Charles Halka is a Pacific Northwest-based composer whose music spans the broad space between “energetic” and “crazed” (New York Times) and “haunting” and “reflective” (Houston Press). His acoustic and electronic works for concert, dance, and opera often seek to recreate natural phenomena, human interaction and movement, or visual art and poetry, while at other times they are novel worlds born of improvisation, play, and daydreaming.

With performances and commissions from the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra led by Marin Alsop, Alarm Will Sound, Mivos Quartet, the Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, the Lviv Philharmonic, counter)induction, Callithumpian Consort, Volti, and ÓNIX Ensamble, among many others, Halka’s music has been heard by audiences in North America, Europe, Asia, and Brazil at venues and events such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Palau de la Música Catalana, The Intimacy of Creativity, ISCM World Music Days, the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, and Foro Internacional de Música Nueva.

Among Halka’s recent honors are a Barlow Endowment General Commission and the Copland House Residency Award, and he was in residence with Houston’s critically acclaimed Musiqa and the Foundation for Modern Music. In addition, he completed residencies at MacDowell and the M.K. Sarbievijaus Cultural Center in Kražiai, Lithuania. Further support for his work has come from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the U.S. Fulbright program (2008-09 grantee), and the Nevada Arts Council.

Halka earned degrees in piano and composition from The Peabody Conservatory and Rice University, and is Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.

Selected Award and Honors

Mizzou International Composers Festival (2019)
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition General Commission (2019)
RED NOTE Competition (Honorable Mention, 2019)
WSU Festival of Contemporary Art Music Call for Scores (2019)
WSU ElectroAcousticMiniFest (EAMF) Call for Scores (2018)
Nevada Arts Council Jackpot Grant (2017)
Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition (2017, First Place)
Núcleo Música Nova Call for Works (2017)
TEMPO New Music Ensemble Call for Scores (2017)
Boston New Music Initiative Commissioning Competition (2017, Honorable Mention)
Flute New Music Consortium Composition Competition (2016, Honorable Mention)
UNM John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium Call for Scores (2017)
Chorosynthesis Call for Scores (2016)
Symphony Number One Call for Scores 3 (2016 Performer’s Choice Award)
SICPP Commission (2016)
Swiss Contemporary Music Festival Forum Wallis Call for Works (2016)
Copland House Residency Award (2015)
Fort Worth Opera FRONTIERS Program and Competition (2015)
Hartford New Music Festival Call for Scores (2015)
MacDowell Colony residency (January 2014)
C4 Commissioning Competition (2014, Honorable Mention)
Circuit Bridges Call for Electronic Works (2014)
ClefWorks Composition Competition (2013, Finalist)
Electronic Music Midwest Call for Scores (2013)

Aries Composers Festival Call for Scores (2013)
ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize (2013, Special Distinction)
Foro Internacional de Música Nueva (2013 and 2014)
SCI National Conference (2013)
New Fangled Opera Call for Scores (2013)
Lake George Music Festival Composition Competition (2012, 2nd Place)
Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Choral Composition Competition (2012, Finalist)
ISCM World Music Days 2012 (performance in Belgium, November 2012)
Frame Dance Productions Composition Competition (2012, Winner)
Boston Metro Opera Composers’ Competition (2012, Winner)
RED NOTE Competition (Finalist, 2012 and 2013)
Wild Rumpus Call for Scores (2012)
American Modern Ensemble Composition Competition (2011, Honorable Mention)
Dallas Festival of Modern Music Call for Scores (2011, Finalist)
Boston New Music Initiative Call for Scores (2011 and 2013)
Northridge Composition Prize (2011, Winner)
Volti Choral Arts Laboratory (2011, Finalist)
New Dischord Call for Scores (2011, Winner)
Saint Petersburg Contemporary Music Center Composition Competition (2011, 4th Place)
Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers (2011, 2nd Place)
ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2010, Finalist)
Vox Juventutis competition for choral works (2009, 2nd Place and Choir’s Favorite Award)
counter)induction Composition Competition (2009, Honorable Mention)
ONIX Intercultural Composition Competition (2009, Honorable Mention)

 

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