EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Juan José Bárcenas

Composer and multimedia-sound artist Juan José Bárcenas (he/him) was born in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico. He started studying composition n 1990 with Dr. Felipe De las Casas, Dr. Mauricio Beltrán Miranda, and Dr. Ignacio Baca-Lobera. 

His work is characterized by extreme fluctuation in sound. He currently lives in the city of Santiago de Querétaro and works as an electronic performer, composer, sound engineer and multimedia artist. Since 2006, he has taught composition, harmony, counterpoint and audition training at CEDART “Ignacio Mariano de las Casas” and CUCM-UAQ (University Center for Musical Creation), which he founded in 2018 together with the artist collective INTERCICLOS. His music has been released internationally on multiple labels, including Luna Negra Records and NEOS-Germany.

Juan's piece La muerte Camina (Los murmullos) was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Juan spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Composer Juan José Bárcenas

Translated from Spanish to English by Stephanie Polonio

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Juan José Bárcenas: Para mi, fue una noticia maravillosa, esta es una obra creada como parte del programa nacional del Sistema Nacional de Creadores Artísticos de México en su emisión 2019-2021. Esta era una obra sin estrenar y que aún no tenía destino para su estreno, y la experiencia de encontrarlo en este programa tan valioso con una gran orquesta y un gran director, me fue significante, y apoya mi trayectoria y curriculum.

Translation: For me, it was wonderful news, this is a work created as part of the national program of the National System of Artistic Creators of Mexico in its 2019-2021 broadcast. This was an unreleased work and I still had no destination for its premiere, and the experience of finding it in this valuable program with a great orchestra and a great conductor, was significant to me, and supports my career and curriculum.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

JJB: Actualmente ha sido un proceso muy complejo, pues justamente en esta semanas, me encuentro gestionando un festival Internacional de Música Nueva  en mi ciudad, ”INTERCICLOS 2019”, y los tiempos se me han cerrado y complicado en ambas cosas, estoy muy feliz de realizar ambas, pero el tiempo ha sido apremiante. Asimismo, han sido necesarios varios cambios, en cuanto a las plantillas visuales, con el propósito de mejorar la lectura y practica de la obra, los cambios han sido en disposición de espacios visuales.

Translation: Currently it has been a very complex process, because in this week, I am managing an International New Music festival in my city, “INTERCICLOS 2019”, and the times have closed and complicated in both, I am very happy to perform both, but time has been pressing. Also, several changes have been necessary, in terms of visual templates, in order to improve the reading and practice of the work, the changes have been available to visual spaces.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

JJB: Los intercambios con diferentes maneras de pensar y concebir la música, así como diferentes actos y manifestaciones estéticas, siempre otorgan espacios muy interesantes de reflexión, aprendizaje y adiestramiento sobre la manera de pensar y resolver las ideas musicales. Así como momento muy espléndidos de retroalimentación con compañeros artistas.

Translation: Exchanges with different ways of thinking and conceiving music, as well as different acts and aesthetic manifestations, always providing very interesting spaces for reflection, learning and training on the way of thinking and solving musical ideas. As well as very splendid moment of feedback with fellow artists.

ACO: You have experience writing electroacoustic music and as an "electronic performer." In your opinion, what are the similarities between writing electronic music and writing for orchestra?

JJB: Si tengo mucha experiencia en el campo de la música electroacústica, en mi experiencia, ha sido fundamental en mi concepción del fenómeno “tímbrico”, una de las características provechosas de la “electroacústica” es la libertad de crear “fluctuaciones de modo diametral” (muy veloz), en el pensamiento multi-parametrico (timbre, color, ritmo, masa, densidad), a velocidades brutalmente rápidas. Utilizo procesos parecidos en mi acercamiento a la músca exclusivamente acústica, es un gran reto, trabajar en múltiples velocidades, traduciendo los retos electrónicos a los procesos acústicos.

Translation: If I have a lot of experience in the field of electroacoustic music, in my experience, it has been fundamental in my conception of the “timbral” phenomenon, one of the helpful characteristics of “electroacoustic” is the freedom to create “diametral fluctuations” (very fast), in multi-parametric thinking (timbre, color, rhythm, mass, density), at brutally fast speeds. I use similar processes in my approach to exclusively acoustic music, it is a great challenge, to work in multiple speeds, translating electronic challenges to acoustic processes.

