The San Francisco Conservatory of Music streamed the 9th Biennial Art Song Composition Competition on March 24, 2021. Switching off with the Choral Composition Competition year by year, this competition sees student composers present works written for voice and piano.

Jarron Carlson (BM ’22) was awarded the first prize of $300 for “Come Slowly - Eden,” based on a poem by Emily Dickinson and sung by mezzo-soprano Lindsay Martin (BM ’22). Carlson studies with Elinor Armer; Martin studies with Cathy Cook.

Pierre Fontaine (AC ’21) took home the $200 second-place prize for his piece “Leave Me Here Crying,” based on the poem by Federico Garcia Lorca, sung by tenor Alexander Perkins (BM ’19), accompanied by SooYean Kwon (MM ’22). Fontaine studies with David Conte; Alexander studies with Jane Randolph.

Tamara McLeod (BM ’21) was awarded the $100 third prize for “Dirge for a Joker;” poem by Sylvia Plath; sung by mezzo-soprano Ava Harmon (BM ’21), accompanied by Dana Marie Chan (MM ’22). McLeod studies with David Garner; Harmon studies with Cathy Cook.

This year’s judges included acclaimed art song performer Marnie Breckenridge and composers Tom Cipullo and Libby Larsen.

Hear the winning compositions in this playlist.

Learn more about SFCM’s composition department.