The winner of the 2026 OMTA Oregon Composer of the Year award is David Jones.
The runners-up were Kirsten Volness and Steven James. Congratulations to David, and we look forward to hearing his commissioned work at the 2026 OMTA Conference.
There were 15 applications for the 2026 COTY award. The quality of submissions was especially strong this year. The instrumentation was quite varied, and the commissioned proposals were ambitious and interesting. We thank all the composers for their submissions. We think their work shows how strong Oregon’s collective compositional voice is, and we hope they will enter again next year.
The OMTA Composer of the Year Committee was unanimous in its choice of Salem-based composer David Jones, who “seeks to shine a spotlight on the hidden details and unknown stories of the world around us”.
The Committee found his submissions to have a high caliber of compositional craft and detail while also being very expressive, evocative and deeply emotional. His dramatic, colorful work uses counterpoint and complex rhythms to achieve a sense of driving forward. Notably, his compositions remain highly accessible.
We were impressed with “An Impulse to Soar“, his inspirational treatment of a Helen Keller quote: “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” He said “While I felt I could have written a very dark, tormented piece of music in response to the uncertainty of the times [the beginning of the COVID pandemic], I felt inspired instead to write something filled with optimism and hope for the future.”
We found his poignant setting of the work of Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford, “Wild Birds Teach Us“, to be a powerful experience drawing the audience into the world of our avian neighbors.
The Committee is especially eager for the realization of David’s commissioned work, a piano trio with soprano or narrator titled “Proclamation for Peace,” based on another Kim Stafford poem which states that “Whereas I am afraid [and] free – despite all fire and anger and fear … a song not yet made shall be … the work of my remaining days.”
The Committee feels that this early-career composer has found a strong voice and encourages him to continue.
Paul Safar, Amy Fairchild, and Nick Rieser
COTY Committee, 2026