William Pardus Wins Director's Prize in International Composers' Competition

KEENE, N.H., 1/23/08 - William D. Pardus, KSC Professor Emeritus of Music, has been named winner of the Director’s Prize in the International Composers’ Competition, sponsored by the Longfellow Chorus of Portland, Maine.

The Longfellow Chorus is a nonprofit chorus with the mission of inspiring new vocal and choral settings of the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and this first annual competition is part of the celebration of the 201st anniversary of Longfellow’s birth in Portland.

Pardus’s composition “Three Songs of the Coast” is a setting for soprano voice and piano of three of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poems.

The work will receive its world premiere in Portland on Feb. 24, where Pardus will present a preconcert talk about composing the work, with the soprano soloist and pianist also participating. Since his retirement in 1998, Pardus has published more than 45 works, several having had their premiere performances at The Redfern Arts Center.