Bridges Composition Competition

About the Artist

The Bridges Composition Competition calls on young composers from around the globe to add their creative perspectives to the “bridge” between RSMI’s jazz and classical focuses with new works written for string quartet and jazz quartet or rhythm trio. Up to three winners are selected annually to receive the David Baker Prize—an award of $2,500 and a week to further develop their music with Program for Jazz directors Billy Childs, Rufus Reid, and Steve Wilson, as well as the ensemble heard this evening.

This year the classical quartet is assembled by RSMI alum and cellist Alexander Hersh, who co-directs NEXUS Chamber Music in Chicago. The ensemble also features fellow alumni violinist Claire Bourg, who is concertmaster of Philadelphia’s Symphony in C, and violist Rannveig Marta Sarc, a NEXUS collaborator and Merit School of Music faculty member, as well as violinist Ravenna Lipchik, who has played alongside Wynton Marsalis in the Four by Four ensemble.

The jazz quartet renews the musical melding of winds player Greg Ward, pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Dan “Chimy” Chmielinski, and drummer Kenneth Salters, all alumni of RSMI’s jazz program and representing its more than two decades of artistic depth. Each has recorded as a bandleader and toured extensively as sidemen, with Chimy regularly presenting jazz/classical fusion repertoire as leader of Four by Four.

Performers

Claire Bourg, violin #
Ravenna Lipchik, violin
Rannveig Marta Sarc, viola #
Alexander Hersh, cello #
Greg Ward, woodwinds #
Glenn Zaleski, piano #
Dan Chmielinski, bass #
Kenneth Salters, drums #

# Ravinia Steans Music Institute alum