Bohdan Sinchenko
Congratulations to Bohdan Sinchenko, the winner of Garth Newel’s 2022 International Composition Competition. Coming from Ukraine, Bohdan will receive the Glorvina and Richard Lynn New Music Prize along with a travel stipend to attend Garth Newel Piano Quartet’s premiere (July 30th) of his new piano quartet, Exsistentia. In addition, Bohdan will be present for a residency from July 27-31st during Garth Newel Music Center’s 2022 Summer Festival.
Of the winning work, Bohdan said
“In “Exsistentia” I expressed thoughts and feelings that were formed under the influence of events in my personal life over the past few years, events in my home country and the world. I really wanted to transfer to music the feeling that Martin Heidegger had called Dasein: when you feel the point where your own experience and the experience of many people are concentrated at the same time. When you want to recreate the hopes and pain that permeate you and many others.
I felt that chamber music, with its potential to reveal intimate experiences, has the greatest relevance to this task. An ensemble of strings (which covers a considerable range and has remarkable technical capabilities) in combination with the piano gives a huge amount of sound colors and creates a variety of sound images. That is why the piano quartet became the best choice for this musical plan”.
As longtime patrons and friends of Garth Newel, Glorvina and Richard Lynn wanted to support the creation of new works at the music center.
“We sponsor this prize because creating music must always be an ongoing thing. It is important to remind people that new music IS music and the best place to experience it is at Garth Newel. No one performs it better than the Garth Newel Piano Quartet,” said Glorvina Lynn.
Garth Newel Piano Quartet received over 100 submissions from all corners of the world to this year’s composition competition.
“Because the level of compositions was so high, we wanted to give some recognition to some of our favorites by naming finalists,” says Jeannette Fang, pianist of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. The Quartet offers their great appreciation to all of the talented composers who shared their creativity for the competition.
The finalists for the 2022 Garth Newel International Composition Competition are:
Daniel Hass (New York, United States): Piano Quartet – “Been There Once Before”
Ivan Božičević (Croatia): Beyond the Bend in the Road
Christopher Prosser (Los Angeles, United States): Hammer Striker
Founded in 1973, Garth Newel Music Center – located in Hot Springs, Virginia – is one of the most active chamber music organizations in the country. Its resident ensemble – the Garth Newel Piano Quartet – performs over 60 concerts annually both at the Center and on tour. Through this competition, the Quartet seeks to broaden the piano quartet repertoire and to support the Center’s ongoing commitment to contemporary music.
