Saad Haddad Chosen As New Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence

26-year-old American composer Saad Haddad has been announced as the 2019-2021 Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence, the 12th composer to receive this honor.

Mr. Haddad is noted for orchestral, chamber, vocal and electroacoustic music which explores the disparate qualities inherent in Western and Middle Eastern music. Among the ensembles performing his works have been the Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and JACK Quartet. Recent distinctions include the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Jerome Fund for New Music grant from the American Composers Forum.

Born in Georgia and raised in California, Mr. Haddad holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School and the University of Southern California, where his principal teachers included John Corigliano, Mari Kimura, Bruce Broughton, Frank Ticheli, Stephen Hartke, and Donald Crockett. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New York, where he currently serves as a Dean's Fellow at Columbia University.

As a YCA Composer, Saad Haddad joins the roster of Young Concert Artists, which provides management services, publicity, and seeks out commissioning and performance opportunities. He receives two Young Concert Artists commissions. The first is for 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions winner pianist Aristo Sham, who will premiere the work twice on the Young Concert Artists Series in April 2020, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The second commission, for another YCA artist, will premiere during the 2020-2021 season.

The composer was chosen by a panel of Young Concert Artists Alumni who considered the scores and recordings sent by the twenty applicants to the Young Concert Artists Composer Program. The Alumni panel was comprised of composer Daniel Kellogg, flutist Marya Martin, pianist Ursula Oppens, clarinetist Todd Palmer, composer Kevin Puts, composer Chris Rogerson, trumpeter/conductor Gerard Schwarz, and pianist Jeffrey Swann.

The Young Concert Artists Composer Program, established in 1994 as an initiative of the YCA Alumni Association, has begun the careers of composers Katherine Balch, Mason Bates, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Kenji Bunch, Dan Coleman, David Hertzberg, Daniel Kellogg, Tonia Ko, Andrew Norman, Kevin Puts, and Chris Rogerson. The Program receives support from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the William B. Butz Memorial Fund, and the Alumni musicians of Young Concert Artists.

Photo: Dennis Christians

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