In April, the first Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award will be given to one student from the composition department in the Jacobs School of Music.
This award, endowed by P.A. Mack Jr., is part of a partnership between IU Cinema and the Jacobs School of Music to commission a new orchestral score for one silent film each year.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Honorable P.A. Mack Jr., this ongoing opportunity will tap into the great resources of the University and highlight some of the talent in the Jacobs School of Music,” Jon Vickers, founder of IU Cinema, said in a Newsroom press release.
A jury of faculty members from the music school and The Media School will listen to all of the submissions and select the award winner. Entries for the 2015-16 scoring competition began acceptance March 1 and must be received by April 15. The winning student will receive a $5,000 commission to fully score a silent film for an orchestra containing up to 17 musicians.
The world premiere of the winning score will be held at IU Cinema in February 2016, when a student orchestra will provide live accompaniment to “The Return of Draw Egan,” a 1916 film directed by William S. Hart.
Mack has been a strong and loyal supporter of IU since his days as chief of staff for United States Sen. Birch Bayh, according to a press release. Mack is a current member of the IU Foundation Board and has served as vice president of the IU Board of Trustees and chairman of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
Mack believes in the importance of IU Cinema, and it's his belief music and film enrich the lives of students and the IU community at large, according to a press release.
The hard work and high ethical standards of his friend and teacher Jon Vickers inspired his support for Jacobs School of Music students majoring in composition through the creation of the Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award, according to a press release.
In addition to the Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award providing music students the opportunity to compose music for films, the program also will give community members a chance each year to view a film presented with a live orchestra.
David Dzubay, chair of the composition department for the Jacobs School of Music, said this isn’t the first collaboration between IU Cinema and the music school, but it is one of a number of projects for student composers writing for film for presentation at IU Cinema.
“The composition department is thrilled about these possibilities for the future and grateful to Jon Vickers for his support of the creation and presentation of new work at the cinema,” Dzubay said.
Lanie Maresh
