ACCC composer Elise Letourneau listed as finalist for The American Prize 2013

Composer-performer Elise Letourneau has been selected as a finalist for The 2013 American Prize in the choral composition category.

The American Prize in Composition recognizes and rewards the best composers in America of new works for orchestra, chorus, concert band, or chamber ensemble that have been publicly performed.

The panel described Elise’s work as “capitalizing on her active background in the jazz field, while also displaying considerable skill writing academically/classically-oriented music. She reveals an impressive amount of craft and confidence in writing contrapuntally while moving through key centers. Letourneau writes with vivid imagination and a willingness to try new things in the choral idiom.”

Elise’s submission included her “Four Love Poems by E.E. Cummings” for double choir and jazz trio, performed by the Vancouver Chamber Choir with Jon Washburn directing; “Peace Prayer” for mixed choir and piano, performed by Canada’s National Youth Choir with Ivars Taurins and Joel Tranquilla directing; and “Ave Maria” for treble voices and piano, performed by the Toronto Children’s Chorus with Elise Bradley directing.

Elise is also the most recent winner of the Ruth Watson Henderson composition competition and the ACCC composition competition. She has been named an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

Elise is the director of two choirs in Ottawa: Capital Vox Jazz Choir and Vox Eclectica Women’s Chamber Choir. She performs regionally and teaches at Alcorn Music Studios and Carleton University.