ST. LOUIS, MO (January 30, 2020) Madeline Cheng (16) from Los Altos, California has been awarded Second Place in the Level One Division (ages 12-16) of the Community Music School (CMS) of Webster University’s Young Composers Competition for her composition titled
Where Before Was Gray
. Judges describe her work as "haunting and eerie" with "creative harmonies, great use of string colors."
Cheng has been invited to St. Louis where her composition will be performed by musicians from
Chamber Project St. Louis
and recorded as part of the Young Composers Concert at 3:00 p.m. on March 21st. In addition, she will have the opportunity to get feedback on her work from visiting composer,
Angélica Negrón, Puerto Rican-born composer, multi-instrumentalist and Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers program.
"The students selected in this competition are among the best emerging young composers in the nation," said Carol Commerford, director of the CMS. "We received over 40 submissions from all over the country and from as far away as England and China. The CMS is proud to bring public performance and recognition to these new works and these young composers that represent the future of music in our communities."
More about Madeline Cheng
Madeline Clara Cheng
is a fifteen-year-old composer, saxophonist, and pianist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Madeline is the first place winner of the 2019 National Federation of Music Club’s Junior Composers State Contest. She won 2nd place in the 2019 Music Teachers’ Association of California Composers Today State Contest. She has also been selected as one of the few Luna Composition Lab Fellows in the nation for 2019-2020.
Her compositions have been performed across the U.S., including the 2018 PianoTexas International Festival, the 2018 Global Youth Philanthropy’s Benefit Concert, the 2019 Music Teachers Association of California State Convention, the 2019 Sun Valley Music Festival, and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s High School Composition Intensive.
As an alto saxophonist, Madeline received the 2018 Frank Sumares Scholarship Award to study at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. She was also lead alto saxophonist for 2019 Sun Valley Music Festival Youth Symphony.
In her free time, Madeline serves as president of her school’s Key Club and is organizing a benefit concert to raise money for pediatric trauma prevention.
