ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE 2004 GPO ORCHESTRATION COMPETITION!

[Garritan]

I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2004 GPO Orchestration Competition organized by Garritan Orchestral Libraries, Capellen Music Production and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Grand Prize winner is Richard Birdsall from the UK whose winning entry was titled "Knights & Magic."

The runner-up winners are: Kentaro Sato (Ken-P), William Pearson and Craig Reeves. I am happy that Ken-P was present during the NAMM Press Conference when we announced the winners.

Richard Birdsall will have his winning work performed by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra on March 31, 2005, in Olomouc, Czech Republic and broadcast live on the Internet. He will receive airfare and hotel for the performance, as well as tuition to the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program.

Original only the grand prize winner was to have his/her work performed. But because the four top entries were so very close, we decided, and the orchestra agreed, to work towards having all four works performed. So the grand prize winner as well as the three runner-up winners will have the opportunity to have their work performed by the Moravian Philharmonic.

Congratulations to the following who where in the top twenty: Jun Yamamoto, Mario Rimoldi, Francisco Marchetti, Jarred Soule, Mark Slater, Jakob Olofson, Naoto Kubo, Iwan Roth, Minako Seki, Matthew Sargent, Terrence Dwyer, Jerry Wickham, Mark Winter, Greg Kramer and Steve Goers. They will each receive a prize which may include sampling software, audio software, notation software, VST plug-ins, subscription, a MIDI keyboard, or other products. Other outstanding entries were received and will receive honorary mentions.

With nearly 200 superb entries from users around the world, the judges had a difficult time selecting the winners. The entries pushed the envelope for creativity and, by doing so, showed the wide range of capabilities of Personal Orchestra,. Works were judged blindly (I was not one of the judges) and were evaluated with a view towards composition, orchestration, color, balance, technique and other factors. The winning entries were masterful on all fronts - superb composition, extremely well-orchestrated, well-produced and made excellent use of Personal Orchestra.

The entries were outstanding. I am honored that so many took such great time, effort and care in their submissions. There were so many good entries and I wish everyone could have their work performed.

We will be posting some of the entries soon.

Thanks to PapaChalk and DeSound from Northern Sounds for co-sponsoring this competition.

Plans are underway for the 2nd Annual GPO Orchestration Competition. We have some exciting ideas for next years events and would welcome any suggestions.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who contributed.

Gary Garritan

[SeanHannifin]

Woohoo! A big CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners! I look forward to hearing the winning entries! The prizes are all well-earned!

Many thanks to Garritan and all the sponsors of the competition!

[lukpcn]

Nothing more to sya then: CONGRATULATIONS

[crr]

Congratulations to everybody!
Thanks Gary, we were waiting! :)

[Jeff Turner]

Congratulations to all the winners. Can't wait to hear 'em!!!

Jeff

[Jesse Hopkins]

Good job all! Can't wait to hear "Knights and Magic", the title alone tells me it will be rousing.

[Ivan P]

Congratulations!! I think I missed that one in the server, and I can't wait to hear Kentaro's piece as well, I love his music ;)

[stevegoers]

Wow! Congrats all around! Can't wait to hear the winning compositions!

[William West]

Congradulations Richard! William, Craig, and Ken!
We have so many talented people here! Great company to be in!

[Jerry W.]

Wow! Congrats all around! Can't wait to hear the winning compositions!
I too cannot wait to hear them!! That is great - Congrats to everyone!

Jerry

[Joseph Burrell]

Jerry, you were in the top 20! That's something to be proud of!

[Joseph Burrell]

Congratulations to the winners! I can't wait to see the live performances. It will be an amazing day for sure.

[bye]

IS there a place where we can hear these submitted pieces?

[Jerry W.]

Jerry, you were in the top 20! That's something to be proud of!

Joseph, I am proud - I haven't won anything in my life, so to even be in the top 20, let alone the top 200 is a nice treat! :) There must have been some sort of mix-up - that HAS to be it. He he he.

:D

Jerry

[Shazbot]

Hey, that's great that the three runners-up might get their works performed, too. Classy!

Congratulations to everyone. Looking forward to hearing everything.

[danpowers]

I'm putting a note on March 31 in my calender right now. Congratulations to all the winners!

[Toonyfish]

Congrats to all the winners! Can't wait to hear the pieces as well!!

