Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Setnor School announces winner of inaugural Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest; work to be premiered at SU in March

Friday, November 6, 2009, By Erica Blust
Share
College of Visual and Performing Arts

Kala Pierson, a New York City-based composer and sound/media artist, has been announced as winner of the inaugural Gregg Smith Choral Competition Contest in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). The award, which is named for renowned composer and choral conductor Gregg Smith, is given biennially to a composer between the ages of 21 and 35 who has written and submitted a musical composition for a Setnor School choral ensemble.

Pierson won for her work “The Turning Earth,” which was selected by a committee of Setnor faculty from more than 30 entries submitted by composers in 15 states. In addition to the award, Pierson’s work will be premiered by the SU Women’s Choir on Friday, March 26, 2010, at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. Pierson will come to SU for the premiere and rehearse with the choir the day prior to the performance.

“The Women’s Choir is thrilled to honor the choral legacy and ongoing work of Gregg Smith through the premiere of the choral competition’s winning piece by Kala Pierson,” says Setnor faculty member Barbara Marble Tagg, who conducts the choir. “Her piece was the unanimous selection of the review committee.”

Pierson focuses on multi-country projects and collaborations. In 2008 and 2009, her work was performed and installed in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, the United Kingdom and more than 20 U.S. cities; in festivals including Musica Viva, Contemporanea (Citta di Udine), Spark and Canaan Downs; and in venues ranging from a forest to a medieval fortress to the World Financial Center Winter Garden. As a 2009 finalist for the Kraft Media Prize, she was part of performances at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Gallery and the Phillips Collection.

Pierson co-founded Summer in Sombor, an international composition seminar held each July in northern Serbia. Her notated music has been performed by American Opera Projects, San Francisco Choral Artists (as winner of their New Voices competition), Cantate Chamber Singers (as winner of their composition competition), Nurse Kaya Sextet, Momenta Quartet, Season Quartet, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Young Composers Project with Toby Twining’s group Mouth Music, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Tanglewood Young Artists Chorus and many soloists and duos. For more information about Pierson, visit http://www.unfurl.org/.

The Setnor School established the Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest as well as the Gregg Smith Graduate Choral Conducting Scholarship in 2008 with the support of an anonymous donor. Smith has a 25-year relationship with SU and the Syracuse Children’s Chorus (SCC), which was founded by Tagg. Under her direction, the SCC has premiered several major works composed by Smith for children’s choir and choir with orchestra; fully staged two of his operas; hosted the Gregg Smith Singers in performance; and, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, produced the CD “Voices of Innocence: The Syracuse Children’s Chorus Sings the Music of Gregg Smith.” Smith has also presented a master class for the SU Women’s Choir.

VPA is committed to the education of cultural leaders who will engage and inspire audiences through performance, visual art, design, scholarship and commentary. The college provides the tools for self-discovery and risk-taking in an environment that thrives on critical thought and action. Learn more at http://vpa.syr.edu.

  • Author

Erica Blust

  • Recent
  • IVMF Advisory Board Welcomes New Additions
    Monday, January 18, 2021, By News Staff
  • Syracuse Stage Announces Changes to the 2020/2021 Season
    Sunday, January 17, 2021, By Joanna Penalva
  • Hehnly Lab Awarded $1.2M NIH Grant to Research Critical Tissue Formation
    Sunday, January 17, 2021, By Dan Bernardi
  • Important Information Regarding Proof of Eligibility for and Access to the COVID Vaccine
    Saturday, January 16, 2021, By News Staff
  • COVID-19 Update: Vaccination | Testing | Important Reminders | Zoom Sessions
    Friday, January 15, 2021, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Syracuse Stage Announces Changes to the 2020/2021 Season

Syracuse Stage announced adjustments to the schedule for the remainder of the 2020/2021 season. These adjustments include replacing previously announced shows with new titles and come in direct response to the evolving situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in February,…

College of Visual and Performing Arts Flexes Creative Muscle to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic

“Visual and Performing Arts students wouldn’t have a reason to be here if they couldn’t sing or hold an instrument or act onstage or spend time in the studio.  The arts are a social activity, not something that lends itself…

Special Collections Research Center Receives Grant to Process Forrest J. Ackerman Papers

The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation is providing Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) with a $17,000 grant to process the Forrest J. Ackerman Papers. Ackerman was a popular American science fiction author, editor, agent, collector and fan. His…

Architecture Students Help Design Street Renovation Project in China

Since April 2020, a team of students from the School of Architecture have been working on a master plan to transform a street scape in the future city of Xiong’an New Area in China’s Hebei province. After a long delay…

Rolling Appointed to Everson Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees

James Haywood Rolling Jr., a dual professor of arts education and teaching and leadership in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and School of Education, has been appointed to the board of trustees of the Everson Museum of…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.