Ufuk Biçak (TR) is the winner of Calefax’ international composers competition for reed quintet. He won the first prize for his composition Devinim.
The winner was announced in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening 28 December 2022 at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ during the annual PAN Festival. The jury consisted of all five musicians from Calefax with composer Kate Moore as external chairman. All 72 submissions were assessed anonymously.
The jury about Devinim
“Devinim is a refined piece with a strong concept that is executed in a sophisticated way. The sound world is captivating and balanced, moving effectively between the instruments. This creates dialogues where the colours and overtones combine to create a resonance that infiltrates the sonic world created. The instrumental writing is idiomatic, sensitive and authentic.”
For the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Competition, Calefax raised the prize money for this year’s competition to € 5,000, thanks to the Friends of Calefax. Biçak wins this sum for the winning composition. The premieres of Devinim by Calefax will take place in 2023.
Special Mentions from the audience and the World Wide Reed Quintet Network
This year the competition had an audience award chosen from the pieces in the final selection round. In 2012, Calefax started the ‘World Wide Reed Quintet Network’. A platform for all 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 the composers competition, so that the winners and other participants can look at performances of their work around the world. Four reed quintets from this network chose their own winner from the entries and Calefax shared their own special mention:
Audience favorite
Dropp’d Hard by Florence Anna Maunders (UK)
Special Mentions
By Atlantic Reed Consort (US):
Propagations by Ong Ping Din (Singapore)
By Kalamos Reed Quintet (Kroatië):
Not so classical sonata by Alfian Emir Adytia (Indonesia/NL)
By Calefax (NL):
Ode to Unrequitted Love by Erik Sköld (Sweden)
Via our own publisher, the Calefax Edition, and via the website, Calefax shares compositions and arrangements that were written specifically for reed quintet.