Toonyfish

[Richard Birdsall]

Hi people!

I'd just like to say I'm very honoured to have won the grand prize :) .

Thank you so...SO much to Mr Garritan and the judges (and anyone else involved) for allowing my greatest dream to come true. I can't put into words what this means to me, so sorry if this post seems short - I just dont know what to say.

I am looking forward to hearing the other winning compositions!!

Thank you

Richard

[DarwinKopp]

Heartfelt congrats to the winners! I'm sure the judges had a dickens of a time sorting this all out. Also, a round of consolations to all the participants. Remember, the journey is as important as the destination (maybe moreso). I, for one, learned the effort, persistence, and time management skills it takes to conceive and produce a full orchestral score to a looming deadline and found the experience both exhausting and rewarding.

[Hardy Heern]

I am so very pleased for all the entrants and winners (and strangely relieved too which is especially weird as I didn't even enter!). It is a wise, generous and pleasing conclusion to have the four winners recorded too.

I greatly look forward to hearing the top entries and as many of the others as I can. I can imagine what a hell of a job it must have been to listen to them all and narrow them down....I did estimate the number of hours in an earlier post and it was daunting indeed.

Once again, very well done to all and my heartiest congratulations!!

Frank

[lukpcn]

Hey Gary,
Will there be a this year edition of the contest ? :cool:

[billp]

Well, I was sitting here doing my taxes and got an email from Terry Dwyer (Poolman) with this little surprise. Unless there's another William Pearson, I guess that's me up there among the runners-up--rare company indeed. I'm a bit shocked since that's the first piece I ever wrote for full orchestra--or should I admit that here. If it's not me, congratulations to the other William Pearson and of course to all of the other winners as well. I can't wait to hear the other submissions.

And, Gary, maybe you would open up an area on your site where we could hear all of the submissions, winning or not.

[trentpmcd]

Congrats to all the winners. Can't wait to hear all of the works.

[southportJim]

Remember, the journey is as important as the destination (maybe moreso). I, for one, learned the effort, persistence, and time management skills it takes to conceive and produce a full orchestral score to a looming deadline and found the experience both exhausting and rewarding.

Well said...working against the deadline was a great learning experience. I've done that a lot with software development, but since I'm an amateur musician there has never been any pressure to actually finish something. Just getting the score finished and submitted on time was great fun.

Congratulations to ALL (both the "winners" and the "placers")!!!!

And many thanks to Mr. Garritan and Co for providing the tools to make this possible. If I had had GPO 30 years ago, I might have actually learned orchestration the first time around!

[Craig Reeves]

Oh.........my............GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WON!!!! Oh my GOD I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


OK.....breathe, Craig, breathe.......OH MY GOD I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON!!!

I was sittin' here with baited breath all weekend waitin' for y'all to post them results, man!!!

WHOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE FOR DA PLAYAZ!!!!!!!!!

...does that mean I'm the only black person who won??

Too bad my bro, Chris, didn't win....but he sent a piano concerto and I don't think that would have been possible to perform as the piano part is really hard.

Aight then y'all and big ups to my man Gary Garritan! YeeeeeeaaahH!!!!!!

so what I win? Hehehe?

[mariobolo]

First of all congratulations to all the winners!

may i ask if Mark Rimoldi (listed in the top twenty) is correct (and in that case congratulation to him) or it should be Mario Rimoldi (and in that case i could faint)?

in any case thankyou to Mr Garritan for this opportunity!

Mario Rimoldi

[Chinablu]

Congratulations :)

Chin@blu

[Craig Reeves]

Only thing is.....I wonder which work of mine won?

[Joseph Burrell]

Craig, glad I put that site up now for the contest uploads!

Congratulations!!!

[jesshmusic]

To the winners: Congrats and fabulous work!

To the rest of us: Take heart, there will be more competitions and if you work hard you will eventually reap the reward (karma!). Remember to work hard and practice composing often, study scores, etc. because there is always next year! :D

Again, congrats to the winners. Now... back to work! :cool:

[Craig Reeves]

Craig, glad I put that site up now for the contest uploads!

Congratulations!!!

My gosh, Joseph! Thank you SO much because if it weren't for you, then I wouldn't even been able to enter it!

