The Austin Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in Texas announced that it has received a $1 million contribution from Austin arts patrons Sarah and Ernest Butler to endow the ASO’s youth education project, The Texas Young Composers Competition and Concert. Ernest Butler is a member of the ASO’s board of directors as well as the chair of the Austin Symphony Endowment Advisory Board. Sarah Butler serves as chair of the Ballet Austin board of directors. They endowed the ASO’s Sarah & Ernest Butler Pops Series with a $1 million donation in 2002 and increased that gift to $2 million in 2008. This third $1 million gift will name the ASO’s Texas Young Composers Competition and Concert for the Butlers. The ASO’s Young Composers Competition was initiated in 2010 after a Stony Point High School student sought advice on a piece he was writing, and how he could have it played by a live orchestra. The response to the world premiere of a new orchestral work by a high-school student led to the Young Composers Competition becoming as a statewide event, and it has since premiered over 30 new works. The competition is limited to people 18 years of age and younger.
The current issue of Symphony magazine features an article about young-composer programs, including the Austin Symphony’s.
Posted January 22, 2014
