William Cepeda in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Trombonist and composer William Cepeda returns to his native Puerto Rico for a three-year residency partnership with:
·Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music
·Puerto Rico Department of Education
·Agua, Sol y Sereno

Website: William Cepeda

This residency offers Mr. Cepeda an opportunity to influence how contemporary non-commercial Puerto Rican music is viewed and appreciated by everyday people and mainstream cultural institutions. His unique musical and cultural experiences will inform his New Residencies activities, which include:
· A multi-disciplinary performance on the history of the Caribbean developed in dialogue with the theater group Agua, Sol y Sereno to be performed by an ensemble comprised of Conservatory students;
· The creation of an ensemble of 10 musicians with students from the Conservatory;
· Composing several works that incorporate traditional Puerto Rican, jazz, and European music for ensembles ranging from stage band and full chorus to symphony orchestra;
· Interacting with audiences through concerts at the Conservatory, workshops, rehearsals, and master classes in the Caribbean Jazz program;
· Meetings with board members and principal executives from the partnerships, community members, cultural institutions, sponsors and press to speak about the partnership, its goals and the participating organizations.

Trombonist and composer William Cepeda has traveled the world performing with many great jazz and Latin artists. His music career began at age 10 in his hometown of Loíza, Puerto Rico. He is a member of the world-renowned Cepeda family, which is credited with keeping Afro-Puerto Rican folkloric music alive. In 1989, when Dizzy Gillespie brought his United Nation Orchestra to Puerto Rico, Mr. Cepeda was hired to play trombone. Shortly thereafter he was invited to tour Europe with Dizzy's group, after which time he moved to New York and continued working with the band. He remains a member of the outstanding Grammy award-winning group under Paquito D'Rivera's leadership. Other jazz artists Mr. Cepeda has toured with include Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, David Murray, Bobby Watson, and Slide Hampton & The Jazz Masters.

Equally well-known in the Latin music scene, he has worked with legendary figures such as Oscar De Leon, the five-time Grammy award winner Eddie Palmieri, vocalist Celia Cruz and the late Tito Puente. As a recording artist, he appears in over 100 recordings as well as jingles and movie soundtracks. In 1997, American Composers Orchestra selected him as one of today's most important and influential Puerto Rican composers. His has received commissions, grants, and awards from Meet The Composer, American Composers Forum, and The Association of Hispanic Arts' Latino Arts Advancement Program. In 1999, he received a grant from the Fund for US Artists Int'l Festivals and Exhibits to travel to Colombia to perform and conduct composition workshops.

Beth Custer in San Francisco, CA

Beth Custer's vision for her residency brings together the most fruitful elements of her musical life, teaching, writing music, and collaborating with other artists in one of the most artistically cutting-edge community spaces in San Francisco: the heart of the Mission District. Her New Residencies partners are:
· The LAB
· Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG)
· TILT (Teaching Intermedia Literary Tools)

Ms. Custer's plans for the three years include:
· Composing music for dance and film, for the annual productions of the Joe Goode Performance Group, and for the feature length film Mission Movie;
· Teaching the art of collaboration between professionals at The LAB;
· Holding workshops for teens and young professionals with members of JGPG and TILT on how to make a soundtrack for film and dance, how to access creativity, and how to produce a final production;
· Classes with aspiring young artists at The LAB on the techniques of composition, sampling, sequencing, musical instrument playing, singing, writing lyrics, and songwriting;
· Working as a LAB staff member, assisting in the curation of shows, and archiving their 20-year accumulation of performance recordings;
· A final project as a culmination performance in the third year of a narrative work written by and with the students and professionals of the workshops.

In addition, Beth Custer and members of JGPG and TILT will hold annual workshops at The LAB for teens where they will teach the basic techniques of filmmaking, choreography, and composition.

Beth Custer is a composer for theater, dance, film, television, and the concert stage. She has performed and recorded with numerous ensembles for the past 20 years, singing and playing Bb, alto, & bass clarinets, keyboards, trumpet, experimental instruments, and percussion. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Musical Studies from SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, and took part in graduate studies at Michigan State University and San Francisco State University, where she received a Masters Degree in Clarinet Performance. Postgraduate work includes clarinet study with the eminent Rosario Mazzeo, former clarinetist with the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic, and study abroad with Suzanne Stephens at the Stockhausen Festival in Lisbon.

Beth Custer has lived in the Mission District of San Francisco for 20 years where she has been the composer, arranger, and musical director of the award-winning cutting-edge dance theater troupe Joe Goode Performance Group. She has founded several ensembles, most notably the Club Foot Orchestra, and has composed music for several independent films, including Craig Baldwin's Specters of the Spectrum and KQED's Independent View theme. She has received commissions for the concert stage from Kronos Quartet, Zeitgeist, Overtone Industries, Earplay and most recently, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. As an educator, she teaches clarinet privately, and developed an annual workshop for her students that brings them together in a clarinet choir/jazz band setting where she teaches them to arrange, compose, and perform in the ensemble context.

