THE SOLENT MUSIC FESTIVAL’S
£3000 LAWSON-MAY AWARD FOR COMPOSITION

Announcement of the winner of the first Lawson-May Award for Composition

We are delighted to announce that Eduardo Soutullo‘s piano trio ‘Qebui’ is the winner of the 2020 Lawson-May Award for Composition. The world première of the work will take place at the 2021 Solent Music Festival.

There are also four runners-up whose works we hope to perform at the festival in the years to come. They are (in alphabetical order):

Artur Akshelyan – Tangible Sky
Raffaele Grimaldi – Perceptions
Lu Shang – The Edge of Sky
Anna Skryleva – Drei Impromptus in C

This was not an easy decision to make, since there was so much remarkable music to choose from, but in the end, the captivating harmonic language, exquisite textures, and idiomatic yet original writing for the instruments in Eduardo’s trio made a huge impression on me. I felt that the overall shape of the piece was compelling, and showed a composer with complete control of his material.

Huw Watkins

We had a total of 524 entries from all over the world and the standard was incredibly high. There were five judges:

Huw Watkins – composer and judge of the final selection of entries
Katherine Spencer – Principal Clarinet, City of London Sinfonia and Irish Chamber Orchestra
Christian Elliott – Principal Cellist, Irish Chamber Orchestra
Sophia Pagoni – Musicologist and Director of Solent Music Festival
Sam Haywood – pianist, composer and Artistic Director of Solent Music Festival

Thank you so much to all the wonderful composers who submitted works, to all the judges and to Neil Lawson-May for sponsoring this generous award. 

Eligibility
1) Composers of any age and nationality
2) Compositions must not have been previously published
3) Compositions must not have won any prize in a previous composition competition
4) Compositions must never have been performed in public
5) Only one entry per composer

Length and Format
1) 7-15 minutes in duration
2) Piece must be for one to six players using any of the following instruments:
clarinet (1), violin (1 or 2), viola (1), cello (1), piano (1)

Application (June 15, 2020 Deadline)
1) Short Biography (200 words max)
2) Submissions via email only to hello@solentmusicfestival.com
3) Scores must be typeset and attached as PDF files; please also include a recording, mp3, or midi file of your composition if possible.
4) There is no application fee.

Results
1) The winner will be announced on 1st July 2020 on our website. The jury’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

Awards
1) One prize only of £3000.
2) The winning work will be premiered at the 2020 SMF in September.

Deadline: 15 June 2020