Meet The Composer and the American Symphony Orchestra League are pleased to announce the selection of participants for the 8th round of MUSIC ALIVE.
Eight composers and eight orchestras have been selected to participate in short-term residencies of two to four weeks.
Round VIII Short Term Residencies:
· Brooklyn Philharmonic/John Corigliano
· Colonial Symphony/Harold Meltzer
· Denver Young Artists Orchestra/Belinda Reynolds
· Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra/Augusta Read Thomas
· Philadelphia Orchestra/Jennifer Higdon
· Phoenix Symphony/Mark Grey
· Seattle Symphony/Aaron Jay Kernis
· SONYC (String Orchestra of New York City)/Randall Woolf
(Photo by Christian Steiner)
Brooklyn Philharmonic/John Corigliano
2 weeks
Listen (excerpt):
John Corigliano's
Symphony No. 1,
AIDS Symphony
(MP3)
John Corigliano is internationally celebrated as one of the leading composers of his generation. In orchestral, chamber, opera and film work, he has won global acclaim for his highly expressive and compelling compositions and his kaleidoscopic, ever-expanding technique. He has received virtually all of the most important prizes — several Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for his Second Symphony, a Grawemeyer, and even an Academy Award for his score to Francois Giraud's 1997 film "The Red Violin" — as well as honorary doctorates, awards, fetes, lauds, and accolades too numerous to list. He is one of the few living composers to have a string quartet named after him, and his work has been performed by some of the most visible orchestras, soloists and chamber musicians in the world, and recorded on the Sony, RCA, BMG, Telarc, Erato, Ondine, New World, and CRI labels.
Corigliano holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York, and serves on the faculty at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1991, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; in 1992, Musical America named him "Composer of the Year," their first ever. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
One of the nation's groundbreaking music ensembles, the Brooklyn Philharmonic continues to celebrate its vital presence in the cultural life of the New York metropolitan area. The Philharmonic is devoted to serving Brooklyn's cultural and educational communities through partnerships with New York City's Department of Education, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Academy of Music, among other organizations. For the past five decades, the Brooklyn Philharmonic has played a leading role in presenting innovative and thematic programming, receiving 21 ASCAP Awards over the last 26 years for "Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music." Since its 1954 inception, audiences have embraced the Brooklyn Philharmonic's commitment to the concept of the orchestra as a contemporary performance ensemble, emphasizing important present-day music, as in the decades of Beethoven and Brahms. The Philharmonic has premiered over 350 works, including 61 commissions.
Colonial Symphony/Harold Meltzer
4 weeks
Listen (excerpt):
Harold Meltzer's
Virginal
(MP3)
Born in Brooklyn in 1966, Harold Meltzer is a composer and the Artistic Director of the New York ensemble Sequitur. He has received a number of important composition awards, including the 2004 Rome Prize, a 2004 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from ASCAP and NACUSA, and residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, VCCA, and Ragdale. Recent commissions have come from the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, Concert Artists Guild, Meet The Composer, the National Flute Association, guitarist Eliot Fisk, harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. After graduating from Amherst College, he studied law at Columbia University before earning degrees in music from King's College, Cambridge and the Yale School of Music. His music is recorded on the Albany and CRI labels, and is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and Urban Scrawl Music Company (ASCAP).
The Colonial Symphony was started in 1950 by a group of engineers at Bell Labs. Over its fifty-six year history the Symphony has achieved a number of notable successes. It was the only regional orchestra to receive an NEA grant in the last five years. In 1950, it was one of the first orchestras in America to offer a pre-concert lecture before every concert. It was the first regional orchestra to have a Composer-In-Residence program, and it is still unique in scope.
