Wooster student wins regional musical composition contest

Gracelyn Jack ’25, a junior completing her Bachelor of Music in music composition at The College of Wooster, won the Cleveland Composers Guild’s Collegiate Composition Competition, an annual competition for young composers attending college in northeast Ohio.

Jack’s piece, written for violin and piano and titled Less than Ten Days, was performed in-concert by violinist Samuel Rotberg and pianist Sungeun Kim at the Cleveland Composers Guild chamber music concert in January. She also received a professional recording of her piece and a $500 cash prize, which she plans to use to offset the costs of attending several music composition festivals this summer.  

Often inspired by the natural world, Jack was prompted to write the piece after learning that some species of moth, such as the luna moth, have a lifespan of less than ten days. As she wrote in a program note for the concert where her piece was performed, “With this piece, I wanted to reflect both the fleeting nature and the timelessness of this creature’s existence. An individual moth may only live for less than ten days, but I will be thinking about them for the rest of my significantly longer life.”  

Jack began by writing a musical motif to capture her intended mood, then built the rest of her composition around that motif. Jack’s composition “showcases poignant and mature instrumental writing. She weaved musical representations like hatching and wing flutters into a compelling dramatic narrative filled with both lyrical grace and frantic ferocity,” according to Dylan Findley, visiting assistant professor of music, music theory, and composition.  

Being at Wooster, Jack says, has afforded her a unique opportunity to develop her abilities in composition. “The amount of opportunities to have pieces performed as well as the supportive environment among colleagues in the composition department makes writing music a joyful experience. Dylan Findley has been especially influential in not only helping me to refine my craft, but also in creating new compositional opportunities in the music program here,” she said.  

Jack was proud to be recognized by the Cleveland Composers Guild and said that this award has reinforced her interest in pursuing composition even after she leaves Wooster. “Winning this award has helped me realize there is a future for me in composition. It’s easy to fall into imposter syndrome and to get into my own head about my own music, and having other people recognize my work makes me feel like I’m going in the right direction,” she explained.

Posted in News on February 13, 2024.