In celebration of the 20th year for the Thousand Islands Int’l Piano Competition, a special prize of $400 is being offered for the best performance of a short piano work by celebrated Cape Vincent composer Augusta Cecconi-Bates. Competitors in either division who wish to compete for this special prize choose one of five short works offered by Cecconi-Bates to be performed in their Round I or Round II programs. Memory is not required. Your print-out or iPad scan of a piece can be used for your performance.
Augusta Cecconi-Bates, Composer, Consultant and Committee Member at the OSEMP Orchestra (Orchestre Symphonique Européen Musica & Pace), has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in music composition and education.
Augusta was born Aug. 9, 1933 in Syracuse NY. Coming from an opera-loving Italian home, she studied piano from age 6. (She was composing music even then.) Augusta earned a B. A. (1956) and M.A. in Humanities (1960) from Syracuse University and was later awarded an honorary doctorate degree from that institution. After winning a composition contest in 1976, Augusta went on to studies at Cornell University with Robert Palmer and Karel Husa. In 1992 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in Italy.
Her work has garnered praise from renowned composer Lukas Foss, who in 1988 wrote, “she is a composer who knows what she is doing and does it well.” She has composed some 200 works, in genres ranging from vocal to orchestra and band. Ms. Cecconi-Bates composed her opera “Skaters” in 2022. She also wrote and composed “Molly of the Mohawks,” “Essences of the Northcountry,” “Tug Hill Suite,” and “Willie was Different,” among more than 300 compositions to her credit. For her excellence, Ms. Cecconi-Bates was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has composed a major cantata for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which will be performed in the fall of 2023 by chorus, orchestra and soloist in Watertown, New York. A smaller version of the composition was performed in New York City on Dr. Martin Luther King Day.
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