UMass Boston

The nominators for the 2018 composition competition were Alexander Korsantia, Émile Naoumoff, and András Schiff.

Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula, born 1991, is a Swiss pianist and composer who studied classical languages at the Maturité Fédérale in Lausanne and at the conservatories there and in Geneva before going to London for further training at the Guildhall School.  He won first prize “with distinction” three times, in 2003, 2005, and 2009, at the Swiss Youth Music Competition, and another first prize, also with distinction, in composition at the National Competition of Orléans in 2007.  His compositions have been played by the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, the Swiss Chamber Soloists, the Camerata Bern, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and the Ensemble Séquence; he has also composed and improvised for silent films, and won an award in 2010 at the Swiss film music competition “The Score.”  He also won a first prize at the Edvard Grieg International Composer Competition in Oslo in 2012, another at the Lausanne Concours d’Interprétation Musicale in 2013, and the 2016 Premi de Musica de Cambra Montserrat Alavedra in Spain.  He has played all over Europe and also in the United States, but currently resides in Germany, where he is a student of Sir András Schiff at the Performance Programme for Young Pianists at the Kronberg Academy.  He maintains a website at www.jean-selim.com/SITE.html