Elizabeth Younan and Michael Grebla have been announced as the joint winners of the Willgoss Ensemble Composition Prize for 2020. The Prize, awarded by the Music Performance Unit of the University of New South Wales, is expected to encourage the creation of short, original works to enhance the repertoire of UNSW’s various instrumental and choral ensembles.

Each of the winners will receive $2,500 and will be commissioned to compose a work for one of UNSW’s community ensembles. Younan’s will be a piece for brass and percussion ensemble while Grebla’s will be intended for string ensemble. Both works will be performed as part of the 2021 season by members of the UNSW Orchestra and the UNSW Wind Symphony.

Composers Elizabeth Younan and Michael Grebla

Younan, a Sydney-born composer of Lebanese descent was, until recently, living in Philadelphia where she is currently studying with Jennifer Higdon and David Ludwig as an artist diploma student at the Curtis Institute of Music. A graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, as a recipient of the Australian Postgraduate Award she studied with composer Carl Vine. Australian audiences may remember her Piano Sonata, performed as part of Musica Viva’s...