A local songwriter competition has selected a Silver Spring bandleader and a Bethesda-Chevy Chase senior as finalists in a contest that judges will decide Friday night.
Peter Garza, a Silver Spring resident and lead vocalist of Band of Us, will compete in the Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards contest for the chance to win $10,000, and Matthew Hemmer, a 17-year-old B-CC senior, will vie for the $2,500 prize in the youth category.
For Hemmer, the most exciting part of the competition is the opportunity to be recognized along with the other artists and to have a chance to perform his own music for a live audience.
“This is my biggest performance to date, at least with my own original songs,” Hemmer said. “It just feels really good to perform something I wrote and created myself.”
The competition, now in its third year, recognizes songwriters from the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., region. This year, judges selected five general finalists and three youth finalists from nearly 200 applicants. Other finalists include Be Steadwell, from Washington, in the general category and Calista Garcia, from Arlington, Virginia, in the youth category.
The winners will be chosen by a panel of three judges—a Nashville singer-songwriter, a Berklee College of Music professor and a musical theater lyricist.
The award is named after Cathy Bernard, a Bethesda resident and philanthropist, and her uncle Fred Ebb, a songwriter known for writing the lyrics for the musicals Chicago and Cabaret as well as the song “New York, New York” from the 1977 Martin Scorsese movie of the same name. Ebb worked many years before finding success and sympathized with upcoming artists looking to pursue their talents.
“There is a great depth of musical talent in this region and I am honored to have the opportunity to host an event in Bethesda that celebrates the arts and cultural programming in the community,” Bernard wrote in a statement, “while also giving a platform to musicians to share their craft.”
Each songwriter submitted two songs for the competition to demonstrate their writing chops. Garza, whose Band of Us has an alternative sound, said he entered his songs “Down” and “Cloud Kicker,” which he describes as an anthem.
“It was written from a place of letting go of the past and starting over fresh,” he said. “It’s deeply personal, but it’s been a really great song for us live and it’s clicked well with strangers.”
Band of Us has been performing live together since May 2015, although its members have been longtime friends and all live in the area. With a jazz saxophone player and a classically trained violinist, Band of Us has an eclectic style that Garza said is a “melting pot of influence and sound.” Garza, who recently became a father, said the band tries to make music that’s uplifting and inspires people.
Hemmer, who describes his genre as electro-pop alternative, started out as a classically trained violist and pianist in elementary school before shifting to songwriting in high school. He was a semifinalist in the competition two years ago and will be attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston next year to pursue a songwriting degree. On Friday night he will perform “The Life of an Insect,” which he said is about balancing self-perception with one’s perception of others.
Tickets are $10 to $15 for the event, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., audience members can enjoy dinner and drinks before the show.
