The Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers
New Music. New Life.
Devin Arrington named winner of the 2004 CFAMC Scholarship
Devin Arrington, a Masters student in composition at Carnegie Mellon University, is the recipient of the 2004 Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers Scholarship. The purpose of the annual award is to recognize and support Christian student composers who demonstrate both excellence in their Christian testimony and achievement and potential in art music composition. The $1000 award will be used by Mr. Arrington for academic or summer study in composition during 2004-2005. The judges included CFAMC Secretary Frank Felice, Assistant Professor of Composition at Butler University, CFAMC Regional Events Director Donald M. Wilson, retired Professor of Composition at Bowling Green State University, and CFAMC founder and President Mark Hijleh, Professor of Composition and Conducting at Houghton College.
Previous recipients include Andrew Dionne, Daniel Kellogg, Ewan Clark, Julian Bryson, Jonathon Roberts, and Sungji Hong. The judging panel was impressed with the high quality of entries this year, which included music of students and graduates from the Peabody Conservatory, Georgia State University, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, among others.
Devin Arrington was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1978. He graduated summa cum laude with a BA in music from Middlebury College (VT) in 2001, where he was also an Intervarsity worship team leader, and currently studies composition with Leonardo Balada at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Arrington’s first string quartet, “Lamentations”, was honored in the summer of 2002 with a premiere in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Great Hall of Composers. His second quartet, “Gilead”, won the 2003 Carnegie Mellon University string quartet competition, and was premiered in the fall of 2003 by the Grammy-nominated Cuarteto Latinoamericano. As an accomplished violinist, Mr. Arrington has attended the Aspen, Bowdoin, and MasterWorks music festivals, and has been a member of several orchestras, including Assistant Concertmaster with the Delhi (India) Symphony. He serves on the faculty of the Pittsburgh Music Academy, and maintains private violin and composition studios.
Of his work, Devin Arrington writes, “The Great Creator created men who love to create; after all, we are all created in His image. I cannot be motivated to write unless I feel I am seeking to contribute something to the Kingdom; I cannot invest such a tremendous dedication of time and energy into a work that does not seek on a higher level to bring glory to God. In the difficult times I try to remember that the composition process is a chance to lean on God’s strength and provision rather then to write purely on my own terms.”