American composer Amy Williams was named the fifth annual winner of the Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition this month, earning $4,000 and the West Coast premiere of her prize-winning work "Sextet" for mixed chamber ensemble. The award was presented by SFSU's School of Music and Dance and the Empyrean Ensemble.

The Empyrean Ensemble will premiere the work in its 2002-2003 season. Ross Bauer, founder of the ensemble, and Kurt Rohde, artistic director of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, judged this year's competition.

A member of the composition faculty of Northwestern University, Williams holds a doctorate in composition and a master's degree in piano performance from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her compositions have been performed widely throughout the United States and Europe. Williams continues to perform nationally and internationally as a pianist, most recently as part of the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo.

She also teaches in the Integrated Arts program at Northwestern.

The Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition is named for Professor Emeritus Wayne Peterson, a member of the College of Creative Arts music faculty for more than 40 years and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1992 for "The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark." The competition is open to U.S. citizens and legal residents age 35 and under.

The Empyrean Ensemble presents compelling performances of new American Music as well as 20th century classics by masters such as Ravel, Debussy, Copland and Shostakovich. Founded in 1988 by composer Ross Bauer, the group features Terri Baune, violin, Tod Brody, flute, Peter Josheff, clarinet, Thalia Moore, cello, and Ellen Ruth Rose, viola. The ensemble is in residence at the University of California, Davis.