Yi-Ting Lu, a Chicago-based composer from Taiwan, has been selected as the winner of UCLA Library’s Resonate 2024: An Open Access Call for Scores, for her composition, “An Unopened Seashell.” Lu will receive a prize of $750. In addition, a performance of her work by Bent Frequency, an Atlanta-based professional contemporary music ensemble, will take place Nov. 3 in Schoenberg Hall.

Lu’s music draws from her own experiences and uses fragments of acoustic sounds to compose vivid imagery through her music. She has received various awards and honors for her compositions throughout her career, and her pieces have been featured in festivals and symposiums worldwide.

“My piece explores the interaction between the saxophonist’s breath and the instrument, inviting listeners to experience a shared moment of breath, sound and presence,” Lu said. “I am honored to have this piece selected for the Resonate 2024 Call for Scores, and I look forward to its upcoming West Coast premiere at UCLA.”

Organized by the UCLA Music Library, Resonate 2024 received more than 500 entries of saxophone, percussion and piano pieces from composers in 59 countries across six continents. The call was overseen by UCLA music performance professor Jan Berry Baker, and compositions were adjudicated by an independent panel of composers including Hong-Da Chin, professor at Western Illinois University; Mara Gibson, professor at Louisiana State University; Elainie Lillios professor at Bowling Green State University; and members of Bent Frequency, including Baker.

As a result of the open call, 137 new scores will be added to Contemporary Music Score Collection for open access, allowing for wide availability and greater accessibility to scores for musicians and scholars alike.

The UCLA Music Library began the Contemporary Music Score Collection in 2020 as an experiment.“We weren’t sure if composers would be interested in contributing their scores to an open access repository or if musicians would use a repository for contemporary music,” said Matthew Vest, music inquiry and research librarian at UCLA Library. “The experiment has been a success.”

To date, he says, the collection has added over 5,000 scores that have been viewed over 230,000 times by researchers, composers and musicians from around the world. “We’re especially pleased that Professor Jan Berry Baker sees the promise in this collection and partnered with us for Resonate 2024,” Vest said.

UCLA Library would like to recognize the Resonate 2024 finalists for their outstanding work:

• Benjamin Baker (USA), “Primordial”
• Gianni Bozzola (Italy), “Khaibit”
• Alberto Carretero (Spain), “Espuma que va calando en la arena”
• Haukur Þór Harðarson (Iceland), “Hollow”
• Dorothy Hindman (USA), “Untitled VII”
• Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece/USA), “Rhino”
• Daniel Osorio (Germany), “Zikkus-S”
• Alessandro Ratoci (Italy/Switzerland), “Studio Mannaro III”

Resonate 2024 was generously funded by the Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music.