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Remembering a Good Friend: Lance LaDuke
Lance LaDuke, long-time friend of the Falcone Festival, passed away on December 10, 2023, after a tragic accident. Lance won the Euphonium Student gold medal in 1986 at the first-ever Festival and returned in 2015 as guest artist, premiering Crossroads by Brian Balmages, a piece commissioned to honor the Festival’s first thirty years. He also served as a Falcone Festival adjudicator and Honorary Board member for many years.
Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, he was a graduate of Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor's degree in music education. Before completing his graduate studies at the University of Akron, Lance won a job playing euphonium in the United States Air Force Band in Washington DC, where he stayed from 1991 to 1995. He earned an MM degree in instrumental conducting at George Mason University while in the Air Force Band.
Maybe Lance is the best one to talk about his musical life. In his own words:
I have been very fortunate in my career to play with some amazing groups (Boston Brass, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, USAF Band in Washington DC, River City Brass, Brass Band of Battle Creek), with some amazing musicians (Henry Mancini, Doc Severinsen, Morgan Freeman, Imani Winds), in some amazing places (all 50 states and 30-plus countries), and have taught some amazing students (faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University and guest appearances at Juilliard, London Royal Academy of Music, Hong Kong Academy, Brazil’s Tatui Conservatory and many others), and am devoted to helping the next generation of musicians (and those who teach them) in any way I can. That’s a lot of parentheses. Sorry (not sorry). (source: lanceladuke.com)
As an educator, Lance was most interested in helping players figure out their own unique path to a career with the euphonium, emphasizing creative and entrepreneurial thinking. In addition to his teaching at Carnegie Mellon University and his performing, he was involved in comedy improv, comedy song writing, podcasts, the Modern Musicking Center, was an XO Artist and advocate for Jupiter Band instruments, had a song headed to the moon as part of the Carnegie Mellon MoonArk project—and don’t forget his love of ukuleles!
He will be missed.
AT THIS TIME THE 2025 REQUIRED MUSIC LIST
FOR ALL DIVISIONS IS ONLY AVAILABLE
AS A PDF DOWNLOAD
Thank you for all the compositions submitted in the 2024 CALL FOR UNACCOMPANIED WORKS! The competition closed as of March 1, 2024, 11:59 pm
Click here for a pdf version of the 2024 Call for Unaccompanied Works
The Leonard Falcone International Euphonium & Tuba Festival and Competition has gained worldwide recognition as the premier event of its kind in the tuba/euphonium world. Founded in 1986, the Festival has evolved into a true international event that has offerings including lessons, ensembles, seminars, and clinics with many of the world's most recognized euphonium and tuba artists.
To celebrate the 39th anniversary of the Falcone Festival, we are calling for submission of new unaccompanied compositions for our student level euphonium and student level tuba competitions. Two winners will be selected, one in each category, and each will receive a $500 US monetary award. Each of the two runners-up, one in each category, will receive a $250 prize. Each of the winning works will appear on the required repertoire list for the 2025 Festival competition with their premiere performances during the 2024 Festival (August 9-12, 2024) by the Festival Adjudicators in Twin Lake, Michigan. As such, winning compositions will involve partnering with a Festival-approved tuba/euphonium publisher to ensure proper availability for contestants.* All runner-up and honorable mention works may also appear on future competition repertoire, and as such are subject to the same publishing and availability standards.
- $500 1st PRIZE and $250 RUNNER-UP PRIZE for each category (Unaccompanied Tuba and Unaccompanied Euphonium)
- Composers of all experience levels, ages, races, genders, and nationalities are eligible.
- Falcone Festival Board Members are not eligible to submit an entry.
- The work should be approximately 5-8 minutes in length. Works that are shorter or longer than this duration will be disqualified.
- The work should keep a student level performer in mind; some examples include:
Euphonium – Clinard: Sonata for Euphonium; Falcone: Mazurka; Israel: Dance Suite
Tuba – Jacob: Suite for Unaccompanied Tuba; Grant: Stuff; Muczynski: Impromptus - The work must NOT employ the use of multiphonics, singing, or other performer-identifying extended techniques.
