The Department of Music is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 prizes for distinction in Music Composition, awarded annually to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate distinction in the area of Music Composition, as determined by a committee of faculty members in the Composition area.
The Douglas Moore Prize
Awarded annually to a junior undergraduate composer who, in the opinion of the Faculty, has produced outstanding work in serious composition for smaller forms.
Awarded to Mia Gonzalgo
Mia Gonzalgo is a composer and singer at Columbia University, majoring in music and minoring in computer science. Her compositional journey began in 2021 after discovering a video of John Cage describing the traffic sounds of 6th Avenue as music, which ignited her fascination with found sound. Melding her newfound passion for contemporary classical music and love of singing, she composed her first piece, Kiti-kiti (2021), drawing inspiration from a family folktale set in the Philippines. Her current work spans music production and songwriting, fusing orchestral, electronic, indie, a cappella, musical theater, contemporary classical, and pop influences—a result of her ongoing experimentation with stylistic intersections—as heard in her recent songs Hi! (2022) and Bucket List (2023). She hopes to further explore the sounds of her Filipino ancestry through ethnomusicology and composition in her next musical endeavor.
