd December at 7pm.
Albanian-born British composer Thomas Simaku studied composition at the Tirana Conservatoire (1978-82) and the University of York (1991-96) where he was awarded a PhD in Composition, studying with David Blake. Winner of the coveted Lionel Robbins Memorial Scholarship in 1993, he also was the 1996 Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood Music Centre in the USA studying with Bernard Rands, and a fellow at the Composers' Workshop, California State University (1998), with Brian Ferneyhough. His music has been reaching audiences across Europe and the USA, and his recent CD on Naxos 21st Century Classics series, performed by one of the department’s ensembles in residence, Kreutzer Quartet, has won much critical acclaim.
Congratulating Dr Simaku and the other winners, Ellis Rich, Chairman of PRS for Music, sponsors of the Awards, comments “Yet again we’ve seen that this country has a wealth of contemporary classical music talent and it is right that this is celebrated.”
Across the Awards categories, more than 300 submissions were received for works premiered between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009.
The winners list features some of the UK’s most established and recognised contemporary composers. John Tavener’s sequence of carols, Ex Maria Virgine won in the Liturgical Category while Since Brass, Nor Stone by Alexander Goehr captured the Chamber Music Award; and the International Award was won by American icon, John Adams for his equally iconic opera, Doctor Atomic.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- More information on Thomas Simaku at www.uymp.co.uk/catalog/composers.php?manufacturers_id=35 and www.music.york.ac.uk/staff/academic.php#tsimaku
- More information on BASCA, contact Rebecca Chapman 020 7636 2929 / 0797 1661579 or Rebecca@basca.org.uk
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