Decorah Student Wins High School Division of Iowa Student Composition Competition

Decorah High School student Jesus Peńa, a member of the class of 2020, has won the 19th annual Iowa Composers Forum Student Composition Competition.

The first place winner in each division receives a cash award. Selected winning compositions will be performed at an ICF Festival of New Music in the fall of 2019.

Pena’s winning piece, “Sinfonia in B minor, Color Symphony” was a project he completed as part of an independent study of music composition. He spent a semester writing and revising the music, preparing the parts and leading rehearsals of the music prior to its premiere performance in early June at the Decorah High School Orchestra’s outdoor concert. Teacher Nicole Cody commented: “I’m so proud of the work that Jesus did on this composition. He wanted to learn about the way Mozart wrote music. He was constantly generating and refining new ideas and then built them into a cohesive work that is full of artistic meaning, while honoring the forms and styles of Mozart.”