Media, 2009 To Present
The Rapido process worked brilliantly – discovering new voices while energizing patrons, musicians and audiences alike. ~ArtsCriticATL.com
Rapido! 2011 has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my professional life.
~John Elmquist, Rapido Take Two!! First Prize Winner
Latest Contest Cycle
Rapido! Take Four!! Contest Cycle Announcement (March 31, 2015)
Rapido! Take Four!! Regional Semifinalists Announcement (August 25, 2015)
Press Release: Rapido! Take Four!! Audience Favorit Winner Announcement (March 24, 2016)
Press Release: Rapido Premiere in Atlanta and Cities Across the U.S. (September 15, 2016)
January 20, 2016
Rapido! crowns a new champion, concert features Robert Spano solo piano performance
By MARK GRESHAM
The national finals of the Rapido! Composition Contest were held Sunday at the High Museum’s Walter Hill Auditorium as the focus of a concert by the Atlanta Chamber Players.
Houston-based Mark Buller emerged as the winning composer with his “Regressive Variations.” Buller had previously won the Rapido! competition’s southwest regional finals back in the fall,
placing him in contention for the national competition against four other regional finalist composers: Louis Cruz, Kenneth Lim, Kevin Eppich and Peter Van Zandt Lane. [Read the full article here]
Past Contest Cycles
September 29, 2016
Composer Jon Grier Celebrates 29 Years with Greenville's Fine Arts Center
By KATE MCKINNEY
Listen to Jon Grier, winner of the inaugural Rapido! Composition Contest in 2009 speak about his career with South Carolina Public Radio. Tune to the 3:20 mark for a discussion of our contest, including a movement of Grier's winning piece, performed by the Atlanta Chamber Players. Listen Here >
October 17, 2013
Atlanta Chamber Players debut impressive new piece by “Rapido!” champion Charles Zoll
By MARK GRESHAM
The Atlanta Chamber Players opened their 2013-14 season with a concert of music by Duruflé, Brahms and Charles Zoll at the New American Shakespeare Tavern on Wednesday night.
The show opened with Duruflé’s “Prélude, récitatif et variations,” Op. 3 for flute, viola and piano, performed by flutist Todd Skitch, violist Catherine Lynn and guest pianist Tim Whitehead. ACP Artistic Director Paula Peace did not perform in this concert but acted as compère, speaking to the audience during the first half. Read Article >
Sep 11, 2011
The 2010-11 Rapido! Composition Contest Experience
Article by John Elmquist
It's not often that I listen to a performance of a piece I have written and think 'that's exactly what I had in mind.' This was my reaction last January when the Atlanta Chamber Players performed my Junk Shot in the final round of Rapido! And since I heard the other finalists as being very strong pieces with equally excellent performances, I was extremely flattered to have my work be the one chosen for expansion. Read Article >
Jan 19, 2011
Atlanta Drums Up National Contest
Article by Brian Hailes
On Sunday, Atlanta hosted the national finals of the Rapido chamber music competition at the High Museum's Walter Hill Auditorium. This event is an outstanding example of collaboration between the private sector and the arts, and also demonstrates how creativity and ingenuity can benefit our area on a national stage. Read Article >
Jan 17, 2011
ACP Crowns 2011 National Rapido! Winner
Review by Pierre Ruhe, artscriticatl.com
Just before 3 o’clock Sunday, the Atlanta Chamber Players’ “Rapido!” national finals were about to start, the culmination of an eight-month, 29-state composition contest (read more here). The audience was filing into the High Museum of Art’s Hill Auditorium. One of the judges, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano, asked the other judges — composer Michael Gandolfi and Atlanta Opera General Director Dennis Hanthorn — whether he should read through the scores before the concert or hear the music cold, like the rest of the audience. Read Article >
Oct 18, 2010
Rapido! Take Two!! Concert
Review by Pierre Ruhe, artscriticatl.com
And the winner is …
Year two of the Atlanta Chamber Players’ “Rapido! A 14-day Composition Contest” delivered as hoped. Hatched by arts philanthropist Ron Antinori and ACP pianist Paula Peace, “Rapido!” is modeled after 48-hour filmmaking contests. In the spring, composers signed up for the competition. On the appointed day, they received the musical parameters: a set of miniatures, four to six minutes in total, scored for a quartet of flute (with piccolo and alto flute optional), clarinet (with bass clarinet optional), cello and piano. Then the composers had two weeks to write their music. Read Article >
Oct 3, 2010
Ruminative, Peaceful, Competent, from Boston Musica Viva
Review by Mary Wallace Davidson
The concert by the Boston Musica Viva on Friday, October 1, at the Tsai Performance Center of Boston University, centered on the regional finalists of the Rapido! Composition Contest, the brainchild last year of the pianist of the Atlanta Chamber Players and a local benefactor. This year it was expanded to include composers from the Northeast and the Midwest. Three composers in each region, blindly chosen from national submissions to the ACP, were asked to write three or more short movements for four players (one or two flutes and clarinets, cello and piano) in only fourteen days — from June 7 to 21. They were offered, but not required to accept, the inspiration of three sculptures by Alexander Calder in Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago. Read Article >
Aug 18, 2010
Rapido! Composition Contest 2010
Article by Pierre Ruhe, artscriticatl.com
The “Rapido! A 14-Day Composition Contest” has announced a slate of semifinalists for 2010-11, and what’s clear is that classical music in America is finally getting an overdue dose of the contemporary. From the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to the Metropolitan Opera, classical groups recognize that an artistically and intellectually vibrant arts culture can’t thrive by recycling a narrow slice of the repertoire. It’s unhealthy for art. It’s also bad for business: what industry can survive if it ignores R&D for more than a half-century? Read Article >
Apr 29, 2010
Composition Contest Winner
Review by Pierre Ruhe, artscriticatl.com
An innovative, or maybe crazy, project launched a year ago has come to fruition -- and there's news of a much bigger version in the works.
At the Shakespeare Tavern in Midtown on Wednesday, the Atlanta Chamber Players gave the world premiere of Jon Jeffrey Grier's "Diverse Variations on A-C-P," 13 minutes of marvelous, quirky, touching, moody and thoroughly engrossing music. It was an unexpectedly satisfying end to "Rapido: a 14 Day Composition Contest." Read Article >