I hope I don't sound like I'm gloating or anything but stuff like this just doesn't happen to people like me, man.

I'm one of them brothaz who basically had to save up for MONTHS and scrape ever penney out of the checkbook just to even be able to AFFORD GPO in the first place. People often look at me and just think of me as just some dumb thug kid who stays in trouble. I'm so happy I won this award because this is for my whole neighborhood! This is for you, Pirtle!

I can't thank all of you enough I'm so happy! Thank you God!

[tcohen]

Congratulations to all... I can't wait to hear the pieces!!!! Possibly some of the entrants could start a thread and put their works in here so we can hear them sooner!!!!

Well done to all who won and to all with the courage to enter. Entering something as personal as a composition of your own (or a "piece of yourself") takes guts and I'm sure all the entrants would do us proud.

Gary, thanks for a great competition and a reason to write for some of us who would probably never find the time to actaully finish a piece otherwise with real jobs, families, etc.

Regards,

Tim

[Garritan]

First of all congratulations to all the winners!

may i ask if Mark Rimoldi (listed in the top twenty) is correct (and in that case congratulation to him) or it should be Mario Rimoldi (and in that case i could faint)?

in any case thankyou to Mr Garritan for this opportunity!

Mario Rimoldi

Mario,

My apologies for the typo. Yes, it is you listed in the top twenty! If you faint make sure there is someone to catch you. :D Congratulations Mario.

[Tony Monaghan]

Well done all!

Tony

[mariobolo]

I can' t believe it....

mario

[tcohen]

By the way, I count only 19 names in the top twenty... Did someone win for TWO entries? Is there someone else? Did I count wrong? Does anyone really care :rolleyes: ....

Mario - way to go, that's what I call suspense!

Tim

[Joseph Burrell]

People often look at me and just think of me as just some dumb thug kid who stays in trouble. I'm so happy I won this award because this is for my whole neighborhood! This is for you, Pirtle!

I can't thank all of you enough I'm so happy! Thank you God!

Craig, you made my day. I understand more than you know what its like to be pigeonholed into a stereotype you don't deserve. My heartfelt congratulations to you! Go get 'em. Shout it from the rooftops and don't let anyone downplay this achievement. You deserve it!

Congratulations to everyone else as well!

[Rhap2]

Congratulations to all who participated and kudos to the special winners. :) You have reached a milestone in your musical lives and you must savor it so that your motivation to create further new works never lessens. I know how you feel as I've been there before and the anticipation of hearing your compositions played by a live orchestra are mind-boggling. When you hear your music played "live" you will experience such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and joy.........like never before in your life.

It gives me a great deal of satisfaction in knowing we have such great tools for music-making in this 21st Century. Gary Garritan has given so much to us all in the way of GOS and GPO and now he has provided an unforgetable experience for those whose works will be performed "live." Because of his insight and knowledge, we have all been provided with the opportunity to make beautiful music to the best of our ability.

It's a pleasure to be associated with this list, all of the talented people, and those who have provided tutorials and other other helpful hints so that we can all set our musical goals as high as we desire. We live in an age where technology has, indeed, motivated us towards more musical accomplishments than ever before...........

Again, congratulations to all who participated. I can't wait to hear some of the magnificent works you all have created.

John Cannon

[Garritan]

Congratulations again Craig. I tried calling you to give you the news in person but got your answering machine.



...does that mean I'm the only black person who won??

I don't know Craig and it doesn't matter. We don't know the background of the people that entered. The judging was done totally blind and you won soley by the merits of your composition.

What did you win you ask? The opportunity to have your work recorded by a real symphony orchestra. There is much to do to get ready. I'll be in touch to discuss the details.

I'm one of them brothaz who basically had to save up for MONTHS and scrape ever penney out of the checkbook just to even be able to AFFORD GPO in the first place. People often look at me and just think of me as just some dumb thug kid who stays in trouble. I'm so happy I won this award because this is for my whole neighborhood! This is for you, Pirtle!

Your neighborhood must be proud and hope they tune in when the performance is broadcast. And our GPO neighborhood is proud of you too. The music both you and your brother Christopher have contributed is amazing.

Congratulations again.

Gary Garritan

[Twinset]

Congratulations to all who entered the GPO competition, and especially to Richard. I'm glad to see a fellow Brit won ;)

All the best
David

[mariobolo]

Well...