Cary John Franklin in Minneapolis, MN

Cary John Franklin will work in partnership with:
· VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, formerly the Plymouth Music Series (Minneapolis)
· Minnetonka Senior High School (Minneapolis)
· Como Park Senior High School (St. Paul)
· Red Wing High School (Red Wing)

Educational and community work have always been an integral part of Mr. Franklin's career in music, and a residency with the above four organizations is consistent with his vision of an artist as creator, performer, teacher, advocate, and leader in a community. During his three-year residency, Cary John Franklin plans to:
· Create a number of works for a variety of circumstances, and participate as a performer in many of the premieres;
· Be present and active as a coach in the preparation of these new pieces;
· Prepare and present a number of talks about his music, other composers' music, and new music in general for both formal and informal situations;
· Engage audience members through pre-concert lectures;
· Serve as an advocate for not only his music, but also music of other composers as he advises members of the partnership on programming new works;
· Lead the partnership by linking high school students and teachers with a professional performing organization to broaden experiences and help foster and nurture a genuine love of music.

Cary John Franklin began his musical studies at age five in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He studied at Macalester College, the Aspen Music Festival, and the University of Minnesota where he worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento. Mr. Franklin is a nationally recognized composer with commissions and performances from many of America's leading performing ensembles. His work ranges from chamber and orchestral music to choral music and opera. Organizations that have commissioned him include The Plymouth Music Series, Dale Warland Singers, Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, Kansas City Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Schubert Club of St. Paul. Ensembles that have performed his music include Chanticleer, Gregg Smith Singers, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, and National Repertory Orchestra.

Mr. Franklin is also an active conductor. He is music director of the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, the Master Singers of Milwaukee, and chorus master/associate conductor of Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He is also music director of the Singing Wilderness Festival and Hoot Owl Music Camp. Mr. Franklin is a music producer for Minnesota Public Radio's award-winning Saint Paul Sunday and has produced recordings for artists including Eugenia Zuckerman, Christine Brewer, Irene Gubrud, Plymouth Music Series, Dale Warland Singers, and the American Composers Forum.

Efrain Amaya & R. James Whipple in Pittsburgh, PA
(This particular award is a partnership between Meet The Composer and the Heinz Endowments. The Heinz Endowments are comprised of two separate private foundations, the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. With combined assets of approximately $1.5 billion, the Heinz Endowments share a commitment to supporting the efforts of non-profit organizations, primarily in southwestern Pennsylvania, in the areas of arts and culture, children, youth and families, economic opportunity, education, and the environment).

R. James Whipple

Efrain Amaya and R. James Whipple take part in a joint residency in the greater Pittsburgh area (both composers also reside in Pennsylvania). Over the course of three years, they will venture into collaborations and projects with:
· Gateway to the Arts, an arts-in-education organization
· Renaissance City Winds, a wind ensemble
· The Shaler School District
· WQED-FM, a full-time classical music station

As part of their Pittsburgh New Residency, Amaya and Whipple plan to:
· Compose new music for and with the partner organizations, including jointly composing works with the students of Shaler Schools;
· Work regularly with the local community outside the concert hall by developing composition programs, teaching performance techniques of contemporary music, and exposing students to music of the past 20-50 years;
· Act as ambassadors to the larger community by adding a new element to Musical Kids (WQED-FM's radio show that spotlights talented young performers) by including young composers chosen from area schools;
· Interact with audiences at concerts given by Gateway to the Arts ensembles and the Renaissance City Winds, and offer pre-concert chats to senior citizen music groups and other community organizations;
· Contribute to the programming of the host organization, primarily Gateway and Renaissance City Winds, as well as hosting a new show on WQED-FM devoted to "Music Since 1950";
· Provide consultation to local composers in order to help them find performance opportunities for their music.

Efrain Amaya

Efrain Amaya was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he began his musical training. By age 18, he was Music Director of three choruses in Caracas and conducted several professional orchestras in Venezuela. Mr. Amaya earned Bachelor of Music degrees in piano and composition from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Rice University. As a composer, he has received many commissions, including Angelica for string orchestra which was recently premiered by the Sewickley BACHfest in Sewickley, PA, and Malagigi, the Enchanter for flute and piano, which was premiered in Pittsburgh and later performed at Juilliard as part of Jeanne Baxtresser's International Flute Master class. His multimedia opera Clepsydra was performed as part of the "First Night" celebrations on New Year's Eve 2000 at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Currently, Mr. Amaya is a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University where he is the Music Director/Conductor of the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble. He holds the positions of Music Director and Conductor of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras and the Westmoreland Youth Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Assistant Conductor of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra.

Composer/bassoonist R. James Whipple grew up in the Philadelphia area and began composing at age 14. Mr. Whipple graduated with a degree in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and completed graduate work in music composition at Boston University. His music has been performed, published and broadcast in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He writes predominately for chamber ensembles, however his catalog also includes works for band, chorus, orchestra, and solo instruments. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary collaborations with dance and theater companies. His Concertino for an Autumn Mood for solo bassoon, strings, and harp was recorded by the Czech Radio Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz and released on the MMC label out of Boston. Mr. Whipple was a founding member of Pittsburgh's Renaissance City Winds in 1975, and has served as Artistic Director since 1978. Through the City Winds, he has been a tireless promoter of contemporary and American music. He plays Baroque bassoon with the Bach Cantata Group based at the University of Pittsburgh, and is also Artist Lecturer in Music Theory at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Whipple is a former featured guest in several Meet The Composer programs.