Announcing the Winners of the ISB David Walter 2024 Composition Competition

The ISB gratefully thanks our panel of judges for the many hours they spent in service of this year's competition: Szymon Marciniak, professor at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany; Krista Kopper, bassist and creator & host of The Backstage Creative podcast; and Daniele Roccato, professor at the Conservatory "Santa Cecilia" in Rome.

There were 89 entries in four divisions: unaccompanied solo bass; chamber ensemble for one double bass with up to four additional instruments; bass ensemble for two to eight double basses; and double bass & electronic media.

The biennial competition, which honors the legacy of double bass educator, performing artist and composer David Walter, is open to all composers. The 2024 competition is dedicated in loving memory of Robert Black, a champion of contemporary music who served as chair of the competition from 2000 to 2016.

All entries, submitted anonymously, are works in any style that have not yet entered the standard double bass repertoire. The grand prize of $1,000 for each division has been made possible through the generous support of the Robert Black Foundation, and also includes a performance at the 2025 ISB Convention, to be held June 2-7 at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The winners of the 2024 ISB David Walter Composition Competition are:

UNACCOMPANIED SOLO BASS

• Grand Prize: Manifestations (solo double bass) by Max Winningham, USA
• Honorable Mention: Pacificus (solo double bass) by Angelique Poteat, USA

Max Winningham is a repeat winner in this category, having taken the Grand Prize in 2022 for "Tabula Rasa" for solo bass. Max received a BMA in Double Bass Performance from Northwestern University, under the guidance and mentorship of Andrew Raciti. In 2018, Max spent a year in Paris studying with François Rabbath, and was awarded the International Rabbath Institute de Paris (IRIP) performance and teaching certificates, as well as one of the Artist-in-Residence positions at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris. Max recently completed a double MM degree in double bass performance and composition at Baylor University, studying with Sandor Ostlund and Scott McAllister. https://www.maxwinningham.com/

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

• Grand Prize: Yurei (soprano and double bass) by Jean-Patrick Besingrand, USA
• Honorable Mention: Strings' Grief (violin and bass) by Miyuki Ito, Japan
• Honorable Mention: Vocalize (double bass and piano) by JungAh Lee, South Korea
• Honorable Mention: Bully Mammoth (violin, cello and double bass) by William Langlie-Miletich, USA
• Honorable Mention: Prime (percussion and double bass) by Hannah Selin, USA
• Honorable Mention: Scenes from a Modern War: Elegy (double bass and string quartet) by Ian Stephens, England
• Honorable Mention: The Beehive (double bass and piano) by Sam Suggs, USA

Jean-Patrick Besingrand is a French composer and musicologist based in Washington DC and New York. Jean-Patrick has won numerous awards and his music has been performed at festivals around the world. After studying musicology at the University of Bordeaux and writing, analysis and composition at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux with Jean-Louis Agobet, Jean-Patrick continued his training at Carnegie Mellon University and the Graduate Center, CUNY (New York) where he earned a doctorate in composition under the direction of Jason Eckardt. He is also co-artistic director and co-founder of the composers collective Tesselat. His music is published by Editions musicales Artchipel and Babelscores. https://jeanpatrickbesingrand.com/

BASS ENSEMBLE

• Grand Prize: Thousandth Hymnal (bass septet) by David Roche, United Kingdom
• Honorable Mention: Shapeshifter (bass sextet) by Adam Goodwin, Germany
• Honorable Mention: We Share Our Arrows (multiple double basses) by Ryan McMasters, USA

A string of international performances and commissions form the backbone of David John Roche's work, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Florence Philharmonic, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Psappha Ensemble, and the Solem Quartet. David has been nominated for an award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Grant and a Lithuanian Arts Council grant. He has completed an electric guitar concerto for Sean Shibe, Sinfonia Cymru, and Britten Sinfonia, and is currently finishing his first symphony-length work for orchestra, funded by Aberystwyth University, Tŷ Cerdd, and the Arts Council of Wales.https://www.davidjohnroche.com/

DOUBLE BASS AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA

• Grand Prize: Real Time - The Elf in Big F (double bass and electronics) by Masashi Yamamoto, Japan
• Honorable Mention: That Woman is Me (double bass and tape) by Rodrigo Mata Alvarez, Mexico
• Honorable Mention: Snow Electrifies Her While I Chase Iridescence (double bass and electronics) by Claire Hu, USA

Double bassist Masashi Yamamoto is focused on contemporary music and improvisation. In 2023 he was awarded a Kranichsteiner Prize honorable mention for his solo performance at the Darmstadt Summer School of Contemporary Music. In 2024, he organized a three-day, four performance "Unplugged Theatre" with two different programs of unaccompanied solo performances. This May he premiered a new concerto for double bass by Yasunoshin Morita. In addition to reviving rarely performed works, he has been actively commissioning composers in Japan and abroad to expand the solo bass repertoire. He is a graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts. https://masashiyamamoto.net/

Click here to view a list of past winners.