ACO: Can you talk about what it means, to you, to be a Mexican composer?

JJB: México es un país lleno de una belleza artística interminable, pintores, escritores, cineastas, bailarines y músicos llenos de talento, que pueden competir en cuanto a calidad, constancia y perfección  a cualquier nivel y contra cualquier país. Creo que es un reto grande, constante y del día a día, estar en constante perfeccionamiento y desarrollo, para no desestimar  o apartarme, de la fuerza y calidad de los artistas en mi país. Soy muy orgulloso de mi país y de los artistas que en este hay; mi aspiración es la búsqueda para estar al nivel de ellos.

Translation: Mexico is a country full of endless artistic beauty, painters, writers, filmmakers, dancers and musicians full of talent, who can compete in terms of quality, perseverance and perfection at any level and against any country. I think it is a big, constant and day-to-day challenge, to be constantly improving and developing, so as not to dismiss or depart from the strength and quality of artists in my country. I am very proud of my country and the artists there are; My aspiration is to continue striving to be at their level.

Juan's piece La muerte Camina (Los murmullos) will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Follow Juan José Bárcenas on Soundcloud

EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Mario Duarte

Dr. Mario Duarte (he/him) was born in Mexico City. After completing his studies in classical guitar, musicology and composition in his country, he travelled to the UK to complete a master’s degree and a PhD under the supervision of Ricardo Climent at NOVARS Research Centre, The University of Manchester. Mario completed a postdoctoral research fellow in Music Technology at The National Autonomous University of Mexico and CMMAS under the supervision of Rodrigo Sigal.

Duarte is a composer interested in the crossover between Science, Literature and Pre-Columbian cultures. His music has been played in major festivals in Mexico, Europe and the UK at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and New Music North West. He has worked as a producer and scriptwriter of contemporary music broadcasts at Opus 94.5 FM Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (2009) and as a music teacher IB MYP (2011-12).

Mario's piece Metztli-tliltic (La luna negra) was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Mario spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Composer Mario Duarte. Photo by Emma Wilde

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Mario Duarte: My first reaction was of surprise because I wasn´t expecting the news. I was also excited to find out I would be working with Gabriela Ortiz, Derek Bermel and José Areán.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

MD: I´ve been working on preparing the parts and making sure everything is ready to a professional standard for the workshop. I haven´t made any actual changes to the music because luckily the instrumentation fits perfectly for Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

MD: I´m looking forward to hearing my music played by a professional orchestra. I hope to establish a relationship and start networking with my peers and with musicians in Mexico because for the last 6 years I´ve been living in the UK studying for my Masters and PhD degrees and this will be an opportunity to reconnect with the musical community in Mexico.

ACO: Your bio notes that you are interested in Pre-Columbian culture, and your selected work Metztli is named after the lunar deity in Aztec mythology, and borrows patterns from the Mayan calendar and numeric system. Can you talk about any musical influences you have taken from these Pre-Columbian cultures?

MD: My music itself doesn´t sound Pre-Columbian because we don´t know what that kind of music sounded like so I wouldn´t say that I´m influenced by these cultures in musical terms. It´s more the philosophy behind the music that is influenced by Pre-Columbian cultures. For example, in Metzli I took the idea of cycles from the Mayan calendar and this underpins the structure of the work.

ACO: Can you talk about what it means to be a Mexican composer?

MD: I think it means the same as being a British composer, a Japanese or an Argentinian composer. We all want to create and there is no difference regarding nationality in terms of the creative process.

Mario's piece Metztli-tliltic (La luna negra) will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Learn more about Mario Duarte at www.duartemario.com

EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi

Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi (he/him) is a Mexican composer of Japanese heritage who was born and raised in Mexico City. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Composition at Mannes College of Music in New York City, studying with Rudolph Palmer and David Tcimpidis. He was later admitted into the Master in Music degree in Composition from the Royal College of Music, London studying with Kenneth Hesketh. 

Ikuno’s pieces have been performed in various cities in the United States, as well as in London, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Tainan, and Paris. His opera, 76 Days, was premiered in the Britten Hall in London produced by the Royal College of Music in partnership with Tête à Tête Opera under the direction of Bill Bankes-Jones. In 2016, he was awarded a grant from the Mexican Ministry of Culture for young artists (beca FONCA de Jóvenes Creadores) to compose a piece under the tutelage of Marcela Rodríguez and Lilia Vázquez-Kuntze. His piece Vox Villaurrutiensis was recorded by aTonalHits for their album Origins. 

