Current Composition Grant Recipients

Grand Prize Winner - Polina Nazaykinskaya, a violinist and composer, is currently a graduate student at the Yale School of Music. For the last few years, Polina has focused primarily on composition. She is the winner of several composers' competitions such as the Dmitriy Kabalevskiy Competition and the International Composers Competition. In 2009, Polina participated in the New Music Workshop at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival where she premiered her work. This past year she has completed two successful projects for children in the Music in Schools Initiative Program and become involved in composing music for film.

Matt Van Brink is a composer, pianist and accordionist. He has received three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and the Northridge Composition Prize as well as prizes and performances from String Orchestra of New York City, San Francisco Choral Artists, TransforMusic, and the Delius Competition. Currently he has been composing chamber music, vocal music and musical theater pieces for young performers at Concordia Conservatory in Bronxville, NY.

Caroline Mallonee has composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and choirs, as well as two operas and music for film.  Her music has been heard around the world including, Lincoln Center and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. She has received commissions and awards from the ASCAP Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer and the MacDowell Colony. Mallonée currently serves on the adjunct faculty of New York University and is a teacher and administrator for The Walden School.