Award-winning Music Composer & Orchestrator

Music by Nan Avant

GMA~SILVER MEDAL AWARD ~TRIBUTUM

//  by 

The Global Music Awards 2022

I am honored to announce that I have received  Global Music Award~ Silver Medal from the  for my orchestral work, Tribitum for Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra which appears on the album Legends and Lights v.2. recorded by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Navona Records, PARMA recording label.  The Global Music Awards selects winners every few months and I was awarded this honor in July 2022. I have recently heard that another composer on our album, Helen Mackinnon received a Silver Medal for her orchestral work on our album, Legends and Light v.2.
The Global Music Awards was “established in 2011, by Thomas Eugene Baker, Ph.D., the Global Music Awards is a well-known international music competition which celebrates independent musicians. Global Music Awards is widely recognized by industry insiders as giving legitimacy to highly talented artists. ‘Global Music Awards is recognized as music’s golden seal of approval.
 
Each year, Global Music Awards receives hundreds of entries from around the world. If you receive Global Music Award honors you will know that you music stands-out internationally, across cultures. You are being judged in an international competition, not just an American competition. Global Music Award participants are from Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands,  China, Colombia, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ecuador, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Wright, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Guatemala, Romania, Russia, Sierra Leone, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States and Venezuela.”

 

Score and Parts available at JWPepper HERE

 

The American Prize 2022~Finalist!

//  by 

I am delighted to announce that I am a finalist in The American Prize 2022  music competition. My orchestral work, Soundness of the Sea for Violin and Orchestra, is among the  17 finalist in the Orchestral Division.  The competition receives submission from hundreds of composers throughout the United States and I am indeed ecstatic to be on this list! For complete list to this link  Here

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David Volosin Katz, founder and chief judge, is honored to announce 2022 FINALIST composers of orchestra music in the professional division.  Congratulations! (The professional division finalists were announced on Monday, April 25, 2022)

As the contests unfold, runners-up and winners will be selected from this list. To know the exact date when finalists will be announced, please like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter #AmericanPrize, where that information will be published first.

 

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts. The American Prize is unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers in the United States at professional, college/university, community and high school levels, based on submitted recordings. Now in its twelfth year, The American Prize was founded in 2010 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts. Thousands of artists from all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of The American Prize, representing literally hundreds of communities and arts organizations across the nation.  Information about the 2022-23 season of contests has been updated and applications are now being accepted. (http://theamericanprize.org)

Soundness of the Sea for Violin and Orchestra is the first movement from the Quintet Suite~Sirens of the Salish Sea. I am in the process of orchestrating the entire work and will announce when complete. The Score and Parts for Soundness of the Sea are available at JWPepper HERE

 

Tributum~Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra~The Royal Scottish National Orchestra

//  by 

Legends and Light v. 2 track 2 a Navona Record: Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra

Tributum Reviews

“It is difficult to describe in words the whole storm of emotions that this great work causes. Emotional wave, which practically hits you and drives into this epic, orchestral cycle. Beautiful, live and ideal for everyone who needs music!

-Nagamag.com

“The composer Nan Avant, originally from the Pacific Northwest,
carries within her the great musical legacy of Peru. Tributum,
written for both Irish bagpipes and Scottish bagpipes (tuned at 440 Hz),
is a work of precious detail, in which the composer conveys to us the finesse
and tenderness of the skin of these heritage instruments.”    Carme Miro-Sonograma Music Magazine

Recording Tributum  in 2021

This Navona Recording, Legends and Light v.2  with The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Grammy winner David Watkin and the amazing piping of Ryan Murphy, (Manran Irish band, from Co. Cork, Ireland, Uilleann Pipes and Lorne MacDougall, Glasgow, Scotland ( How to Train Your Dragon) on the Great Highland Bagpipes is a landmark recording for Tributum. The  recording took place in March  2021. Originally scheduled to be recorded in 2020 and postponed. The RSNO recorded in the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall, Scotland and due to the travel restrictions in 2021, the PARMA recordings had a production teams both  on the East Coast in Boston and on site at the Glasgow Concert Hall and as the composer of Tributum I was in Seattle on the West Coast for the recording session. The recording session was seamless regardless of the several time zones and remote experience.  I could easily discuss details with the PARMA team,  who would convey to the the conductor, essentially in real time.  I feel so fortunate that the RSNO had started to record music again and that Ryan Murphy, Lorne MacDougall and David Watkin and the entire PARMA team  were all available for this recording in Glasgow.

