Young Composers Competition Winners

Skye Neal is a 15 year old composer and musician from Portland, Oregon. One of her biggest sources for musical inspiration is the gorgeous wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. These sights, sounds, and feelings have worked their way into her compositions, creating rich sound worlds of melodious birdsong, rushing rivers, and towering forests.

Skye has studied theory & composition with Dr. Mátti Kovler since 2017 and she has participated in Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project since 2018. Her pieces have won recognition by Music Teachers National Association, Oregon Music Education Association, National Federation of Music Clubs, Tribeca New Music, and Young Women's Composition Competition.

When Skye isn’t composing or making music, you might find her rowing on the Willamette River or bird watching in a local park.

Chase Morrison (b. 2004) is a self-published award-winning film and concert composer and violinist currently based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His concert music, written for a wide range of ensembles, has been performed/awarded by such organizations as the National Young Composer's Challenge, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, International Clarinet Association, Texas New Music Ensemble, and Voices of Change, among others. In his works, Chase aims to convey the intertwined beauty of nature and philosophy, and he is an outspoken advocate for the preservation of nature. In addition to his concert music, Chase works as an avid media composer and sound designer, having contributed music to a wide array of films, commercials, and other media across the United States. He also regularly works as an arranger and copyist in the DFW area, most notably for TV and media composer Bruce Faulconer (Dragon Ball Z). Chase is currently pursuing a B.M. in Music Composition at Texas Christian University under the direction of Till Meyn, Martin Blessinger, and Blaise Ferrandino. He is an active member of the Society of Composers, Inc., currently serving as president of TCU's chapter.

Having grown up on the outskirts of a large metropolitan area, the glowing city lights from afar have been a common spectacle at night. Nighttime Glow aims to capture this feeling of guarded wonder I often felt when gazing at these far away lights, telling an all too frequent tale about the extreme environmental impacts humans have had on our world. Scored for the pierrot ensemble, this piece was composed for and premiered at the 2024 Texas New Music Festival in Houston, Texas.

Max Heyck is a senior composer, pianist and engraver at the University of Oklahoma. His teachers include Konstantinos Karathanasis, Jerod Tate, and Maria Kaoutzani. Max’s music explores facets of popular American identity, including a fascination for science and progress, accounts of history, and inspiration from popular idioms. Above all Max seeks to deliver an exciting and eye-opening experience to the audience and the performers, leaving something for both the heart and mind to enjoy.

Max’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including The University of Oklahoma’s Maxine Appleman Fagin Award, first place in the Prelude Camp Young Composers Competition, and winning the Brightmusic Commissioning Competition. Max has made appearances at such festivals as the International Music Festival of the Adriatic and Sofia Symphonic Summit. Recent projects include a symphony commissioned by the Oklahoma Route 66 Centennial Commission, a scholastic orchestra commission for Alcott Middle School Orchestra, and a tango for saxophone and piano.

Max served as Director of Operations for the University of Oklahoma’s Composers United organization in 2024, and as president of OU’s Music Composition Club from 2022-2023. He currently works as a composer, engraver and pianist.

About Superluminal Motion
There are many phenomena in the universe that appear to move faster than the cosmic speed limit. Fast-moving geometric points of intersection between massive objects, the effects of gravity on light traveling long distances, and Cherenkov radiation (in which electrons travel faster than light in water) are all examples of ‘superluminal motion’. This piece was inspired by these optical illusions that appear to bend the rules of the universe.