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Merritt wins composition competition

By Kari VanDerVeen
June 23, 2009

It's been an eventful start to the summer for Assistant Professor of Music Justin Merritt. He recently won the Grassroots Music Festival Composition Competition for his piece titled River of Blood, and he was also chosen to participate in the Zeitgeist Composer Workshop.

Zeitgeist is a new music ensemble based in Minneapolis that organizes composer workshops funded by Meet the Composer. The five-day workshop is designed to give composers the opportunity to develop creative ideas and stretch their artistic boundaries. This year the ensemble chose Merritt, along with Abbie Betinis '01 and J. Anthony Allen, to participate in the workshop. "The idea is that we will work with them to compose some music over the course of a few days that will then be publicly presented," Merritt says, noting that it was a fun coincidence that two composers with St. Olaf ties were chosen for the workshop. A performance of the composers' piece will be held July 16 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul.

A few days after the workshop concludes, Merritt's work will be honored at the Grassroots Music Festival, which is held over four days in Trumansburg, N.Y., and features a wide variety of music ensembles. Merritt's River of Blood, which was premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra in November, will be performed at the festival July 19.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.