Denver Young Artists Orchestra/Belinda Reynolds 2 weeks
After years of traveling with her Air Force family around the United States, Belinda Reynolds now considers herself an 'adopted native' of California. She completed her Doctorate in Music at Yale University with Jonathan Berger, Martin Bresnick and Jacob Druckman, and received her M.A. and B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied principally with Andrew Imbrie and John Thow. Ms. Reynolds has worked with a number of performing organizations throughout North America and Europe, including Continuum Contemporary Music
(Toronto), Da Capo Players, ELECTRA, Essential Music, WIREWORKS, New Music Consort, and Earplay. She has received various professional recognitions for her work, including grants and awards from ASCAP, the Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, the International League of Women Composers, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
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Listen (excerpt): Belinda Reynolds' Crossings (MP3) |
Recent seasons have been an especially productive for Ms. Reynolds. The Amsterdam based group, ELECTRA, has performed her music as part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performances Series. They have also toured it across Europe, including performances in London’s Queen Elizabeth’s Hall and on the island of Sardinia. In addition, Jennifer Hymer and WIREWORKS premiered in Germany Ms. Reynolds’ solo piano/sampler/film work, JUST BETWEEN US. Other engagements include being guest artist at the Spoleto Festival USA, the Blueprint Festival, and The Festival of New American Music. Most recently, Ms. Reynolds’ guitar concerto, CONVERGENCE, was arranged and performed in Rosario, Argentina, by the new music group, Ensamble Rosario, and the acclaimed guitarist, Sergio Puccini. In 2005, her work for piano and marimba duo PLAY was released on the Innova label’s CD, Hammers and Sticks, featuring pianist Teresa McCollough. Other projects include commissions for BARBWIRE, the Boulder and Marin Youth Symphonies, Melody of China, Citywinds, the Southwark Consorts of Winds (UK) and Kathleen Supové. Ms. Reynolds is Vice-President of the composers’ co-operative Common Sense.
The Denver Young Artists Orchestra was formed in 1977 under the auspices of the Denver Symphony Orchestra. Founders Betty Naster and Carl Topilow organized the orchestra as a means for Colorado's most talented young musicians to rehearse and perform together under demanding professional standards. DYAO has operated independently since 1979, but has maintained a close relationship with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. DYAO has become the premier youth orchestra of the Rocky Mountain region. Its mission is to sustain a youth orchestra of the highest quality, which provides encouragement, educational and performance opportunities to its members, and inspiration to the community. DYAO's Music Director is Adam Flatt, also Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
The American Symphony Orchestra League has awarded the DYAO the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Youth Orchestra Award for Creative and Adventuresome Programming in Contemporary Music. The DYAO has commissioned and premiered three works for symphony orchestra, was featured in CBS's nationally broadcast special Christmas Every Day in December of 1998 and has performed family concerts for the Breckenridge Music Festival and in 2005 for the Strings in the Mountains Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO. They have done 5 summer concert tours abroad.
Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra/Augusta Read Thomas
2 weeks
Augusta Read Thomas (born in 1964 in New York), is Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1997-2006) and, until 2008, Chair of the Board of the American Music Center, on which she has served for the past five years. Starting September 2006, Thomas resigns from her position as the Wyatt Professor of Music at Northwestern University to devote her time exclusively to composition. At the age of 33, she received tenure from the Eastman School. Her work is currently published by G. Schirmer Inc. She studied at Northwestern University, Yale University and at the Royal Academy of Music. Seven years after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music, she was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music ( ARAM, honorary degree). In 1998 she received the Distinguished Alumni Association Award from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. In 1999, she received the Award of Merit from the President of Northwestern University.
Part of the Conservatory's excellence track, the Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra features more than 300 of the most talented and experienced young musicians, ranging from second-graders through post-graduate students. Five orchestral groups make up the total organization, providing education and performance opportunities for school-age students from more than 75 schools in six counties of the Tampa Bay region. Students audition annually for positions in each orchestra.
Since its inception, the Youth Orchestra has presented young musicians a unique opportunity to enrich their musical experience. Young composers and conductors within the organization regularly obtain private instruction and encouragement. Regular interaction with professional musicians is an integral part of the creative education mission of the organization, and the Patel Conservatory is dedicated to seeking funding for commissions and composer residencies that will acquaint the students with the entire spectrum of the creative process. The Youth Orchestra has premiered works composed by its musicians and conducted by its musicians. Performers regularly participate in honors performance opportunities and are consistently accepted into prestigious summer music festivals and institutes.
