Announcing our 2025 Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Composition Contest winner

Inversion is proud to announce Gay Kahkonen as the winner of our 2025 Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Composition Competition!

Gay Kahkonen is a composer and flutist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community. She earned her B.Mus. from Oberlin Conservatory where she also studied theater and dance. Kahkonen’s compositions are performed nationwide and abroad and are published by ALRY Publications.

Gay's winning composition "Come, Bright Spirit”,  will be premiered at Da Capo's upcoming Hear Me Roar! concerts.

We would like to thank the dozens of composers who entered our competition this year for sharing their time and talents with us!

Catch Gay’s winning entry (and get a chance to meet her) at Hear Me Roar! on March 1 at 7PM and March 2 at 3PM, Central Presbyterian Church. Tickets are available here.