The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2024 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards

The ASCAP Foundation revealed the recipients of the 2024 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, which encourage talented young creators of concert music ranging in age from 14 to 29. 

“These incredibly accomplished young composers represent the best of the next generation of concert music,” said The ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams. “We applaud all of our award recipients and look forward to their assuredly bright futures.”

“These awards are just one of the many ways that The ASCAP Foundation supports emerging music creators, and we are extremely grateful to our judges and funding partners for their support,” said The ASCAP Foundation Executive Director Nicole George-Middleton.

The 2024 Morton Gould Young Composer Award recipients are listed below with their current residence and place of origin. Recipients under the age of 18 are listed by state of residence: 

Alistair Coleman of Philadelphia, PA (Washington, DC); Michael Gancz of Rockville, MD (Haifa, Israel);Bobby Ge of Princeton, NJ (Atlanta, GA); Zihan Geng of NY; Luke Haaksma of New Haven, CT (Asheville, NC);  Benjamin Collin Hobschaidt of FL; Hannah Ishizaki of Princeton, NJ (Pittsburgh, PA); Caleb Laurent of TX; Ryan Lindveit of Knoxville, TN (Lake Jackson, TX); Paul Novak of Chicago, IL (Reno, NV); Alex Robertson of NY; Kian Ravaei of Bloomington, IN (Los Angeles, CA); Sofía Rocha of Providence, RI (Boulder, CO); Sami Seif of New York, NY (Keserwan, Lebanon); Samuel Siskind of CA; and Trevor Zavacof Nobelsville, IN. 

The following composers received Honorable Mention (recipients under the age of 18 are listed by state of residence): 

Hannah Chen of CA; Liam Cummins of New York, NY (Mansfield, OH); Nathaniel Haering of Milwaukee, WI (Fort Knox, KY); Cheng Jin Koh of New York, NY (Singapore); Dan Langa of Northampton, MA (Ann Arbor, MI); Fabian Leung of TX; Bakhari Nokuri of Los Angeles, CA (Dayton, MD); Jaylin Vinson of Oklahoma City, OK; and Johnny Wagner of KY.

Paul Novak was recognized by the panel with the 2024 Leo Kaplan Award, created in memory of the distinguished attorney who served as ASCAP Special Distribution Advisor. The award is funded by the Kaplan Family.

The 2024 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards composers/judges were:

Anahita Abbasi, Clarice Assad, Shih-Hui Chen, Avner Dorman, Sean Friar, Derrick Skye, Matthew Tommasini and Wang Lu.

The program was established in 1979 as The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Awards with funding from The ASCAP Foundation Jack and Amy Norworth Fund. Jack Norworth wrote such standards as "Shine On Harvest Moon" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." The program grants cash prizes to concert music composers up to 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition. These composers may be American citizens, permanent residents or students possessing U.S. student visas.

Additional funding is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund and The ASCAP Foundation Joseph and Rosalie Meyer Fund. Irving Caesar was best known as the lyricist of “Tea for Two” and “Swanee,” and Joseph Meyer composed the music for “If You Knew Susie” along with several Broadway shows including Charlot's Revue (1925), Ziegfeld Follies (1934) and New Faces (1936).

The annual ASCAP Foundation Young Composer program was dedicated to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Morton Gould's memory following his death in 1996 to honor his lifelong commitment to encouraging young creators. A child prodigy himself, Gould's first composition was published by G. Schirmer when he was only six years of age. Gould served as President of ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation from 1986 – 1994.

 

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