May 25, 2004—Zhiyi Wang, a member of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduating class of 2004 and a self-described "wide-range listener" who cites Bach, the Beatles, Ligeti, and Richard Rodgers among his influences, has won the top prize in the Premio Franz Liszt International Competition for Composers. The prize, sponsored by the ABAC-Franz Liszt Music Association of Italy, was awarded in April.

Wang, a composition major from Suzhou, China, shared the award with English composer Paul Tucker. First and second prizes were not awarded in the competition, which was open to composers up to the age of 45. Wang is 23.

This is his first time as an international laureate. His winning composition, Etude for Concert No. 1, is written for solo piano.

Domenico Bartolucci, composer and faculty member at Rome's Santa Cecilia Academy, presided over a jury that included Italian critic and composer Silvano Sardi, English composer Michael Stimpson, Italian composer Italo Vescovo, and pianist and composer Roberto Russo, who also was artistic director of the competition.

Wang has been accepted to the composition program at the University of Louisville School of Music, where he was awarded a two-year Grawemeyer Fellowship, one of the school's highest honors. Funded by the same endowment that supports the Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition, the fellowship will cover Wang's full tuition and paid health benefits for two years, as well as provide a stipend of $10,000 for each year of his fellowship. After completing the master of music degree at Louisville--the highest degree offered there--Wang will apply elsewhere to pursue the PhD.

Wang calls himself a "wide-range listener."

"From Bach to the Beatles, from Ligeti to Richard Rodgers, I can always learn something," he says.

"I think it is important for a composer to encounter different types of music, because each type of music has its own characteristics and strong points. I am, however, partial to the French style--Ravel, Debussy, and Takemitsu--and film music (John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, etc)."

Another source of inspiration for Wang is his teacher, Oberlin Professor of Composition and Music Theory Randolph Coleman, who, he says, is always prodding him to broaden his vision and creativity.

As for his own style, Wang says that he devotes himself to finding a balance between music and technique, "which means I won't give up tonal quality while developing my technique."

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. It is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber.

Primarily an undergraduate conservatory of music, Oberlin provides its 585 students with unparalleled individual attention and training from more than 85 artist-teachers and scholars. Through hundreds of courses in classical and jazz performance, vocal studies, music history and theory, music education, composition and TIMARA (Technology in Music and the Related Arts), Oberlin has prepared many of the music world's notable luminaries for successful careers in all walks of the profession. Oberlin's collaborations with The Cleveland Orchestra support a core element of Oberlin's mission: that professional training and contact with one of the world's great orchestras is seminal to a formal music education.