Takuma Itoh, Christopher Stark and Eric Nathan, doctoral candidates in the field of composition, have been selected from among 700 competitors to receive 2010 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Itoh also received ASCAP's Leo Kaplan Award, given to the highest scoring winner of the competition.

In all, 37 young composers were honored by the ASCAP Foundation program, which provides $1,000 cash grants to composers under the age of 30.

Itoh received composition degrees at the University of Michigan and Rice University before coming to Cornell. He received the ASCAP award for "Echolocation," commissioned by the H2 Saxophone Quartet at Michigan State University. It was first played at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok in summer of 2009 and is featured on "Times and Spaces," a CD the quartet released this year. Itoh received ASCAP awards in 2004 and 2007 as well.

Stark previously studied at the Freie Universität Berlin, the Cincinnati Conservatory and the University of Montana. He received the ASCAP award for "Ignatian Exercises," scored for sinfonietta. It was written for the 2009 Festival Chamber Orchestra at Cornell and was also played at the Composers Conference at Wellesley College and by the College Conservatory of Music Chamber Players in Cincinnati.

Nathan received degrees at Indiana University, Yale University and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division before coming to Cornell. He received the ASCAP prize for his composition "Walls of Light" for mixed chamber sextet (flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, percussion). The piece was composed for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble of the Aspen Music Festival where it premiered last summer and was recently performed by members of the Tanglewood Music Center.

Linda Glaser is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.