- one of the greatest suspanse in my life
- a faint

and now i'm able again to think properly.

as amateur musician (i've never studied music) this is one of the biggest goals of my life.

thanks again to Mr Garritan and everyone involved in this competition.

it's ten past midnight in milan...
does it make sense if i go to bed....?

[DPDAN]

A huge bow from me, to all the winners.
Also a hearty congratulations to those that proudly submitted their music and didn't make it into the top. Think of it this way,.... just how close were you? :)

Oh My Word! Thank you Gary.... again!

DPDAN

[falcon1]

Congrats to all the winners! :)

[Looper]

Congratulations to all the winners!

Congratulations to all those who didn't win for entering the contest and trying your best!

[Styxx]

In my book, there are no losers on this forum. I've heard so much fantastic original compositions for almost a year now and I can say with much satisfaction, Just all winners! All you need is next year. ;)
Congratulations to all of you! :)

[Ludovic]

Congratulations to all winners and participants! That was a great moment of suspense and happiness. I think an award goes also to Gary not only for GPO, but also for having the 4 works performed by a symphonic orchestra! GPO is definitively not a business like other businesses, but a living proof of total devotion to music. Maybe too much words, but I feel proud to be member of this forum and the GPO community!

Louis

[provette82]

A hearty warm CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and other participants.

Will the performance be recorded?

Would love to have a CD of it.

Simply FANTASTIC

Paul O

[Richard Birdsall]

I think an award goes also to Gary not only for GPO, but also for having the 4 works performed by a symphonic orchestra! GPO is definitively not a business like other businesses, but a living proof of total devotion to music. Maybe too much words, but I feel proud to be member of this forum and the GPO community!

Louis

I couldn't agree more. :D

[Deirdre Smathers]

Congratulations everyone! I've had the pleasure of listening to various great compositions by each of the winners as well as the rest who submitted. What an achievement! Pat yourselves on the back, each of you, and heartily...you deserve it!

This is just soooo exciting! :D

Deirdre

[mschiff]

Congratulations to the winners and to all that entered. We are all winners because we get to use Gary's great tools in our music.

-- Martin

[L0W]

I took the liberty of listening to some of the entries while they were on the FTP server (between entrants putting them up and Joseph hiding them away) and what I want to say is that there were some absolutely truly stunning pieces there that didn't even make it into the top 20. So obviously well done to those that won, ran-up and got top 20 ratings - but also well done to all the excellent entries that didn't make it. This time, when the judges are saying how hard it was to choose, I believe them!

I hope Gary puts the top 20 onto a CD.

[Jerry W.]

Congratulations to the winners and to all that entered. We are all winners because we get to use Gary's great tools in our music.

-- Martin

Well said!!! I feel just giddy all the time when I open up GPO.

:)

Jerry

[Jun Yamamoto]

Congratulations to the Winners!

and thank you for including my music within the 20th place if there is no other Jun Yamamoto is here.

#By the way, which of my entries was placed?

Sincerely,

[AndreasKrebs]

From deep in my heart: congratulations to the no. 1 winner, congratulations to the other guys that will have their music played live, congratulations to those on the "highest 10% ranks" and of course congratulations to all other musicians who took the challenge to prepare and submit a work of art ... ok, ok, now I'm congratulating myself ;)

And thanks to Gary and all others involved for making this possible: software, contest and community.

Best regards,
Andreas

[IGOR]

I JUST HAD A SURPRISE…while consulting the results of the GPO competition, I did notice that my entrance was under the first 20. I still cannot believe it. Not because I think my music is that bad :-), but because it is atonal and does not belong to any established style. I did enter the competition because a member of the forum did encourage me to do so, and it is a great encouragement for me, to know that my kind of music can be successful in a competition as this one. This gives me the courage to continue in a direction which is normally not very popular.

I would also like to thank to all the Garritan Team for their total commitment to music. They are a little (sorry, a big….) sunshine in the music of today, which have become more industry as art. And of course, congratulations to all participants, winners or not!

Thanks

Iwan

P.S. By the way, if you feel like it, you can hear my piece at http://www.iwanroth-sax.com/Text_E/My%20Music_E.htm . I think the piece which was considered must be IN MEMORIAM III, but I do not really know because I did send all three.