John Carroll, a Music Composition student at Fredonia, was awarded first place in New Voices, a national essay contest hosted by I Care If You Listen, an award-winning blog and digital magazine devoted to contemporary classical music, and 21CM.com.
Sierra Wojtczack, also a Music Composition student at Fredonia, won second place in the contest.
The essay by Mr. Carroll, a senior from Albany, dealt with experiencing the concert environment with autism spectrum disorder. His prose was lauded for bringing clarity and precise attention to this subject.
A student of Jamie Leigh Sampson in the School of Music, Carroll was music director and composer for the Department of Theatre and Dance productions “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Silent Sky.” He studied music performance at SUNY Schenectady County Community College before enrolling at Fredonia.
His essay can be found online at: https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/new-voices-first-place-winner-…
Ms. Wojtczack, a cellist and a junior from Baldwin, received the runner-up award for her essay on working with the Fredonia-based Institute for Composer Diversity. She is an active member of the new music community, serving as vice president of the student-run Ethos New Music Society.
Wojtczack is an intern for the Institute for Composer Diversity and incorporates her knowledge of underrepresented composers into the repertoire she studies.
Her essay can be found online at: https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/new-voices-second-place-winner…
The winning essays have been published on I Care if You Listen and 21CM.com websites. With more than 60 contributors reporting from seven different countries, I Care If You Listen has quickly become a preferred source of new music news. 21CM.org is an online professional resource for musicians.
As part of their curriculum, composition students enroll in MUS 321 Composition Lab: Entrepreneurship I, which is specifically focused on the skills needed for turning their art into a small business. They learn the intricacies of self-publishing and distributing scores as well as promoting their work and themselves.
“John and Sierra are both dedicated composers and important community members in Fredonia’s School of Music, said Ms. Sampson, who teaches the Entrepreneurship course. “We’re so proud of their work in and out of the classroom and these awards recognize what we see in them every day.”
