2022 HSoM Composition Competition Winners Announced
The Hayes School of Music announces the winners of its 2nd Annual Composition Competition! The competition was open to high school students nationwide and to students of the Hayes School of Music.
- High School Choral Division winner: Frazar Henry (Bonita Springs, FL), Windy Nights
- High School Band Division winner: Jack Nesser (West Terre Haute, IN), On the Chippewa
- Hayes School of Music Choral Division winner: Jacob Naegele, Foresight
- Hayes School of Music Band Division winner: Douglas Hoffman, Summer Excursion
The winning composers named above will receive cash prizes, have their works premiered by an App State ensemble during the 2022-23 academic year, receive a video recording of their piece’s performance, and receive composition lessons from Hayes School of Music faculty.
The Hayes School of Music would also like to recognize the runners-up:
- High School Band Division runner up: Frazar Henry (Bonita Springs, FL), Downpour
- Hayes School of Music Choral Division runner up: Macy Crumley, Salve Regina
The contest was adjudicated by faculty members Dr. Andrew Hannon and Dr. Nicholas Cline in the Music Theory and Composition area as well ensemble conductors Dr. Jason Gardner, Dr. John Ross, Dr. Stephen Hopkins, Dr. Meg Stohlmann, and Prof. Todd Wright.
Categories rotate year by year. Next year’s Composition Competition will include categories for Orchestral and Jazz scores. Interested composers are invited to submit scores for the next round of the competition when submissions open in early Spring 2023.
Composer Biographies
High School Choral Division winner
Frazar Henry (Bonita Springs, FL), Windy Nights
Frazar Henry is the critically acclaimed, homeschooled tenth grade pianist/composer who won the ASCAP Foundation 2018 Morton Gould Young Composer Award after having received an Honorable Mention in 2016. Henry was also awarded 2nd Place in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Community Music School of Webster University Young Composer Competition(s), 3rd Place in The Choral Project’s 2021-22 Rachel Moore Composition Contest, and 1st Place in the 2020 Miami Music Teachers Foundation Composition Contest. Additionally, he was named the 2020 Winner for both Florida and the Southern Division MTNA Composition Competition.
The weekend before the start of the pandemic, Henry won the 2020 Frost International Young Artists Piano Concerto and Solo Piano Competition(s). And though there was no 2021 Concerto Competition, Henry did repeat as winner of the 2021 Frost International Young Artists Solo Piano Competition: Recipient, Mary Lou Krosnick Award - Best Performance of a Classical Work. In addition to winning 1st Prize for Piano in the 2019 Music Foundation of Greater Naples Scholarship Competition and several First Place awards in FGCU/Steinway Young Artist Competitions, Henry has garnered notable awards and recognition from the 2020 & 2022 Tribeca New Music National Young Composer Competition(s), 2020 HeartOut Piano Competition, 2019 Tampa Bay Symphony 4th annual Call for Scores Composition Competition, and 2019 Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s Emerging Composers Competition.
High School Band Division winner
Jack Nesser (West Terre Haute, IN), On the Chippewa
Jack Nesser (b. 2005) is a self-taught, Indiana-based composer, community musician, and high school student. His world premiere as a composer took place in the summer of 2021 with the Terre Haute Community Band performing his work, To New Beginnings. To New Beginnings was a finalist in the 1st Annual Grand Mesa Publications Band Composition and Arranging Contest and is currently a semi-finalist in the 2021-2022 American Prize. Jack is looking forward to future performances of his works with the Terre Haute Community Band, his school's concert band, and local high school band programs. He was a member of the 2021 & 2022 IBA All-State Honor Band and is a regular community musician with local college and community ensembles. Although he has never studied formally, Jack has his works reviewed regularly by Canadian-based composer and educator Cait Nishimura.
Hayes School of Music Choral Division winner
Jacob Naegele, Foresight
Jacob Naegele is an undergraduate student composer of The Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University, and is from Wake Forest, NC. Jacob focuses on composing tonal music, and is most captivated by poignancy and beguiled by the deep emotional responses music can elicit. Jacob's music can also be described as lyrical, driven primarily by melodic and harmonic ideas/motifs. His music is most strongly influenced by folk, film, and romantic genres of music. In addition to being a composer, Jacob is also a pianist, which he cites as his main vehicle in which he composes, as well as a tubist, bass guitarist, and a baritone singer.
Hayes School of Music Band Division winner
Douglas Hoffman, Summer Excursion
Douglas Philip Lawrence Hoffman does not merely compose music, he sonically expresses his inner self. Whether it be through his clarinet, melodica, DAW, or manuscript paper, he strives to instill within his audience the wide range of emotions from his nuanced character. His meticulous work ethic is one of his proudest attributes and is clearly exhibited in every detail of his compositions. No matter how many limitations are placed upon him—whether it be neurological or financial—his raw ambition will never be stifled. Above all else he believes that music is art and art is expression, and he thoroughly enjoys seeing different expressions from all walks of life.
