Laura Schwartz, a PhD candidate in composition and theory, has received significant recognition for Wreathes, a new piece for strings (Jan 2017). Wreathes was the winning submission for the sixth annual Dead Elf Music Award for an outstanding composition by a University of Pittsburgh graduate student. The composition also won the Margaret Blackburn Composition Competition awarded biennially to a female student composer. According to Schwartz, the string players in her approximately 15-minute work, “allow a chorale to emerge from a circular bow technique that is played throughout.”

Both prizes include cash awards. The Dead Elf Music Award carries with it a prize of $500 and the Blackburn Competition awards $1000 to the winning composer.

Congratulations to Laura Schwartz for the success of Wreathes! We look forward to many more successes for Laura, Wreathes, and her future compositions.