Kenichi's piece Retratos de la locura was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Kenichi spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Composer Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi. Photo by Pablo Antoli

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi: I was quite thrilled! It is very difficult -outside an academic environment- to be able to have an opportunity to have a piece played by a full orchestra.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

KIS: I am anticipating some of the questions that might arise from both the musicians and my colleagues of the score I composed. I did some adjustments when I was revising the piece anew for the reading.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

KIS: I'm looking forward to actually listen to the piece I wrote live! Besides that, I'm looking forward to the feedback: I think any criticism will help me grow as a composer. Everyone has a very different listening experience based on their own background and history, I would be very interested in what they hear in my piece.

ACO: The second half of Retratos de la locura is a fugue, and you write in your program note that "writing a fugue in the present times seems almost an act of outmoded foolishness." Why were you having these doubts? At what point in the compositional process did you begin to believe that using this technique was going to be worth it?

KIS: Now that I'm reading myself again it comes off a bit standoffish. I didn't mean that fugues aren't written anymore, but they do have a very thick air of academia. I remember at the conservatory that we were required to compose fugues from time to time for certain classes on given subjects: it was not always fun, and results were – most of the time – theoretically correct, but results were extremely stale. Fugues are obsessive by nature: for this reason, I chose to write a fugue for this particular piece.

ACO: Can you talk about what it means to be a Mexican composer?

KIS: To be honest I'm a bit conflicted about this question. Probably what I write in such a brief space would leave a lot out. What makes someone belong to a certain place? Who dictates that? Is it the state? Is it the people? The culture? I think a big part of belonging is identifying oneself with the place one considers home. We live in a time where displacement, more than immigration (and I think there is a big difference between both terms) has become commonplace. More times we hear voices screaming that he or she doesn't belong somewhere; that they go back to where we came from; for them to deny their roots and become "one of us."

Mexico is a multicultural country, not only because of immigration from different countries but also by their many indigenous peoples. It is a complex country with a complex web of different identities: there is an idea of a Mexican, but there many shades of gray of what a Mexican is. My name isn't Mexican. It is Japanese. My facial features are not Mexican. They're Japanese. My heritage is not Mexican. It is Japanese. But I am Mexican. I was born in Mexico. I feel Mexican. I have Mexican customs. My mother tongue is Spanish: my slang is Mexican, I cuss with Mexican curses, I sing Mexican songs when I'm drunk. For me, what it means to be a Mexican composer is manyfold: it is an acknowledgment of my Japanese heritage, it is embracing the Mexican culture that adopted and welcomed my ancestors, it is mixing a lot of different influences.

Kenichi's piece Retratos de la locura will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Follow Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi on Twitter and Soundcloud

EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Jiyoun Chung

Jiyoun Chung (she/her) is a native Korean pianist and composer. Since she moved to the USA in 2008, her pieces have been performed at festivals and concerts such as the 2019 String Quartet Smackdown V, the 2019 Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for Women, the 2019 Women Composer Festival of Hartford, the 2019 College Music Society International Conference in Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges, Belgium, the 2015 Singapore Asian Composers Festival, the 2014 Graduate Association of Music and Musician at University of Texas-Austin, and the 2014 Red Note Festival. She was a finalist in the 2014 PUBLIQ Access competition and the 2014 Birmingham New Music Festival, a semifinalist in The American Prize in 2013 and 2014, and she also received honorable mention in the Rebecca Sherburn Composition competition.

Jiyoun Chung's piece Scissors was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Jiyoun Chung spoke to us about the readings and her piece.

Composer Jiyoun Chung. Photo by Sangyeon Choo

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Jiyoun Chung: I was very excited to be part of the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings! I felt truly honored and grateful.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

JC: Last week, I sent parts and scores to the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra and American Composers orchestra. The orchestration of my piece, Scissors, was within Aguascalientes' complement, so I did not need to change instrumentation. However, I changed the format of the parts and fixed some minor notations as Bill Holab, the copyist, suggested.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

JC: I am looking forward to hear my piece played by the professional orchestra. Sitting at the rehearsal will be a valuable experience. It probably is the best way to understand how the entire orchestra works in order to perform a piece. I expect to learn a lot from communicating with the conductor and feedback from the players as well.

