Andrew Feazelle’s classical music compositional awards occurred during the era he was most active in the classical music community: 2006 to 2015.
Compositional Awards Time Frame
2006 marked the first year Feazelle had stopped perusing film music writing, secondary to a permanent carpel tunnel injury sustained a few years earlier, which made it painful to work the 16 hour days in post production, over a month or two’s time needed to produce scores for films. It was at that time the young composer began to write classical music on spec, with such pieces as Scherzo: Captain William Hilton’s Journey and his Serenade for Violin and Orchestra, aka How to Secretly Fall in Love With JHK.
This latter piece ironically, when premiered with violinist Sam Fischer and the Los Angeles Doctor’s Symphony Orchestra (now known as Orchestra Nova LA) in Plummer Park, Hollywood, CA, in 2009, prompted an audience member to approach the composer after the concert, claiming to be on the voting committee for the BAFTA film music score awards, and ask him if he were interested in working with Media Ventures (Hans Zimmer’s music production company). Zimmer happened to be her neighbor, and at the time had an opening for a position there. Feazelle politely turned her down, explaining his carpel tunnel injury.
2015 marked the death of Feazelle’s mother, Eloise Gail Feazelle, who spend the better part of 2014 with aggressive lung cancer, weighing on the composer, such that he suffered a bout of depression, and withdrew from the classical community. Indeed from that year to the present, Feazelle stopped sending music out for compositional contests or performances.
Masterworks of the New Era 2007 Award – ERM Media
Andrew Feazelle was part of a small set of classical composers, picked from hundreds of entries, comprised mostly of university based, professors of composition and the like, to participate in ERM Media’s Masterworks of the New Era prize. Scherzo: Captain William Hilton’s Journey was the piece in question, Feazelle’s first serious classical composition for orchestra.
ERM however, recorded the piece at such a slow tempo, the character of it was functionally destroyed, leaving the composer no better off, regarding the building of a concert music career.
ERM Media dissolved after the death of its founder and president, Robert Winstin.
Third Millennium Ensemble 2013 Composition Contest
Feazelle’s first serious piece for chamber ensemble, Winter, Ashgrove Cottage for Flute, Harp, and Viola, garnered second prize in Third Millennium Ensemble’s yearly composition contest.
The piece then subsequently premiered at the Ensemble’s Touch of the Irish concert at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick 4880 Elmer Derr Rd. Frederick, MD, in 2014.
To this day TME has not been able to provide a recording of the concert to the composer.
Philosophy on Composition Contests
Entering composition contests, Feazelle quickly found, was a lot of work for little gain. It would take 20 some submissions to get 1 contest win, or performance. Only university careerists trying to build resumes can stomach such inefficiency of time.
Though Feazelle’s more juvenile pieces were able to garner contest wins or performances over a decade ago, his more mature works, written during the height of his creativity, have yet to be performed. Check out Feazelle’s three symphonies by clicking here.
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