Photo by Jeff Hurwitz
Philadelphia Orchestra/Jennifer Higdon 2 weeks
Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn , NY , December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions, writing on average 6-12 works a year, and is now considered a major figure in contemporary American music. Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The National Symphony, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic and many more. She has been honored with awards and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters (two awards), the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ASCAP. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Philadelphia Singers. Her orchestral work Shine was named Best Contemporary Piece of 1996 by USA Today in their year-end classical picks. In the summer of 2003, she was the first woman to be named a featured composer at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival. She holds degrees from Bowling Green State University, University of Pennsylvania, and The Curtis Institute of Music, where she is currently on the composition faculty.
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Listen (excerpt): Jennifer Higdon's Oboe Concerto (MP3) |
Founded in 1900, The Philadelphia Orchestra has distinguished itself as one of the leading orchestras in the world through a century of acclaimed performances, historic international tours, best-selling recordings, and its unprecedented record of innovation in recording technologies and outreach. The ensemble has maintained an unparalleled cohesiveness and unity in artistic leadership with only six music directors piloting The Philadelphia Orchestra through its first century.
This rich tradition is carried on by Christoph Eschenbach, who became the Orchestra’s seventh music director in September 2003. The Orchestra’s 2006-07 season, Mr. Eschenbach’s fourth as music director, highlights the music of Mozart and Shostakovich and ends with a tour of the United States. During his tenure, Mr. Eschenbach has conducted a cycle of all nine Beethoven symphonies paired with music of our time, including several world premieres; led a four-week festival entitled Late Great Works featuring late works by Mozart, Strauss, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Berio; launched the Orchestra’s first-ever multi-year cycle of Mahler’s complete symphonies; and led the Orchestra on tours of Europe (in 2004 and 2006), Asia (in 2005), and Florida and Puerto Rico (in 2006). Under Mr. Eschenbach’s leadership, the Orchestra has launched an organization-wide initiative, called “Raising the Invisible Curtain,” to bring new audiences to classical music and to enhance the musical experience for its existing audiences.
Phoenix Symphony/Mark Grey
4 weeks
Mark Grey is a composer and sound designer living in New York City. His compositions have been performed in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America. Grey made his Carnegie Hall debut with Kronos Quartet in November 2003. He was a featured composer in the Other Minds 10 festival, March 2004, to commemorate its tenth anniversary as the largest international new music festival on the west coast of the United States. Recent commissions include works for Kronos Quartet, Paul Dresher Ensemble, The California EARUnit, and Joan Jeanrenaud (former Kronos cellist). His work Bertoia was included as part of Kronos' evening-length program Visual Music, which has been performed worldwide.
Grey's music can be heard on Joan Jeanrenaud's debut CD, Metamorphosis, released on New Albion Records; as well as the NPR/Nonesuch Records/Carnegie Hall radio series Creators at Carnegie and Leila Josefowicz’s April 2005 Warner Classics release. During her 2005/2006 season, violin prodigy Leila Josefowicz will perform Grey's San Andreas Suite for solo violin as part of her most current recital program. Professional sound design relationships have led Grey to work with such artists and organizations as John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Kronos Quartet and The Paul Dresher Ensemble. He has premiered major works for composers John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley and Paul Dresher. His sound design work has been seen and heard in most major concert halls, theatres and opera houses throughout the world.
Founded in 1947, The Phoenix Symphony proudly serves the citizens of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, central Arizona, and the southwestern United States. What began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year (in a city of fewer than 100,000 people) today serves more than 300,000 people annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the Valley of the Sun and beyond. The 75-member Phoenix Symphony, Arizona’s only full-time professional orchestra, presents an annual season from September through May, featuring classical and pops concerts in downtown Phoenix, along with a variety of symphonic and community presentations in Scottsdale, in Prescott, and throughout central Arizona. Each season, the Symphony performs for more than 50,000 students and children (representing over 260 different schools), helping to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education, community, and youth-engagement programs.
