Roger Briggs wins national and international recognition for compositions

In the past eleven days, WWU Music Professor of Composition won three national awards and one international award:

March 10—First Prize in then New Ariel National Solo Piano Competition for his work, Willows, which will be recorded on the New Ariel Label. The piece will enjoy numerous US and international performances by the pianist Jeffrey Jacob.

March 14— First Prize in the Alvarez Chamber Orchestra, Single Minded International Competition, in London, England for Jitterbug.  Jitterbug will be recorded and performed in the UK.

March 16— Winner of the APNM (Association for the Promotion of New Music) National Competition in NYC. Tune My Heart for violin and piano will receive its New York Premiere by Idith Meshulam and Ensemble Pi.

In addition, Chatterbird, the new music ensemble located in Nashville, selected Briggs' work, ICONS to perform at the NACUSA convention at the University of TN this May.  Chatterbird selected ICONS for performance from submissions to a national competition.

Roger Briggs is an internationally recognized composer and conductor. He is the winner of American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Lieberson Award, ASCAP Award, NEA Fellowship, Arts Council Awards from New York, Indiana and Washington State, Dartington Fellowship, 3 MacDowell Fellowships, Chautauqua Fellowship, Petit Jean International Art Song Fellowship, 3 Meet the Composer Grants, Dreyfus/MacDowell and Alienor Awards, Composer of the Year Award in Washington State. His discography includes recordings by London Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Radio Orchestra, and Silesian Philharmonic. His works have been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Prague Symphony, Czech Radio Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Players, Third Angle, Fear No Music, Zephyr, New Performance Group, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Buffalo New Music Ensemble. Briggs has worked with Leon Fleisher, Ursula Oppens, Jennifer Koh, Evelyn Glennie, Orion Weiss, Alicia Weilerstein, and Corey Cerovsek. He founded Whatcom Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Music by American Composers commissioning series, the WWU Contemporary Chamber players, and the Michiana New Music Ensemble.