Also talking with the mentor composer and other peers as we look at the score while listening the piece performed by the orchestra will be an amazing experience that you cannot get elsewhere.

ACO: Your bio notes that you have extensive experience as an arranger for professional orchestras and choirs, with a book of your arrangements published by Yesol. Can you talk about how your expertise in arranging helps, or perhaps gets in the way of, your compositional process?

JC: The book was written for more an educational purpose for youth orchestras. So it was more about transposing to easier keys to play in, simplifying complicated passages, using easier finger positions and rewriting music to be more fun and enjoyable for the kids.

In general, experience as an arranger did help and change my writing enormously. I learned how to write and notate easier to the performers to get the same or similar sound I wanted. When the players struggle to play the piece that is too difficult to play with a limited rehearsal time (believe me, they never have enough rehearsal times), or to play the part which is not idiomatic, they can not really enjoy performing the piece. Then, the audience feels the tension and uncomfortableness, which also keeps them from enjoying the piece. The result is simple. No one is happy. I do not get the sound I intended, the performers are not happy because they feel it was not their best, and the audience is not happy with the performance and the music. So, I started to find easier and better ways to realize my imagination and convey it to the listeners without making the performers suffer too much. I found being kind to performers makes the music much more accessible to the audience, even when the musical materials used in the piece are not that easy to understand.

I am still learning, but I am happy to learn. I can not expect the players to learn my pieces as they learn the concertos. I shouldn’t. Composers sometimes need to push players’ limits, but also need to be realistic in writing for bigger ensembles. Finding effective ways to convey music is also my job, that is what I learned from experiences as an arranger, and that is what I believe.

ACO: Can you talk about what it means, to you, to be an American composer?

JC: Well, first of all, I am a permanent resident of the USA. I am a native Korean, but musically active mostly in the USA. This country is diverse, so is the music scene. Also, there have been more and more movements in the music field to value ethnic and cultural diversity. I hope to be a part of them and contribute to the diversity.  As I wrote in the Scissors program note, I have the Korean cultural background, and I favor Western musical languages as a medium for compositions. Korean cultural influences serve as the inspiration for my compositions in many ways, and it is my passion to create works that integrate both cultures and sometimes combine both musical languages to establish my own musical voice. I think that is my musical identity as a composer, and I hope what I do as an artist helps to make the culture of this community and society richer and more diverse.  

Jiyoun Chung's piece Scissors will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Learn more about Jiyoun Chung at www.jiyounchung.com

EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Emily Koh

Emily Koh (she/her) is a Singaporean composer and double bassist based in Atlanta, whose music is characterized by inventive explorations of the smallest details of sound. In addition to writing acoustic and electronic concert music, she enjoys collaborating with other creatives in projects where sound plays an important role in the creative process.

Described as "the future of composing" (The Straits Times, Singapore), she is the recipient of awards such as the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Prix D’Ete, and PARMA competitions, commissions from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, Composers Conference at Wellesley College, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble and grants from New Music USA, Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy and Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Avaloch Farm Music Institute.

Emily's piece After Igor was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Emily spoke to us about the readings and her piece.

Composer Emily Koh. Photo by Simon Goodacre

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Emily Koh: I was surprised, but was excited about working with an orchestra! I was also very worried as this came at a very busy time for me, and I had to pull weeks of late nights to get the scores and parts ready.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

EK: I re-orchestrated the work to fit the instrumentation of the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra. In doing so, I also thinned out some of the orchestration. In my free time, I am listening to more orchestral works that I usually do.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

EK: I am looking forward to meeting other participants and listening to their music. I am also excited to meet and work with the composer mentors, and the orchestra! I hope to learn to be a more effective composer of orchestral music, and also how to communicate succinctly during rehearsals.

ACO: Your piece After Igor, which was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky's The Firebird, is intended to be a post-prequel to the ballet. Can you talk about how much you listened to or studied The Firebird while writing this piece? Were you worried about letting Stravinsky's voice influence your writing too much?

