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Yumi Hara
Cawkwell won joint first prize in the DNA Fanfare
competition. The piece was performed by the Cambridge Brass Ensemble
at a celebration dinner in Cambridge on the 26th April 2003,
attended by 600 molecular biologists from all over the world.
April 2003 was the fiftieth
anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA-the famous
double helix-by Jim Watson and Francis Crick. The Laboratory of
Molecular Biology held a competition for the composition of a
fanfare for a small brass ensemble to give a musical depiction of
DNA. The challenge to the composer was to find a convincing musical
representation of the DNA molecule, intelligible and pleasing to a
predominantly scientific audience.
The special DNA
music competition was originally the idea of Jim Watson“s wife,
Elizabeth. Then Graeme Mitchison, researcher at the Laboratory of
Molecular Biology, also an amateur pianist and contemporary music
enthusiast, organised the competition.
There were 35 entries all together. Professor Robin Holloway and
Jeremy Thurlow, Department of Music, University of Cambridge judged
and decided to give the first prize jointly to two very different
pieces by Yumi Hara Cawkwell and Matthew Rodgers. The prize of £250
each was presented at the celebration dinner.
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