About our Grand Prize Winners
Grant Diggles – First Prize
I've been actively involved in live performance singing, and playing of piano and guitar. My original influence stemmed from my earlier years playing cello and idolizing YoYo Ma. I began composing and playing piano about 15 years ago after listening to artists such as Yanni and John Tesh. I have since moved my interests more towards writers/composers and have started writing for scenes in smaller projects when available. I have no formal training in score composing per se, but I just love sound and using it to convey who I am. I would love to collaborate with other writers, score for film or games and orchestrate songs for artist's albums.
Thoughts on the project:
With any new project I try to do some sort of research before beginning. I'm a huge fan of the March Of The Penguins soundtrack written by Alex Wurman and looked to that score to gather ideas. I wrote my piece "Penguins To Music" to include a central theme in the music that could be used in different ways throughout the length of the score. Being that the film clip was only about a minute long, I included a few different ideas on the theme carried by different instruments to illustrate its possible uses throughout a full feature film while accenting with my two favorite instruments, the cello and the oboe. The goal was to add to the scene, support what was going on and mostly, not upstage, distract or take away from the scene. I treated my score as less of a competition and more of a job interview. "Penguins To Music" was my only submission to the competition as I feel I conveyed the highlights of my thoughts thoroughly.
I had a great time working on the piece, but it was just as fun to hear what everyone else submitted as it was a great learning experience to listen to all of you. Winning this contest is certainly humbling as I feel that there were some amazing submissions in this contest and lots of intimidating talent. Thanks to Nightingale Music, who did an exceptional job at hosting! The contest was easy to get involved in, communication was clear and consistent and I think everyone was able to take something away from this.
Thanks again Nightingale Music, it was a blast!
http://www.independentmediapros.com/profile/GrantDiggles
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Amin Honarmand – Second Prize
Amin was born in Tehran (Iran) in 1981. He began playing the piano at the age of nine and went on to study music fundamentals, harmony and sight-singing privately. As an enthusiastic teenager, he composed short cues for various TV commercials before he entered university to pursue the academic training in western classical music. He holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Toronto, where he is currently working towards a Doctoral degree (D.M.A.) under Chan Ka Nin. Previously, he studied under Alexander Rapoport, Mehran Rouhani and Christos Hatzis.
His recent symphonic movement "Sinfonietta" was selected to be performed and recorded by Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Buffalo, New York in March 2008. The 2009 version of this work was the winner of Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra competition and was performed during their spring session.
In addition to composing for film, TV and writing concert music, Honarmand has also been active as a teacher and translator. His Persian translation of the book "A Classical Approach to Jazz Piano" by Dominic Alldis was recently published. He has also worked as a teaching assistant in music theory at the University of Toronto and was awarded the Theodoros Mirkopoulos fellowship in composition in two successive years, as well as the Lothar Klein memorial fellowship in 2008.
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Santiago Walsh – Third Prize
Santiago is a composer and sound engineer who was born in Argentina and moved to Paris to succeed in film music.
Santiago wrote: ‘I told my family and friends, this is what I want to do, what I live for.
I'm honored and really happy! Actually I can't believe it! so thank you very much for the opportunity. This was a hard challenge. I approached it the same way as the rest of my projects and that is, looking for the melody which gives something else from what the film shows.
I would like to say thank you to Nightingale and the judges. I would also like to thank my girlfriend Virginia, whose patience is infinity’.
You can visit Santiago’s website at: www.santiagowalsh.com
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About our Honorable Mention Winners
Harko Borges – Honorable Mention & Prize
I am a mostly a self taught musician and composer from the Netherlands. The music I write comes from an unknown place in my head. I always try to write my music in such a way that one ore another feeling is displayed. This can be very different but must always connect with my feelings. It leads to compositions which can be cheerful or very dark
I mainly use classical orchestration as my tool to display. But I also have done and still do pop, rock, dance and other styles. For now, I compose for myself and sometimes little projects on the internet. I hope you enjoy my music and feel free to give comments or if you like contact me.
