2013 ISCM Young Composer Award – Yasunoshin Morita

The Japanese composer Yasunoshin Morita received the 2013 ISCM Young Composer Award for The History of Songs & Words. The work for choir was performed as part of the 2013 ISCM World Music Days on November 13 in the Mittlerer Saal of the Urania Observatory in Vienna by Camerata Silesia Katowice conducted by Anna Szostak. The jury–consisting of Stephen Lias (U.S.A.), Alper Maral (Turkey), and David Pay (Canada)–appreciated the witty and colorful writing, in which fragmented gestures of kinetic energy coalesced into forceful rhythmic patterns. Extended techniques and layered textures created an inherent velocity, and the power of the piece was reflected in the audience’s enthusiastic response. For the first time, Music on Main from Vancouver, Canada, has teamed up with ISCM to present a commissioning award to a young composer.

_{[Ed Note: It was discovered after the jury’s deliberations and a winner was announced that the 1978 birth year listed for Morita in the 2013 festival program book was an error; this was the only information the jury had and Morita, who was actually born in 1969, was not present during the festival. Nevertheless, since everyone felt so strongly about his music, as per the conditions of the award, a newly commissioned work of his, ReincarnatiOn Ring II for Shō, U and iPods (2014), was presented during the 2017 ISCM World New Music Days in Vancouver.]}