NMGCS V International Composition Competition Jury
Members
- Melinda Wagner (website) Jury Chair
- Reiko Fueting (website) Juror
- Elmir Mirzoev (website) Juror
Melinda Wagner, Jury Chair
Celebrated as an “…eloquent, poetic voice in contemporary music…” [American Record Guide], Melinda Wagner’s esteemed catalog of works embodies music of exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. Wagner received widespread attention when her colorful Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then, major works have included Concerto for Trombone, for Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic, a piano concerto, Extremity of Sky, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony for Emanuel Ax, and Little Moonhead, composed for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as part of its popular “New Brandenburgs” project.
Noted for its “…prismatic colors and…lithe sense of mystery…” [Washington Post], Extremity of Sky has been performed by Emanuel Ax with the National Symphony (on tour), the Toronto and Kansas City Symphonies, and the Staatskapelle Berlin.
Championed early on by Daniel Barenboim, Wagner has received three commissions from the Chicago Symphony; the most recent of these, Proceed, Moon, was premiered under the baton of Susanna Mälkki in 2017. Other recent performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the United States Marine Band, BMOP, the American Brass Quintet, the Empyrean Ensemble, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Among honors Wagner has received is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP. Wagner was given an honorary doctorate from Hamilton College, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. Melinda Wagner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2017.
A passionate and inspiring teacher, Melinda Wagner has given master classes at many fine institutions across the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and UC Davis. She has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College, and has served as a mentor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Atlantic Music Festival, and Yellow Barn. She currently serves as chair of the Composition Department at Juilliard, and is a distinguished composer-in-residence at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Reiko Fueting, Juror
Reiko Füting was born in 1970 in Königs Wusterhausen of the German Democratic Republic. He studied composition and piano at the Hochschule für Musik “Carl Maria von Webern” in Dresden, at Rice University in Houston, at Manhattan School of Music in New York, and at Seoul National University. Some of his most influential teachers have been the composers Jörg Herchet and Nils Vigeland, and the pianist Winfried Apel.
Reiko joined the theory faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in 2000. Five years later, he became a member of the composition faculty and was appointed chair of the theory department. In 2020, he was also appointed chair of the composition department. He has taught vocal accompanying at the Conservatory of Music and Theater in Rostock, Germany, and appeared as guest faculty and lecturer at universities and conservatories in China, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
As a composer, Reiko has received numerous prizes, awards, scholarships, grants, and commissions. His music has been performed in several countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. It is published by Edition Gravis in Berlin, Germany; most of his recordings have been released on the New Focus label in New York. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, ensembles, and orchestras, with a particular interest in vocal ensembles and ensembles performing on period instruments. He is currently working on an opera on the life of the mystic nun Mechthild von Magdeburg, which will be premiered at the reopening of the concert hall in Magdeburg, Germany in 2022.
Elmir Mirzoev, Juror
Elmir Mirzoev is an Azerbaijani composer and musicologist whose orchestral, chamber, and vocal works have been performed across Europe, the CIS countries, Turkey, the USA, Mexico, Mongolia, and Japan. His music has been presented by ensembles and orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Ensemble Accroche Note, and Freiburg Percussion Ensemble.
He studied composition at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory (now Baku Music Academy) from 1989 to 1994 in the class of Faraj Karaev, completing postgraduate studies in 1998. Since 1998, he has taught composition at the Baku Music Academy. From 1995 to 2005, he served as artistic director of the Initiative Center of Contemporary Music – Ensemble SoNoR and has organized more than twenty international cultural projects since 1996.
Mirzoev participated in major international composition courses and seminars, including those led by James Dillon, Louis Andriessen, Michael Obst, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has held teaching and research positions at institutions such as the Musikhochschule Köln, Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, Humboldt University of Berlin, and was Artist in Residence at Villa Sträuli in Winterthur, Switzerland.
He has given workshops, masterclasses, and lectures in Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Turkey. His work has been supported by commissions and grants from organizations including Pro Helvetia, the Goethe Institute, DAAD, Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has received several prizes since 1996, including the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture award for Best Symphonic Work.
Mirzoev is also the author of the books “Totalitarianism and the Avant-Garde” (Baku, 2021) and “Zwischen Moderne und Archaik. Transregionale Spannungen in der Musikkultur Aserbaidschans im 20. Jahrhundert” (Bielefeld, 2025). His works are published by Musik Fabrik Edition, Stradiva Edizione Musicale, Sordino Ediziuns Musicals, and Yeni Musiqi.