Tzimon Barto, International Concert Pianist

The winning composition of the second International Barto Prize was performed by Tzimon Barto during his concerts on Saturday, March 15 & Sunday, March 16, 2008. The concerts were at the Bay State Theatre in Eustis. There was a reception following Saturday’s performance at A Third Place, in honor of Barto.

On Friday, March 14, the 2008 Barto prize winner, Patricio da Silva, was introduced at an announcement reception at the James Brand Gallery.

Lake Eustis Institute tripled the number of entrees from 2006 and the quality of the work was very high. The winner was selected from scores submitted from all over the world.

Barto, an international pianist, created the Barto Prize in 2006 as a way of giving back to the central Florida community where his roots lie. Barto will perform the winning piece during his 2008/2009 concert season, beginning September 2008. There was also a $5,000 monetary prize.

The judges were Tobias Picker, composer, USA, Tzimon Barto, pianist, USA, Bright Cheng, composer, China and USA and Marc-Andre’ Dalbavie, composer, France.

Before enthusiastic crowds on Saturday, March 15th and Sunday, March 16th, at the historic Bay State Theater in Eustis, Eustis native and international pianist Tzimon Barto performed the second Barto Prize for solo piano composition by Patricio da Silva

Da Silva’s winning composition, Three Movements for Piano, was played by Barto in the first half of a brilliant concert that featured works by Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Liszt. The pianist’s virtuosity brought the hometown audience to its feet on several occasions.

The prize winner attended the concerts and received a trophy, a check for $5,000 and the promise that Barto will play the composition during his 2008-2009 concert tour.

Patricio da Silva, 2008 winner Barto Prize

Patrício da Silva (1973, Portugal) received formal musical training at the Lisbon College of Music (1992-95) where he studied piano and composition (B.M. in piano, 1995).

Following his move to the USA, da Silva pursued his composition studies as a recipient of the Betty Freeman Foundation Scholarship in Composition with Morton Subotnick, Stephen L. Mosko, and the late Mel Powell at the California Institute of the Arts (MFA, 1999).

With support from the Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento (Portugal), he completed the Ph.D. program in composition at the University of California (2003), having studied composition with William Kraft, computer music with Curtis Roads, and algorithmic composition and music with Artificial Intelligence with David Cope.

Additional studies in Germany include composition seminars with Helmut Lachenmann (Darmstadt, 1998) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (Kürten, 2002). His post-doctoral work as invited researcher at IRCAM in France (2003-04) was followed by a research grant (2004-05) by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology in the UK. In 2006 he was a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center studying with Michael Gandolfi, and John Harbison, and in 2008 an associate artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Awards include, among others, the Gould Family Foundation Young Composers Award (2000), the Ojai Festival Music for Tomorrow (2001), the Ottto Eckstein Family Fellowship (2006), and the II International Barto Prize (2008). His music has been recently heard at Tanglewood, Ojai Music Festival, Musical Explorations, The Resistance Fluctuations, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Zipper Hall, CREATE, Cistermúsica, International Music Festival Póvoa do Varzim, and the Los Angeles Sonic Odyssey, having his work also been featured in several European radio and television programs. Other collaborations include composing incidental music for the Shakespeare & Co. and orchestration for Hollywood film scores. His music has been performed by notable soloists and ensembles such as the California Ear-Unit, Moscow Piano Quartet, New Century Players, New Fromm Players, Orquestra do Algarve, Stefan Asbury, Gloria Cheng, Tzimon Barto, Cesário Costa, Lorenz Gamma, David Gutkin, Michael Kudirka, Brian Pezzone, José Rodilla, Ming Tsu, Laurent Wagner, and Lei Weng.

The first Barto Prize was awarded in March 2006 to Claude Baker for his composition FLIGHTS OF PASSAGE: From Silent Sun to Starry Night. Baker said, “It was indeed an honor to have been selected as the first recipient of the international Barto Prize and to have been given an opportunity to work closely with such a superb pianist as Tzimon Barto”.

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