TNM presents Best In Score 2021 featuring the winning scores of the Tribeca New Music National 2021 Young Composer Competition.  Composer/performer Zac Zinger (Division 1, ages 22-35) will perform his Haiku in Variation for string quartet and shakuhachi (flute), and composer Benjamin Rieke (Division 2, ages 21 and under) will have his composition S Is performed by the Resonance Collective, a NYC-based string quartet.
The concert will also feature the music of composer/pianist Jeremy Ajani Jordan performing his For Flint (solo piano), Clarity (solo piano and electronics) by Pawan Benjamin, and an arrangement of God Only Knows by Brian Wilson, with clarinetist Mark Dover.  

Zac Zinger is an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist from New York, NY known for his innovative fusion of jazz with traditional Asian music and his compositions for major video game soundtracks such as Street Fighter V, PubG Mobile, and Jump Force. Awards he has received include four consecutive ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards (2012-2015); the Johnny Mandel Prize (2012); 1st place, USA Songwriting Competition: Jazz (2020); and many others. Influenced by jazz and East Asian music, Zac released his debut album, Fulfillment, in 2019. Also a saxophonist and multi-reeds player, he has been credited for musical contributions to 47 commercial music releases and counting, and has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Sony Hall with the likes of Tituss Burgess, Adam Neely, the 8-Bit Big Band, and Nobuo Uematsu.   

Ben Rieke is a composer and pianist from Naperville, Illinois. He is currently a senior at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he has studied composition with David Dzubay, Claude Baker and Don Freund as well as piano with Roberto Plano. He has previously won awards from Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, the Indiana MTNA Student Composer Competition as well as the National Federation of Music Clubs and has participated in masterclasses with Georg Friedrich Haas, Du Yun, and David Ludwig. 
Ben is pursuing a B.S. in computer science, which has carried over into an interest in the intersection of music and concepts such as self-reference and recursion. Other musical influences include electronic music, rock, and his experience playing jazz piano.

Critically acclaimed, “a clear technical virtuoso”, “a rare talent”, and “a true Wunderkind,” Chicago-born Jeremy Ajani Jordan burst onto the music scene at age 9 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in a live televised performance. Jeremy composes for solo piano music, chamber music, orchestral music, and electronic music. His compositions have debuted on National Public Radio and have received world premieres at Seattle’s Emerald City Music Festival, New York’s National Sawdust, and Ireland’s Sounds From a Safe Harbour. His most recent album For Flint featured several original jazz compositions and raised money to purchase clean water for families affected by the Flint Water Crisis.

As both an accomplished saxophonist and bansuri flute player, Pawan Benjamin stands at the intersection of profound musical traditions. Rooted in jazz and improvisation, his pursuit of learning later led him to the bansuri flute and a deep study of Nepali folk and Indian classical music. His unique perspective into these legacies of music has allowed him to work with myriad world-class artists, and perform and teach around the world. 
Pawan has performed alongside artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Reggie Workman, Ranjit Barot, Bill T. Jones, Taufiq Qureshi, Rez Abbasi, Marc Cary, and others.

The Resonance Collective is a group of NYC-based musicians with a diverse range of expertise who have joined forces to merge new classical music with chamber jazz. With a line-up that ranges from a string quartet to a jazz orchestra, its members are Grammy-winning and nominated musical omnivores who have performed in major venues throughout the world such as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, and Wiener Musikverein. They have made music with major artists including Steve Reich, Maria Schneider, Paquito D’Rivera, Brad Mehldau, Chris Thile, Björk, Kurt Elling, Esperanza Spalding, and Yo Yo Ma. The musicians of Resonance Collective bring their wealth of experience as jazz artists, new music champions, vocalists, fiddlers, and composers to a unified mission of more clearly defining and innovating the genre of contemporary chamber jazz. Through live performances, recordings, and new music commissions, they passionately aim to bring this under-appreciated genre to wider recognition.

Clarinetist Mark Dover has always maintained firm roots in classical music, while at the same time devoting his career to searching as deeply as he can into the vast world of improvised music. In January of 2016, Dover joined the Grammy-nominated wind quintet Imani Winds. With Imani Winds he maintains a busy touring schedule as well as multiple residencies. In fall of 2021, Mark will join the Faculty at Curtis Institute of Music with Imani Winds, where they will serve as the school’s first ever Faculty Wind Quintet. 

Program
S Is by Benjamin Rieke - YCC Division 2, first prize (string quartet)
For Flint by Jeremy Ajani Jordan (piano)
Clarity by Pawan Benjamin (piano & electronics)
God Only Knows by Brian Wilson (clarinet & piano)
Haiku in Variation by Zac Zinger - YCC Division 1, first prize (string quartet & shakuhachi flute)