We are elated to announce the three winners of our 2025 Call for Scores. The three selections will be performed on our upcoming concerts on May 31 & June 1: Waking Up.

Dayton Hare — whereof one cannot speak

Colorado native Dayton Hare is a composer who often draws inspiration from elements of the natural world around him, striking a balance between narrative and atmosphere. In his work, he explores themes such as environmental change, perception, and language.

As winner of the Jon Deak First Music competition, Dayton’s music has been commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony and Interlochen Arts Center, as well as the Norfolk Chamber Choir, Yale Planetary Solutions, and others. He has been performed by groups such as the Utari Duo, Mammoth Trio, Bent Frequency, Yale Percussion Group, and more.

Currently a Paris-based Fulbright scholar and composer-in-residence at the Fondation des États-Unis, he is a student at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and previously earned his master’s degree in composition from the Yale School of Music and bachelor’s degrees in music composition and English literature from the University of Michigan. He has been a fellow at festivals such as the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, the Norfolk New Music Workshop, the RED NOTE New Music Festival, and the Conservatoire américain de Fontainebleau, among others. His teachers include Christopher Theofanidis, Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Evan Chambers, and Katherine Balch, and others.

Outside of music, Dayton has also worked extensively as a journalist, and served as the newsletter editor of the Ann Arbor Observer and the managing editor of the Michigan Daily, where was also the classical music columnist.

Shane Scott Cook — Two Letters to Self

Shane Scott Cook is a composer, performer, and songwriter whose work explores themes of community, connection, nature, and the queer experience. An emerging voice in contemporary music, his compositions refect his eclectic musical upbringing as a classical percussionist, jazz singer, folk enthusiast, and musical theater afcionado. His music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and artists such as Del Sol Quartet, Attacca Quintet, Salastina, Consonance Chicago Choral Artists, LYNX Project, Duo Cortona, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, and Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak.

Currently, Shane is the Teaching Artist-in-Residence at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (2023–25), where he teaches music classes and runs an afterschool program in piano, guitar, percussion, and music theory for rural public school students. He is a 2024 Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow with Salastina and the Composer-in-Residence for Del Sol Quartet’s 2025 ChamberFest. His upcoming commissions include a new work for Attacca Quintet, set to premiere at the 2025 EarTaxi Festival. Recent highlights include first prize at Fourth Coast Ensemble’s 2024 Chicago SongSlam and the premiere of his song cycle, The Distance Between, by soprano Lindsay Kesselman and the University of Texas at Austin’s New Music Ensemble in March 2024.

Beyond classical music, Shane’s recent projects include contributing orchestrations to Halsey’s summer 2023 orchestra tour, creating string quartet arrangements for Orchid Quartet’s album and concert series featuring Los Angeles singer-songwriters, and developing a jukebox musical with playwright Selena Deer.

Shane holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where he assisted and conducted the New Music Ensemble, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Biola University. His composition mentors include Gabriela Frank, Derrick Skye, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Omar Thomas, Reena Esmail, Donald Grantham, and Robert Denham. When he isn’t immersed in music, Shane can be found experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen or exploring hiking and running trails in nature.

You can watch and listen to more of his work at www.shanescottcook.com.

Lukáš Janata — Consolatio

Lukáš Janata, a Czech San Francisco-based artist and composer, explores empathy in various forms, serving as a composer, educator, performer, and organizer. His recent endeavors include board directorship at The Resonance Project, a nonprofit focusing on music as a conflict transformation through neuroscience. He co-organized a San Francisco Ukraine-benefit Concert of Compassion, uniting national American and Ukrainian artists on one stage. Lukáš co-curated SUMU in Helsinki, supported by the EU Commission, and the international empathy-provoking new-music festival ECHOES in Prague. He instructs at The Walden School and the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music. 

Lukáš was granted Composer-in-Residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, ISCM's VICC, Virginia Center for the Contemporary Arts, Casa Uno, Millay Arts, and received Fellowships for the 2024 Aspen Music Festival and 2025 DeGaetano Composition Institute. His compositions have been commissioned by renowned ensembles, including San Francisco Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Alarm Will Sound, Cantori New York, Friction Quartet, and Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. Mentored by composers, John Corigliano, David Conte, and Otomar Kvěch, Lukáš has also participated in masterclasses and collaborated with George Lewis, Allain Gaussin, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli, Steve Mackey, and conductors Ragnar Bohlin, Mark Shapiro, or Alena Hron.

For more information, please visit: lukasjanata.cz/bio