Third annual Yee Prize for musical composition names student winners
The Jessie S. Yee Prize for 2024 has been awarded to three Virginia Tech students who have demonstrated excellence in musical composition: Brianna Magill, Caroline Flynn, and Austin Sherwood.
The annually gifted prize is made possible by Gordon Yee, associate professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, on behalf of his mother, who was an avid arts supporter. Associate Professor of music Charles Nichols established the award in 2022. It is open each fall to all graduate and undergraduate students enrolled at Virginia Tech. The three winning student composers received grants of $500, $250, and $100 during the New Music + Technology Festival concert at the Cube on April 10.
First prize went to Magill, a senior double majoring in music composition and chemistry. She describes her winning composition, "Small Hadron Collider" for bass flute and computer, as a work that uses live processing and audio spatialization to create a musical particle accelerator where long notes and phrases spin around the room, colliding and fragmenting into small pieces that scatter around the listener. The piece was inspired by the research at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. “I wanted to represent the collision experiments used at the LHC in a musical form and wanted to use the full spatialization abilities of the Cube at the Moss Arts Center, which ultimately led to the final idea of the piece. In the fall I plan to attend Arizona State University for a master's in materials science and engineering degree and will keep composing and performing while I'm there,” said Magill.
Magill was awarded second place in the 2023 Yee Prize.
Second prize went to Flynn, a senior double majoring in creative technologies in music and psychology, for her piece "Fish Song" for voice and computer. “'Fish Song' is a spatialized electronic pop song featuring many layers of voice and percussion along with heavy bass,” said Flynn. “The emphasis on densely layering sounds was largely inspired by the prospect of performing the piece in the Cube, where I spatialized each component to move independently around the space to create an immersive experience. The Cube, along with the many other music spaces with an emphasis on spatialization at Virginia Tech, have greatly influenced my work. I look forward to incorporating this influence into my work next year, as I’ll be pursuing a Master of Music in composition degree at Western Michigan University and working as a graduate teaching assistant in their composition and multimedia arts and technology departments.”
Flynn received first place in the 2023 Yee Prize.
Third prize went to Sherwood, a sophomore majoring in creative technologies in music, for his composition, "Forest of Wisps" for clarinet, violin, and piano. “As an avid gamer, I am often highly inspired by video game and film scores,” said Sherwood. “For 'Forest of Wisps,' I gained inspiration from the game Ori and the Blind Forest. It's a visually stunning game, and over the years of listening to its soundtrack, I knew I wanted to compose something similar. The melodic lines are placed delicately within the accompanying harmonies giving me a sense of dramatic calm if that makes sense. Additionally, allowing each instrument to feature as a prominent part of the piece was another important aspect I wanted to incorporate during my composing. I believe I achieved it here. My plans for the future are to continue creating for and being inspired by video games, as they are, and will be, my life's work and passion.”
The prize was adjudicated by Yee Commission winner David Biedenbender, associate professor of composition at Michigan State University. The Yee Commission, also provided by Gordon Yee, allows professional musicians to compose works specifically for the School of Performing Arts’ faculty to premiere.
“I am proud of these exceptional student composers,” said Nichols, “and grateful to Virginia Tech chemistry professor Gordon Yee for endowing the prize.”
