Composer Working With MHS Ensemble Wins International Competition

MARLBOROUGH, MA—Composer Cody Forrest, who has been working with the Marlborough High School over the past year as a part of an innovative 12-month partnership called InConcert, recently won 1st Prize in the 2018 Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition.

The prize-winning composition is Forrest’s Ciaccona for solo violin, which was commissioned by the Boston-based ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, and was premiered by violinist Gabriela Diaz in 2015 and has been performed multiple times since the premiere. As the top prize-winner in the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition, Forrest’s Ciaccona will be performed on April 27, 2018 in Vienna, Austria.

On April 26, the day before the concert in Vienna, Cody Forrest’s Lux Arcana will be premiered by the Cochran Wrenn Duo (Bonnie Cochran, flute and Bryan Wrenn, guitar) with the Marlborough High School Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Piazza. The world premiere of Lux Arcana is the culmination of InConcert, a yearlong project designed to increase engagement with the arts through the process of composing and performing a concertino for flute, guitar and band.

Bonnie Cochran, flutist and a resident of Marlborough, started InConcert with guitarist Bryan Wrenn to support the music education program in the local schools. The Cochran Wrenn Duo commissioned Cody Forrest to write a piece to perform alongside the MHS Wind Ensemble, and the duo and composer have worked with MHS Wind Ensemble students several times during the course of the project. The students even had input into the composition.

Composer Cody Forrest is currently a doctoral candidate at New England Conservatory of Music and his music has been performed by the Cassatt String Quartet, violinist Léo Marillier, the Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble and the New England Conservatory Philharmonia. In addition to winning the grand prize in the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition, Forrest has received the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, NEC Honors Ensemble Award, and served as composer-in-residence for Chamber Music Campania’s 2016 festival in Varano, Italy.

InConcert is supported by grants from the Marlborough Cultural Council, the Boston Conservatory Alumni Entrepreneurial Award, donations from David French Music Company and Price Chopper, along with other generous individuals and businesses.