The Turkish composer Mithatcan Öcal (1992) is the winner of Calefax Composers Competition 2017. Öcal won the competition with his composition ‘Avis Nocturna’ for reedquintet.
The prize was presented on Thursday evening, December 28, 2017 in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam) during the annual PAN Festival.
The jury consisted of all five Calefax musicians and Mayke Nas, Dutch National Composer, as external chairman. All submissions were assessed anonymously. The jury selected the composition of the young Turkish composer out of 21 entries from 11 different countries around the world.
Öcal receives a prize of €3.000 for his winning composition and his piece was premiered on December 28, 2017 during the PAN Festival of Calefax in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.
In addition, his composition will be performed by seven other reed quintets all over the world: Atlantic Reed Consort (USA), Akropolis Reed Quintet (USA), Blattwerk (CH), Cascadia Reed Quintet (CA), Kalamos Reed Quintet (HR), Nexus Reed Quintet (CH) and Splinter Reeds (USA).
In addition, the following compositions received special mentions:
– Suite No. 6 by Christiaan Janssen (selected by the Atlantic Reed Consort)
– Mandragora by Michal Lesniak (selected by the Akropolis Reed Quintet)
In 2012 Calefax started the ‘World Wide Reed Quintet Network’. A platform for all the reed quintets in the world, groups that follow in the footsteps of Calefax, the ‘inventors’ of this new genre.
Since seven years, a growing number of reed quintets from the network have joined this Composers Competition, allowing the winners to look forward to performances of their work around the world.
Through its own publisher, the Calefax Edition, and on its website that were written especially for the quintet.