The winner of the sixteenth edition of the Calefax’ Composers Competition for reed quintet is the Swedish composer Erik Valdemar Sköld (1991)! He won the first prize for his composition Óðinn.
The jury consisted of all five musicians from Calefax with composer Guus Janssen as external chairman. All 35 submissions were assessed anonymously. Sköld won the sum of €2,500 and Calefax will perform his work this year (2024). The winner was announced in Amsterdam during the twentieth anniversary edition of Calefax’ annual PAN Festival at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.
The jury about Óðinn
Óðinn is a colourfull, virtuosically instrumented and lively composition in which a monophonic line is accompanied by the ensemble in all possible ways. For this, Sköld makes outstanding use of the instrumtents of the reed quintet. The title Óðinn refers to a hero in Norse mythology that was both arrogant and funny. Without being ‘programmetic’, the composer skillfully shapes these diverse characteristics to methaphors in his music.
Special Mentions from the International Reed Quintet Network
In 2012, Calefax started the ‘International Reed Quintet Network’. A network for all reed quintets in the world, groups that follow in the footsteps of Calefax, the ‘inventors’ of this new genre. For over ten 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. One reed quintets from this network chose their own winner from the entries:
Special Mention
By Kalamos Reed Quintet (Croatia):
As You Can See I Still Remember by A. Crespo Barba (Spain)
Via their own publisher, the Calefax Edition, and via the website, Calefax shares compositions and arrangements that were written specifically for reed quintet, including a free collection of compositions that was gained by the annual competition.