ODU Grad Adelaide Coles Is Finalist for Australian Student Composers Prize

March 05, 2014

Adelaide Coles

Recent Old Dominion University graduate Adelaide Coles has been chosen as one of three finalists for the prestigious Fairweather Family Prize for Student Composers, in Australia.

As a finalist for the award, which gives aspiring composers the opportunity to gain exposure on a professional level while studying music in Sydney, Coles is set to receive a workshop and performance of her piece by the Acacia Quartet on April 30.

The recipient of the 2013 Fairweather Family Prize for Student Composers will receive $2,000 and have their composition premiered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The Sydney Conservatorium will also include the winning piece in its official listing of the Centenary Commissioning Project.

Coles, who is an Australian-American composer from Virginia Beach, is currently studying music composition at the Sydney Conservatorium. She graduated summa cum laude from ODU in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in music composition.

"Adelaide is one of the most inquisitive and fast-learning composition students I've encountered during my tenure," said Andrey Kasparov, who was one of Coles' principal instructors at ODU.

Coles was the recipient of three F. Ludwig Diehn music scholarships for composition as well as the Dr. Charles Vogan Scholarship for organ during her time at ODU. She presented in the 2009-10 Undergraduate Research Symposium on strategies for interpreting compositions and was also co-recipient of a research grant to facilitate the first-ever group recital at ODU for student composers. Her composition, "Five Scenes for Orchestra," won the 2011 ODU Young Artists' Competition and was premiered by the ODU Symphony Orchestra in 2012.

For more information about the Fairweather Family Prize for Student Composers, visit the University of Sydney website.