Ithaca College

Be sure to catch this performance as the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble will be performing the winning pieces from the 2020-2021 David P. (’60) and Susan W. Wohlhueter Jazz Composition Contest. The concert will be tonight, Friday, April 30th, 2021 at 8:15pm. Up to 70 students will be permitted to attend the concert live in Ford Hall; all others can view the web stream live at http://bit.ly/icjazzapril30.

The jazz ensemble members all participated in the judging of this year’s contest, which is done anonymously. All of the identifying information in the composer’s submissions is hidden until the winners are decided. This year, entries came from far and wide. 122 pieces were received from 22 countries outside the U.S. and from 28 U.S. states.

The winner of the $2500 grand prize is Ivan Božičević, a composer, organist, pianist, and arranger in Split, Croatia, for his piece “Salbunada.” The second prize winner of $1000 is Chandler D. Comer, a trumpeter and composer from Centreville, Virginia, for his piece “Quatch.” The $500 third prize was awarded to Drew Zaremba, a saxophonist and composer currently on faculty at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, for his piece “Phat N’Happy.”

In addition to performing the three prize winning pieces, the music on the concert will include the final projects from the six students in the Jazz Arranging II class, where they’ve been studying the art and techniques of writing for big bands. The students whose works will be performed are August Bish (’21, bass performance), Steven Bluestein (’21, sound recording technology), Theo Curtin (’21, jazz studies), Alice DeRagon (’22, jazz studies), Ava Gallo (’22, music with an outside field) and Jacob Graham, (’21, jazz studies).

For more information, contact Mike Titlebaum, director of jazz studies at mtitlebaum@ithaca.edu.