Douglas Hedwig, winner, 2024 Brockton Symphony String Orchestra Composition Competition
The music of Douglas Hedwig (b. 1951) has been performed throughout the U.S., Italy, Germany, England, Scotland, Belgium, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. Praised for the "coherent, yet adventurous character of his compositions" [Opus Klassiek, Netherlands], his music embraces a "wide range of musical styles...and showcases the eloquent sincerity of a contemporary American voice" [International Center for American Music].
Winner of both the Gaetano Amadeo Prize (Italy) and The American Prize, Hedwig is recipient of awards and honors from the Siena Art Institute (Italy), Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Fulbright Foundation. The Dr. Douglas Hedwig Papers and archives containing the entirety of his music works, are permanently housed at the American Music Center in Prato, Italy.
Prior to turning his full creative attention to composition in 2012, he was a trumpet player with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 27 years. Dr. Hedwig is Professor Emeritus at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, and was formerly on the faculty of The Juilliard School (NYC).
Steven Snowden, honorable mention, 2024 Brockton Symphony String Orchestra Composition Competition
The music of Steven Snowden has been described as "A visceral evocation of raw communal memories" (GoldenPlec, Dublin), "Beguiling… combining force with clarity" (San Francisco Classical Voice), "Wonderfully dynamic" (Interlude Hong Kong), "Marvelously evocative", (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and "The most wildly intriguing sight and sound I have experienced at a concert" (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). Writing music for dance, theater, multi-media installations, and the concert stage, his work often focuses on underground American history and how past events relate to modern society. While his musical influences are deeply rooted in bluegrass, folk, and rock, he utilizes non-traditional techniques and processes to compose works that don’t squarely align with any single genre or style.
A native of the Ozarks countryside, he began studies in music composition in 2002 and received degrees from Missouri State University (BM), University of Colorado at Boulder (MM), and University of Texas at Austin (DMA). In 2012-2013 he was a Fulbright Scholar in Portugal, researching the implementation of motion tracking technology as a means to facilitate collaboration between music and dance. In 2013-2014, he was a visiting professor and composer in residence at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is the co-founder/director of the Fast Forward Austin Music Festival. He currently works as a freelance composer in Boston and when he's not writing music, you can find him deep in the woods foraging for mushrooms with his wife, violist Lauren Nelson.