- If submitting a work in each category, separate applications are required.
- Only unpublished works for euphonium or tuba are acceptable.
- A work submitted for the euphonium competition should not be submitted (transcribed down one octave) for the tuba competition as well, or vice versa.
- All compositions must be original to the tuba/euphonium and may not be transcriptions or arrangements of other works for any other instruments.
- Winning work(s) will be included in a publishing partnership to allow for the production level and distribution necessary as a required competition piece. If the winner has a previous agreement with a publisher, then accommodation can be made, provided the Falcone Festival expectations for quality control, distribution, and availability are met.
- Adjudication personnel will be drawn from a variety of backgrounds including composition, teaching, and performance in the tuba/euphonium idiom.
- Adjudication is anonymous and therefore ALL identifying information must be removed from scores prior to application submission.
- Timing must be clearly indicated somewhere on the work.
- PDF format is required for scores.
- MP3 format is required for sound files (15MB maximum size).
- Works, both runners-up and honorable mentions, may also be published.
- A $25.00 US entry fee per submission is required.
- There is no limit to the number of submissions per composer, but each new submission must pay a fee of $25.00 US per entry.
- Deadline for application submission: MARCH 1, 2024, at 11:59pm
* Winning works will be included in a publishing partnership to allow for the production level and distribution necessary as a required competition piece. If the winning composer has a prior established publishing agreement with another entity, then arrangements can be made to accept from that publisher provided that there is a demonstrated track record of a reasonable publishing and distribution capability to the volume and quality, we require in addition to being widely available by AUGUST 1, 2024. Otherwise, the winning compositions will be published and distributed by a Festival-approved company.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED |
2024 Falcone Composition Competition Adjudicators
David Biedenbender | Fernando Deddos | Eduardo Noguerolas |
Chris Combest* (Chair) | Ben Horne | Elizabeth Raum |
Mark Cox* | Charles Ingram | Gail Robertson* |
Kevin Day | Jamie Lipton* | Deanna Swoboda |
*Falcone Festival Composition Competition Committee Member
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Pieces published from the 2020 composition competition:
EUPHONIUM
Thomas Rüedi: In Modo Humano (2020 Winner)
Kayla Roth: Modal Suite for Solo Euphonium
Andrew Markel: Subject to Change
Ian Lester: Reflect Refract
Dario Argentesi: Quadrille
Graham Boag: Partita for Solo Euphonium
Thomas Sullivan: Sonata for Unaccompanied Euphonium
Sy Brandon: Galactica
Allen Parrish: Michael for Unaccompanied Euphonium
Peter Felice: Lucidity in Confusion
TUBA
Evan Zegiel: Climate Strike (2020 Winner)
Edmund Jolliffe: The Mechanicals
Blake John: Whale Songs
Howard J. Buss: Tubaisms
Cameron Lester: Into the Madhouse
Paul Dreblow: Resonance Structure
For 2023, the Falcone Festival provided Blue Lake with a list of all contestants, judges, pianists, and volunteers and their emails prior to the Festival. Blue Lake emailed a link to a health screening which consisted of a series of questions each person answered and sent back to Blue Lake prior to the Festival. Each person was asked to save the screen showing confirmation of passing the health screening, which they were to show when they arrived at Blue Lake.
The Falcone Festival Logistics co-chair had a complied list of all the people (and emails) who were to be at Blue Lake and kept a record of each person’s confirmation on a master list. Our verification was shared with Blue Lake personnel.
Blue Lake had a policy in place regarding Infectious Contagions and COVID-19 Response: Individuals with a diagnosed communicable illness, including COVID-19, influenza, or any other highly transmissible contagion, would be required to isolate from others while receiving treatment, according to their standard protocols.
Happily, everyone passed the initial health screening, and no one came down with any infectious illness during the 2023 Festival.