JACK Quartet — Photo by Justin Bernhaut

Last fall we announced the 2012 Finale National Composition Contest, cosponsored by JACK Quartet, the American Composers Forum, and MakeMusic. The goal of the competition is to encourage creativity by student composers currently enrolled in graduate and undergraduate institutions in the United States. 

Today we’re announcing the three finalists: Taylor Brook (Columbia University), Michelle Lou (Stanford University) and Nathan Shields (The Juilliard School).

All three received a cash prize and have been asked to write a string quartet for JACK Quartet, which will be workshopped and performed by the ensemble in New York. The final prize, which includes an additional cash award and future public performances by JACK Quartet, will be chosen by JACK Quartet at a public reading session at the DiMenna Center in New York City on Friday, September 14, 2012.

Please join me in congratulating Taylor, Michelle, and Nathan. I look forward to featuring them in future Finale blog posts and I hope to attend the public reading session in September.

What do you hope to do with Finale? Win our other composition contest? Something entirely different? Please let us know what you’re up to, or simply encourage my boss to send me to New York (or Siberia, if you prefer), by clicking on “Comments” below.