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The American Pops Orchestra and Winterthur proudly present the second annual Ruth Wales Du Pont Collegiate Composition Competition, featuring six of the nation’s most promising young composers. Selected from hundreds of applicants, each finalist has created a new work inspired by an object from Winterthur’s renowned collection, performed by members of The American Pops Orchestra under the direction of Founder and Music Director Luke Frazier. Honoring the legacy of Ruth Wales Du Pont, this unique concert brings together historic art and newly composed music in a dynamic dialogue. Audience members join a distinguished panel of judges in voting for the winning composition, making for an evening of creativity, discovery, and participation.
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Please help us congratulate this year’s group of Finalists:
Classical
Popular
2025 Ruth Wales Du Pont Composition Competition
Comp Comp was absolutely life changing for me.
...my time with APO and the "Comp Comp" is a critical part of that. That weekend truly was a turning point in how I wrote, how I made art, and how I understood myself - thank you.
The American Pops Orchestra has made it a priority to not only maintain Pre-COVID content in a virtual form, but also create new content to keep our audience engaged and our musicians employed. As an organization that strives to break the mold of concerts, we are using COVID-19 to reimagine our normal operations. Since March we have streamed two full original concerts, created solo performances by instrumentalist and vocalists, rethought our Music and Mindfulness series as a more often and virtual event, and partnered with organizations across the country in our virtual trivia series.
In addition, APO has held multiple in-person socially distanced outdoor Porch Concerts that provide our audience with the opportunity to safely see live art despite the current situation around us. Throughout the pandemic, APO has employed hundreds of musicians and artists and in a time when many other organizations couldn’t. In the words of Maestro Luke Frazier, “we never stopped.”
Moving forward, APO is proud to present our NextGen National vocal competition which will include students from across the country competing virtually for the chance to win a monetary prize and the opportunity to perform in a future APO MainStage Show. This will include a virtual audition and semi-finals with a live (COVID permitting) finals in Spring of 2021. APO has also filmed multiple productions that will be broadcast nationally on PBS. APO has been grateful to keep creating and making music despite the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and will keep working to bring you, our valued audience, original and unique content.
To support APO as we keep moving forward you can click here, so that we can continue to employ more artists and musicians. If you have any questions about what APO has been doing during the pandemic, please email hannah@theamericanpops.org. Thank you and stay safe.
