Eight composers of distinct and diverse compositional styles have been selected for the ABLAZE Records Orchestral Masters Volume 1 disc. These composers have won a partially subsidized recording and worldwide disc issue of their compositions performed and recorded by the Brno Philharmonic and Maestro Mikel Toms. The following composers were chosen from a submission pool of over sixty composers from eighteen countries:

Lance Hulme (North Carolina, USA) composed a pulse driven but ‘maximal’ score in his winning work Sirens' Song. The score teems with color, vibrancy, shimmering orchestral edge, luminous textures and most of all a compelling and driven pulse and architecture, which made it a stand out winning work.

Federico Garcia (COLOMBIA/Pittsburgh, USA) has written a wonderfully expressive score—passacaglia on the ostinato bass of the Crucifixus from the B minor Mass of Bach. His Passacaglia on a Theme by Bach carries a gorgeously evolving dark coloration carried through the orchestra with tremendously effective counterpoint that is beautifully balanced in bringing this organically conceived, richly textured, evocatively colored and emotionally engaging score to life.

Rodney Waschka II (North Carolina, USA) is well known for his electronic and algorithmic compositions. For his Belgrade Overture he used a genetic algorithm to compose a pulse driven and effectively orchestrated work that sets a crackling pace from beginning to end. The work utilizes a Serbian folk tune Ajde Jano and positions this within this pulsing and brilliant orchestral world that is effective, infectious and memorable.

Paul Siskind (New York, USA) composed an approachable set of traditional dance forms, reinterpreted from a contemporary viewpoint. His Organal Dances is comprised of a fanfare, gavotte, sarabande, minuet, and gigue, with the traditional aspects of modality and organum applied within an orchestral context. At once approachable and assured, with colorful orchestration, the compelling immediacy of Siskind's piece arises from his artful reshaping of familiar historical and iconic materials.

Craig Morris (New York, USA) composed a short and fetchingly beautiful Lullaby for orchestra. Redolent of Bernstein and Copland, and driven with a sure melodic and harmonic hand, this deeply American score paints a lovely and melodic world that is very effectively orchestrated and affectively captivating despite its brevity.

Hiroaki Manaka (Yamato, JAPAN) composed a thoughtful, sensitive and intimate work that reminisces on a long ago trip to the United States. Manaka’s Thought of the Great Plains is an expressively subtle and obliquely structured tone poem whose well crafted and considered orchestration gives a deeply colored voice to the beautifully nuanced melodic curves of this musical reminiscence.

Spiros Mazis (Athens, GREECE) composed a work that is modernistic and textural in conception, but vibrant, brilliant and visceral in execution. With broad strokes of deeply textured orchestral color, Mazis’s 10 Dimensions – AEB160 draws on the superb potential of a large orchestra to create this boldly contrasted, dramatic and colorful, yet dynamically intellectual work.

Joyce Wai-chung Tang (Hong Kong, CHINA) composed a tremendously compelling a beautifully hued orchestral work in her Quicksilver Swirls for orchestra. Quicksilver is another term for mercury and in this work Tang re-interprets mercury’s “silvery color and intense fast motion” to create a work that is vibrant, visceral and immersive. Tang’s music can also be found on ABLAZE Records Millennial Masters Series.

Mikel Toms, conductor
British conductor Mikel Toms studied at Oxford University and is currently Director of Recordings of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic.

Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Besední dům, Brno, CZECH REPUBLIC
The Brno Philharmonic has long been regarded as one of the best orchestras in this CZECH REPUBLIC.