My music can be found here:
Recent compositions: http://soundcloud.com/harko-borgers
Previous classical comp.: http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/hkborgers
Pop/rock compositions: http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/HarkoBorgers
Heavy hard/metal: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=940807
Dance: http://soundcloud.com/igigi
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Sila Shaman – Honorable Mention & Prize
Turkish pianist and composer Sila Cevikce Shaman has composed, performed and recorded eclectic styles of music ranging from classical art songs, film scores and musicals to free improvisation since her move to America in 1993 to study jazz. In 2004, her debut album as a bandleader, "A New Abode", was released on SteepleChase Records. Selected as an Album of the Week pick by NPR's Jazz with Bob Parlocha, this recording had extensive airplay in the US and Europe. Shaman has been involved in making music for film, theater and multimedia since 2003. Her credits include music scores for "Catskill Chainsaw Redemption” and the musical “Spin” which premiered in 2008 starring David Ogden Stiers. In addition to working as a freelance composer, arranger and performer, she currently teaches jazz improvisation and composition at Oregon State University
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Dino Giancola – Honorable Mention & Prize
Composer Dino Emilio Giancola's musical education began innocently enough with private instruction when he was 9 years old. Encouraged by winning numerous Kiwanis Festival Competition Prizes he continued his musical studies throughout his teenage years. In high school, he began playing in local jazz big bands and combos as well as progressive rock/pop bands. It was at this time that Dino discovered multi-track recording and began writing experimental electronic music.
Dino began his formal musical education at Mohawk College of Applied Arts in Hamilton Ontario, where he began compositional studies in both classical and jazz idioms with Michael Malone. After completing the program in Hamilton, he traveled to Toronto to study jazz-fusion music at Humber College and then to McGill University in Montreal, where he studied classical orchestration, jazz big band arranging and electro-acoustics. While still in school, Dino began collaborating on music for various radio and television ads (Ford Probe, Nautilus Plus) working with the biggest "jingle" studio in Montreal. After graduating with Distinction and a Bachelors degree in Music he immediately began creating music for film, television, modern dance and theatre. Dino has since studied composition privately with Dr. Richard Danielpour in N.Y.C.
As a result of his work as a composer for screen and stage (over 60 productions including a over a dozen National Film Board productions), Dino has had the opportunity to work with many musicians of note. A passion for ethnic instrumentation within the occidental began as a result of collaborations with some of the nation's most recognized world musicians (Liu Fang, Ganesh Anandan, Lei Qiang among others). Equally at ease with modern technology, Dino also enjoys incorporating samplers and digital manipulation into his compositions.
Dino has won multiple Canada Council for the Arts grants and has had his music played by symphony orchestras in Toronto, Victoria and Montreal. Career highlights include arrangements for The Ensemble Moderne of Frankfurt Germany, a recently completed new work for orchestra performed by the Victoria Symphony, and music for Cirque du Soleil's 2008 show presented at the World Expo in Zaragoza, Spain.
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Aubrey Young – Honorable Mention
Aubrey G. Young is a quickly emerging composer for media.
He has composed music for various film projects including the award winning
animation short Automaton (http://www.redfortressentertainment.com/automaton/index.html),
and the feature-length documentary film Black Mold Exposure
(http://www.blackmoldexposuremovie.com).
More of Aubrey's work can be found at
www.aubreygyoungmusic.com.
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Tatu Rytkönen – Honorable Mention
"I'd like to say, that the competition was surprisingly challenging considering the length of the clip. And I'm waiting for the next one!"
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Felix Weber – Honorable Mention
Felix Weber is a composer, producer, and arranger. His body of work spans from film music to contemporary pop and classic. Felix Weber penned songs for artists like Chaka Khan , Randy Crawford, Tony Braxton, Nancy Wilson, Paul Anka, Leo Sayer, La Bouche, Expose, La Toya Jackson and many others. As a native of Germany, Weber worked in Europe for 20 years until he relocated to the USA. Since 2009 Felix is trying to shift his career more towards film music which he believes is the last resort of true musicality and creativity.
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