Members of the University of Delaware Department of Music have received several mentions for semifinalist placements for the prestigious 2016 American Prize.

Senior composition major Daniel Despins is a semifinalist for the American Prize in Composition-Chamber Music, student division, for his piece Medusa. His submission of Medusa was recorded by the Christiana Winds faculty ensemble with Eileen Grycky, flute; Jeff O'Donnell, oboe; Christopher Nichols, clarinet; John David Smith, horn; and Lynn Moncilovich, bassoon.

University of Delaware Orchestras and director James Allen Anderson have received three semi-finalist award placements:

• The UD Symphony Orchestra is a semifinalist for the America Prize in Orchestral Performance, college/university division, for their March 20, 2016, performance at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. The program included Nikolaï Rimski-Korsakov’s Sherazade, Op. 35, along with winners of the annual Department of Music Concerto Competition: Dalton Regnier, composition; Casey Wilkes, clarinet; and Shoshana Lieberman, soprano.

• Anderson is also a semifinalist for the American Prize in Conducting, Orchestra Division, college/university, a recognition that puts him in company with esteemed conductors from around the country like Gonzalo Farias of the University of Illinois, Peter J. Folliard of Eastman School of Music, Jaclyn Johnson of the University of Tennessee and Genevieve Leclair of Syracuse University.

• The UD Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra under Anderson’s direction are semifinalists for the American Prize in Orchestral Programming, the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award, for their concert programming in the 2015-16 season, a testament to the superb quality of the orchestral program at UD and Anderson’s commitment to innovative programming.

“I tend to pair interesting, unknown works with well-known works,” he says. “I look for what thematic elements tie them together.”

The symphony orchestra’s December 2015 concert included pieces that highlight the clarinet: Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral, Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major; and Bernhard Henrik Crusell’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, with clarinet soloist Christopher Nichols.

The American Prize is a series of non-profit national competitions providing cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition for the best recorded performances of music by ensembles and individuals each year in the United States at the professional, college/university, church, community and secondary school levels.

Administered by Hat City Music Theater Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Danbury, Connecticut, the American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually.