U of R School of Music Grad Receives International Recognition

Recent Redlands graduate, Kyle Hnedak, has won second prize for his orchestral composition “Basmati” in the 2014 edition of Concorso 2 Agosto, a composition competition held in Bologna, Italy. Hnedak’s score competed against 180 entries from professional musicians from around the world. An international panel of musicians judged the scores and awarded three top prizes. The Concorso 2 Agosto competition and ensuing concert is an annual event started in 1994 to memorialize the 85 people murdered by the brutal terrorist attack on Aug. 2, 1980 in Bologna. Originally from Poway, Calif., Hnedak will receive a prize of €2500 and his work will receive its world premiere on Aug. 2 of this year in the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna where the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna will perform his composition “Basmati.” “Kyle is the kind of student teachers would like to clone-- hard working, dependable, interested and focused. He writes music so quickly because he puts so much time into his work. He wrote "Basmati" in a little over a month, which is extraordinarily fast for a large orchestra work,” said Assistant Professor of Music Composition, Anthony Suter. Hnedak, a 2014 graduate of the University of Redlands School of Music, received his B.M. in Music Composition under the instruction of Suter. “Kyle is a fantastic musician with a natural ear for what he's doing, and when those natural talents are combined with a work ethic like his, special things happen. As teacher, it is such an immense joy to see him get the recognition he so richly deserves, and I look forward to following his career as a composer for years to come,” said Suter, previous award winner of the Concorso 2 Agosto in 2003. Previous awards for Hnedak include: "The Founder's Award for Creativity" in last fall's Project Accessible Hollywood: Alma Mater – awarded by Christopher Coppola – and the Sigma Alpha Iota "Outstanding Composer Award" for the University of Redlands in 2013 and 2014.