Competition Composer

We have always believed that all musicians need to know the language of the music of their own time. Music continues to evolve and progress by absorbing the history, culture and sensibilities of the world around the composers and performers. Music exists, in part, to express the experiences of the present moment.

For these reasons, the Klein Competition requires applicants to perform 20th/21st Century works, to demonstrate facility in performing music of the present. In addition, we have commissioned excellent composers to create new works to challenge the imagination and technique of our performers at the Competition. The Commissioned Works ask each performer to create an individual concept of a previously unperformed composition, and make this new piece their own expressive vehicle. Hearing how each individual interprets this new music enables the listeners to learn a great deal about the contestant’s abilities and expressive inclinations.

2024 COMPOSER JOHN WINEGLASS

JOHN CHRISTOPHER WINEGLASS has written several scores for shows on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC as well as documentaries on Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer for The Brady Bunch, Kathy Lee Gifford and Farah Fawcett.  Having scored mainly independent films, several of his nationally syndicated commercials include music for the United States Army, American Red Cross and Texaco as well. As a recipient of three (two consecutive) ®Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series, and three ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, Mr. Wineglass holds seven ®EMMY nominations.

​In the classical music genre he has garnered commissions from the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music w/Maestra Marin Alsop to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, with The Washington Post describing his concert-hall work as having ‘iridescent colors in the world premiere of a beautifully crafted suite’ while conductor Marvin Hamlisch introduces and congratulates the occasion by commenting ‘… with a name like Wineglass, it had to be good.’

Wineglass’s compositions are inspired by the beauty of creation and the splendor of nature – as well as bringing to light social issues of the past and present. Recent commissioned works in the 2018-2019 season alone included four symphonic works – two with full SATB chorus.  He has received major commissions from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Benjamin Harris Memorial Fund, The Heinz Foundation and the Opportunity Fund along with a wide cadre of private sponsors.

His latest symphonic 2019 premiere of three movements, Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice was dedicated to the lives of millions and numerous contributions of African and African-American forced laborers who cultivated the immense, expansive, and particularly wealthy rice economy in the Lowcountry. With a libretto and extensive research by historian Dr. Edda Fields-Black of Carnegie-Mellon University, this work has taken them with a team of researchers and film documentarians from the shores of South Carolina to the inner villages of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia.  A 2020-2021 world premiere of six movements with full chorus in Washington, DC in conjunction with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) where Dr. Fields-Black has an installation is planned accompanied by the moving images by LA-based filmmaker and director Julie Dash.

In 2021-2022, he made his debut symphonic recordings released on Navona Records with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Zabreb Festival Orchestra, the Brno Philharmonie and lastly the esteemed London Symphony Orchestra at St. Luke’s recording his stunning mini-violin concerto #elijah – a direct tribute to not only the life of Elijah Jovan McClain but to the lost lives of many people of color at the hands of those who are entrusted to serve and protect.

Wineglass is currently serving as Composer-In-Residence with the Monterey Symphony where both of his pandemic response works, Alone for Solo Violin, Live EFX and Electronica and Alone Together for Percussion, Harp and Strings have been curated to be included in the permanent collection of the COVID-19 response art at the Library of Congress.  The subsequent film for Alone for Solo Violin, Live EFX and Electronica directed by filmmaker Doug Mueller has won international acclaim.

Wineglass received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition with a minor in Viola Performance at The American University and later received his Master’s degree in Music Composition with an emphasis in Film Scoring for Motion Pictures, Television and Multi-Media at New York University, studying primarily with Justin Dello-Joio of the Juilliard School.

For more information, about Wineglass and his work, including audio clips and score samples, visit www.johnwineglass.com