Earplay sponsors two annual competitions: the Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition and the Earplay Vibrant Shores Competition. Earplay performs the prizewinning pieces in the next season and presents a $1000 cash prize to each winning composer.

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Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition

The annual Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition is open to composers of any nationality and any age. The competition honors the late composer/conductor/Earplay board member Donald Aird, an ardent supporter of the creation and performance of new music. More information is here.

Past prize winners:

Year Composer Work Performed
2001 Massimo Lauricella Eco di un tempo perduto 02/04/2002
2001 Shintaro Imai La Lutte Bleue 02/04/2002
2002 Christophe Bertrand Treis 12/09/2002
2003 João Pedro Oliveira Iris 05/17/2004
2004 Vincent Chee-Yung Ho Stigmata 03/14/2005
2005 Fredrik Fahlman Autumn Melody 05/22/2006
2006 Mirtru Escalona-Mijares Cincos Transfiguraciones Llanas 05/21/2007
2007 Hèctor Parra Trio 'Wortschatten' 05/28/2008
2008 Nicolas Tzortzis Amenable 05/20/2009
2009 Tolga Yayalar Terâneler 05/24/2010
2010 Adam Roberts Sinews 06/01/2011
2011 Sven Daigger Strom 05/10/2012
2012 Alexander Elliott Miller Scrim 05/20/2013
2013 Vera Ivanova Three Studies in Uneven Meters 05/19/2014
2014 Daniel Tacke im Rückblick 03/16/2015
2015 Shiuan Chang Monk 03/14/2016
2016 Stephen Yip Insight II 03/20/2017
2017 Daniel Godsil Aeropittura 03/19/2018
2018 A. J. McCaffrey Here Come the Waterworks 04/08/2019
2019 Gilad Cohen Late Shadow 02/10/2020
2020 Carla Magnan Mirages 01/23/2023
2021 Tomasz Skweres Elusive Thoughts 03/21/2022
2022 Andrea Portera Algoritmo Intuitivo 05/15/2023
2023 Chengjin Koh The flower mantis 03/18/2024

Earplay Vibrant Shores Competition

The annual Earplay Vibrant Shores Competition is open to composers identifying as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, or people of color. More information is here.

Past prize winners:

Year Composer Work Performed
2022 Sofia Rocha Scenes of Night 03/27/2023
2023 Sami Seif Syriac Fugato 2 05/20/2024