Tributum has been performed throughout the US and premiered internationally with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Canadian Pipes and Drums under the direction of Lucas Waldin and originally premiered in Seattle with the NW Sinfonia Orchestra.

Score and Parts Available at J.W. Pepper

 

Bio:

Nan Avant, a native of the Pacific Northwest, was brought up in a peaceful pastoral setting amidst artists on her maternal side and the rich South American heritage of Peru on her father’s side. Music was constantly playing in the background of her early years. Symphonies, musicals, South American music, Tangos, and Peruvian waltzes all contributed to her love of music. At an early age, she began studying piano and continued through high school and college. At the age of 16, she and her sister lived with relatives in Lima, Peru while their parents embarked on an adventure, riding motorcycles from Seattle to the border of Panama and Columbia. Living internationally was life enriching and opened new vistas to her as a young person. Returning to the United States, she continued her piano studies and expanded her horizons by learning to play the balalaika, becoming a member of the Seattle Balalaika Orchestra. It was also during this time in her life that she began composing music for piano.. Avant reveived a BFA degree from California Institute of the Arts, and studied film scoring at  the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program  under the direction of two time Emmy Winner, Hummie Mann.

Avant has won awards for her music and is a four-time nominee in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Avant’s Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra won the 13th Annual Independent Music Vox Populi Award for Best Instrumental Song.

Avant’s music embraces thematic and rhythmic intentions often reflecting her Latin heritage, encompassing her passion for classical, jazz, world, and ethnic music. She has collaborated with indie filmmakers throughout the United States, creating soundtracks for documentary, feature, animation, and short films. She has been commissioned by Composers and Schools in Concert, and has composed music for Burmer Music Productions LLC for concert premieres with the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra. Avant’s concert music has been performed internationally and throughout the United States, and her music can be heard on Navona Recordings and  CD compilations and digital platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon music. Avant resides in Seattle WA . Avant reveived a BFA degree from California Institute of the Arts, BFA degree and attended the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program  under the direction of two time Emmy Winner, Hummie Mann

Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Full Orchestra~

Score and Parts Available at J.W. Pepper

Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Chamber Orchestra~

Score and Parts Available at Sheet Music Plus

WPRB 103. 3 FM: Princeton University Radio: NJ

//  by 

Listen Here to the program with Tributum or click the photo with below.

My piece, Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra aired last Wednesday Feb. 2, 2022 on WPRB Radio, a Princeton University Radio, New Jersey, a  broadcast with Marvin Rosen, his ” Classical Discoveries” which is a collection of works that he assembles, new works by living comosers. Tributum is on the above list at the end of the list.

Manu thanks to Marvin Rosen for including Tributum for Celtic Bagpipes and Orchestra  in his Wednesday “Classical Discoveries” playlist. WPRB is a radio broadcast from Princeton University in New Jersey. Check out the online site and you can listen Here to the broadcast from  Feb. 2, 2022.More info about Classical Discoveries HERE

 

 

Halloween Short: Spoopies Tales

//  by 

I once again collaborated with animator and artist, Ian Mark Stewart on another animation piece titled ” Spoopies” True Tales of Terror. This short animation features 4 true stories of terror experienced in childhood or as teens by 4 people. It was awesome to write music for this cool short and it’s not scary, just Spoopy~

Bleedingham Horror Film Festival October 31, 2021

Recent Screening: Brooklyn Film Festival June 2021

“Spoopy is an internet slang term used to describe something that is “spooky” but in a comical or cute way, such as a puppy in a ghost costume or a goofy Halloween video. It is based on a viral picture of a Halloween decoration that misspelled spooky as spoopy.”

Spoopies: Tales of Terror

Here is the other Halloween animation short I worked on with Ian Stewart.

Herman Blue: The Pumpkin Comic