The Sonus Foundation for the Support of New Music and Contemporary Performing Arts announced in September 2020 the first round of its program

LET A MASTER PITCH IN

International composition masterclass

for young composers who would like to develop a new work with the intensive mentoring of an internationally known and critically acclaimed composition professor.

Selected participants received three individual composition consultations, and, at the end of the process, presented the result of their common work in a brief public discussion, optionally with musical examples. The sessions took place remotely, in real-time, on a 6-7-day distance from each other. 

Faculty

The professor of the masterclass was Tomasz Skweres. He is a Polish-Austrian composer, who lives and works in Vienna in Austria and Regensburg in Germany. He studied composition with Chaya Czernowin and Detlev Müller-Siemens and cello with Valentin Erben and Stefan Kropfitsch at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Tomasz Skweres won numerous international and national prizes, composition competitions and received scholarships (among others: 2. prize of the renowned Zemlinsky Prize, TONALi composition competition, Composition Competition Cita di Udine, Franz Joseph Reinl  Composition Competition, Staatsstipendium für Komposition (government scholarship for composition) and Startstipendium of Austrian Ministry of Culture, the Prize for Music (Composition) of the City of Vienna 2015, ...). He has been commissioned by Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Philharmonic Orchestra Regensburg (Germany), Niederbayerische Philharmonie in Passau (Germany),  Leopoldinum Orchestra in Wrocław (Poland), Konzerthaus in Vienna, Festival Wien Modern, Festival Musica Polonica Nova, Theater Regensburg, Apollon Musagete Quartet, Ensemble Zeitfluss in Graz, Ensemble Wiener Collage and many others. His pieces were broadcast in different countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Australia, Mexico) and recorded by professional labels as Genuine, Col legno, Orlando Records. Works by Tomasz Skweres are regularly performed by famous ensembles and musicians at renowned festivals all over the world, such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova (Wrocław), Biennial Bern, ISCM World Music Days 2016 in Korea/Tongyeong International Music Festival, Festival Musica 2015 in Strasbourg (France), Festival Klangspuren in Tirol (Austria), Festival Goslar Harz (Germany), Leo Festival (Wrocław) and many others.

Supporter

The project is funded by the Hungarian Cultural Fund (NKA) and National Cooperation Fund (NEA).

Participants

In December 2020, participants of the program are Allan Chen, Daniel Dobri, Michael Gancz, Liliia Ishakova, and Andrzej Ojczenasz. All of them prepared a video with Professor Tomasz Skweres where they talked about their work.