Home » News & Articles » 2023 » Music by Orchestral Composition scholar selected for Toru Takemitsu Composition Award

Music by Orchestral Composition scholar selected for Toru Takemitsu Composition Award

Michael Taplin’s piece Selvedge will be performed publicly in Tokyo with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
michael-taplin
Michael Taplin, © Kevin Leighton

Composer Michael Taplin’s piece Selvedge has been selected as a finalist in this year's Toru Takemitsu Composition Award and will be performed publicly in Tokyo with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Selvedge was originally written by Michael as part of his King’s College / Hartley Rogers CBSO 2020 Scholarship in Orchestral Composition. 

Since 2018 the Scholarships have allowed four Cambridge students to compose a new work for the world-renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and to hear it rehearsed and professionally recorded in two separate workshops. Each scholar is given two rehearsal sessions with the full orchestra of eighty players in which a substantial new composition can be worked on in detail. The project is overseen by Professor Richard Causton, who also provides mentoring for each year’s selected composer to ensure that they derive the maximum benefit from the experience.

Upon completing his Scholarship in 2020, Michael commented:

For composers at the early stages of their career, to have the chance to work with the CBSO is rare. The two stages of the project enable us to have the chance to try-out, experiment with material; additionally with the benefit of time between each workshop in order to revise and hone our ideas. Furthermore, we are granted the advantage of having a professional recording of an orchestral piece. This undoubtedly, will be useful in promoting our music beyond the end of the scheme whilst being protected from the pressure of having a public premiere which could inhibit the creative spirit and potentially be damaging to our confidence at this stage in our career.

The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is a prestigious international competition for classical contemporary art music which invites entries from young composers worldwide. Each year an internationally renowned composer judges the competition and awards each composer a prize after the final concert. This year’s judge, Jo Kondo, selected four finalists out of 107 entries for a performance at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in May 2023.
 

Similar Entries

cbso

Scholarships in Orchestral Composition Announced

We are very pleased to announce that the first two holders of the King's College/Hartley Rogers CBSO Scholarships in Orchestral Composition will be Darren Bloom and Patrick Brennan

csbo

King's College/Hartley Rogers CBSO Scholarships in Orchestral Composition

The King's College/Hartley Rogers CBSO Scholarships in Orchestral Composition are the result of an exciting new partnership between King's College, the University of Cambridge Music Faculty and the world-renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orches

cbso_scholars_lr

2024-2025 CBSO Scholars in Orchestral Composition announced

kate_whitley

King's alumna premières new composition

A composition by King's alumna Kate Whitley (KC 2007) was premièred in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 29th June by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the Orchestra's Music Director Sir Simon Rattle.

ik_zeg_nu_p_0

New composition by King's Fellow to be broadcast in 27 countries

A new orchestral piece by King's Fellow Richard Causton was one of just two pieces selected by BBC Radio 3 to represent the UK at the International Rostrum of Composers.

ballance

Student composition broadcast on BBC Radio 3

MPhil student Joshua Ballance's 'St Pancras Magnificat' has been performed as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

thomas_trotter_1

King's alumnus awarded Queen's Medal for Music

Former Organ Scholar Thomas Trotter (KC 1976) becomes the sixteenth recipient of the annual award.

cleobury_wcm

Sir Stephen Cleobury presented with prestigious new choral award

Sir Stephen has been awarded the inaugural "Lifetime Achievement in Choral Music" Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Follow us on Instagram

View more