Photo © Kim Pluti for Parallel Productions
Seattle Symphony/Aaron Jay Kernis 2 weeks
Aaron Jay Kernis, one of the youngest composers ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, has become among the most esteemed musical figures of his generation. Each work of Kernis bears the unmistakable stamp of a wildly fertile musical imagination and a distinctive voice forged out of the wide-ranging musical languages of the 1980s and 1990s. His music bursts with rich poetic imagery, brilliant instrumental color, distinctive musical wit, and infectious exuberance. His work is as likely to be inspired by the horrors of the Persian Gulf War (as in the much-talked about Symphony No. 2) as the love poems of Anna Swir
(Love Scenes); the earthy rhythms of Salsa (100 Greatest Dance Hits) as the antics of a child
(Before Sleep and Dreams); the surrealism of Gertrude Stein (Fragments of Gertrude Stein) as the complexities and high-craftsmanship of Italian mosaics (Invisible Mosaic III).
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Listen (excerpt): Aaron Jay Kernis' Second Symphony (MP3) |
Kernis was born in Philadelphia on January 15, 1960. He began his musical studies on the violin; at age 12 he began teaching himself piano, and, in the following year, composition. He continued his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Yale School of Music, working with composers as diverse as John Adams, Charles Wuorinen, and Jacob Druckman. Kernis received national acclaim for his first orchestral work, dream of the morning sky, premiered by the New York Philharmonic at the 1983 Horizons Festival. In addition to the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 2 (musica instrumentalis), his many awards have included the 2002 Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition for the cello and orchestra version of Colored Field, the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, an NEA grant, a Bearns Prize, a New York Foundation for the Arts Award, and three BMI Student Composer Awards. He serves as the Minnesota Orchestra's New Music Advisor and is on Yale's composition faculty.
Since its first performance in 1903, the Seattle Symphony has held a unique place in the world of symphonic music. During its formative years, it was the charismatic Sir Thomas Beecham who most developed the orchestra's skill and reputation. Since Gerard Schwarz's appointment in 1983, the Seattle Symphony has experienced an era of unprecedented artistic growth, with a reputation for innovative and adventurous programming and recording. The Orchestra has given 68 premieres from 1983 through the 2005–2006 season, including commissions by seven major American composers in celebration of the Symphony's Centennial Season. Both in live performance and on recordings, the Seattle Symphony has devoted itself to presenting often neglected masterpieces by mid-20th century composers whose music is once again establishing itself in the hearts of American concertgoers. Many of these works can now be heard on remastered and newly recorded CDs issued on the Naxos and other labels.
Within the past few seasons, the Seattle Symphony has presented festivals of music by composers from the Pacific Rim and Silk Road regions, and from the rich and varied musical traditions of Latin America. These celebrations support the creative efforts of composers and serve to bring vital new audiences to the concert hall. With an ever-growing subscriber base of nearly 40,000 patrons, the Symphony performs or presents nearly 220 performances annually to an audience of more than 315,000 people.
SONYC (String Orchestra of New York City)/Randall Woolf 4 weeks
Randall Woolf composes music for orchestra, digital audio, dance, video and concert theater. His recent compositions combine traditional orchestral instruments, digital processing, electric guitar, electronic and acoustic drumsets, and text, creating a richly varied and genre-bending fusion of elements both ancient and futuristic. He also writes and plays piano for SOUP, a soul/jazz/blues/urban band with singer/songwriter Tyrone Henderson. Recently, he has been playing turntable on his own works, notable in a series of concerts for young people presented by the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
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Listen (excerpt): Randall Woolf's Hee Haw (MP3) |
Now entering its seventh season, SONYC (String Orchestra of New York City) has established itself as one of the leading young ensembles in New York City; with regular performances at New York's Merkin Concert Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. A conductorless chamber ensemble, SONYC members rehearse in a collaborative effort that allows each musician to have an impact on the artistic process. The flexibility and intimacy of a string quartet are thus fused with the power and scope of an orchestra. SONYC is composed of a group of dedicated chamber musicians and soloists who are members of outstanding chamber groups as well as winners of international competitions. Having given over 50 performances and over 40 educational outreach performances for children of all ages and backgrounds in NYC's public schools, SONYC is a pioneer in the concert hall, as well as in the classroom, community center, church, and museum.
SONYC has given 17 world and U.S. premieres. Winners of the 2005 Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Grant, SONYC will be releasing an all American World Premieres CD including the works of such composers as Paul Moravec, Lisa Bielawa, Michael Gatonska and Christopher Theofanidis. The group is also the feature of the award-winning documentary by William McKenna entitled "Breathing Together."
