Bradshaw ’22 Awarded 2021 William Averitt Prize for Excellence in Composition

September 13, 2021

Samuel Bradshaw ’22 (Bachelor of Music in Composition) was awarded the 2021 William Averitt Prize for Excellence in Composition for his percussion quartet “Bury Me Not.” The piece will be performed by the EDGE Ensemble at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16, at Bright Box Theater. Visit conservatoryperforms.org to learn more and purchase tickets.

“I’m honored to have received the Averitt Prize for my piece ‘Bury Me Not’ and been chosen to represent my colleagues in the composition studio in the upcoming EDGE concert,” said Bradshaw. “I thank professor Newman, Dr. Tim Robblee and Dr. Karlyn Viña, who have been forces of nature in organizing and mentoring myself and fellow students in our goal of promoting new musical works in the first live concert setting many of us will be performing in since 2020. I also want to thank professors Golder O’Neill and Graham Spice for their contributions to the technical aspects of the upcoming show, including generously providing personal pieces of antique equipment.”

“Bury Me Not” is dedicated to Bradshaw’s two late grandmothers: Kathryn Weyrich and Lois Bradshaw.

The William Averitt Prize for Excellence in Composition is awarded each year to an outstanding undergraduate student in the composition program at Shenandoah Conservatory. Named in honor of Professor Emeritus William Averitt, one of the founders of the program in composition at Shenandoah, this award recognizes outstanding talent in composition at Shenandoah Conservatory. All works submitted for composition juries throughout each academic year are eligible, and are judged based on

Excellence of compositional craft;
Artistry and creativeness of ideas; and
Clarity of execution in score preparation

Faculty review all of the year’s jury scores and submitted works, and select a single composer/work, by consensus, to be awarded the prize. The award is officially announced at the annual end-of-year Shenandoah Conservatory Honors Recital. Winners receive a certificate of achievement and a performance of the winning work by a Shenandoah Conservatory ensemble.

Visit www.samuelbradshawcomposer.com to learn more about Bradshaw and hear an audio recording from a reading of his work performed by Sō Percussion.