EK: I studied Stravinsky's The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, and Petrushka when I first wrote the work. At that time, I had just studied smaller excerpts from The Rite of Spring in school, and was not difficult to assimilate aspects of his fingerprints/voice into my work. At that time, I was also a little obsessed with the sound of Stravinsky during his 'Russian Period' since it was what we were studying in school, and this commission came at the perfect time, without compromising my individual tastes (at that time). This sound no longer resonates as strikingly in my current work, but the idea of evoking the sound of one's homeland and integrating it into the Western tradition is something close to my heart.

ACO: Can you talk about what it means, to you, to be an American composer?

EK: I am from Singapore and I live and work primarily in the US, making me a Singaporean-American composer. Because America is historically diverse and supportive of individualism, living in the US gives me a freedom to explore, experiment, learn and seek--a fitting environment for any creative!

Emily's piece After Igor will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Learn more about Emily Koh at www.emilykoh.net

EarShot Aguascalientes Symphony - Composer Spotlight: Piyawat Louilapprasert

Piyawat Louilarpprasert (he/him), “the rebel Thai composer taking music to unheard heights” (CNN News World) writes works that explore possibilities of creating the amalgamation of sonic and visual arts; including integrating multimedia and music, deconstructing instruments’ mechanism and physicality with sound production method, and involving Thai traditional music elements in new compositions.

Piyawat has received several arts and composition prizes such as Matan Givol Prize 2019 (Israel), ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award 2018, and many more. He is currently a doctoral candidate in composition at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York with Kevin Ernste and Marianthi Papalexandri Alexandri. His mentors were Valeriy Rizayev, Dai Fujikura, Jonathan Cole and Gilbert Nuono.

Piyawat's piece Light and Flame was selected for the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Piyawat spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Composer Piyawat Louilarpprasert. Photo by Marije van den Berg

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings?

Piyawat Louilarpprasert: I was very excited because this is such a great opportunity for contemporary composer to be selected for the Aguascalientes EarShot New Music Readings. I am very looking forward to working with the orchestra and meeting new people there.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece since you found out it would be performed by the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra?

PL: In general, I do not really change the music, however, I try to check through all the parts and scores in order to make the most efficient material for musicians and conductor. Moreover, I am preparing some questions regarding practicality of orchestral writing which I hope I could have a little discussion with people there.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

PL: Definitely, I hope to share my music and compositional concept to musicians in the orchestra as well as receive feedback and any thought that I could develop my composition for the next opportunity. 

ACO: In your bio you write that your works aim to "explore possibilities of creating the amalgamation of sonic and visual art." With your piece, Light and Flame, there will be no visual element present. That said, is your goal to conjure up an image of "light and flame" for the listener?

PL: This is a very good question, generally, I usually compose music by using visual elements in somehow. Talking about the concept of this work, the keywords are "Light" and "Flame," I am trying to explore sonic possibilities by portraying the gesture and the color of light or flame through different instrumental sound production. Ultimately, this process creates both sonic aspect and visual imagination. 

ACO: Can you talk about what it means, to you, to be an American composer?

PL: Interestingly, I moved to the U.S. for awhile. I came from Southeast Asian tradition which I found the cultures have great number of differentiation. Personally, both are great for me, in addition, I could learn the culture and adapt into my composition. Especially, living in the U.S. as an American composer, there are many possibilities to make art and music happen where I could both learn new things and share my own ideas to people in this great community. This is very meaningful to me. 

Piyawat's piece Light and Flame will be workshopped and performed at the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings, which takes place August 12-14, 2019 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Learn more about Piyawat Louilarpprasert at www.piyawatmusic.com

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Chen Yihan

Much of Chen Yihan’s music seeks for a convergence of different points in time and space, connecting the past to the future and bringing different corners of the world together in an abstract, poetic, and emotional way that transcends culture and epoch. His music is often a play of lines, space, and intensity in a calligraphic way, reflecting his cultural roots in the Chinese arts. As a composer, Chen Yihan’s music has been performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the National Opera House (China), The Juilliard Orchestra, Longcheng Symphony Orchestra, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Cantoría Hong Kong, the Entre Madeiras Trio, among others. He has earned honors such as two ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Jacobs School of Music Dean’s Prize, a winner of the Juilliard orchestra competition, to name a few.

Chen Yihan’s piece SPIRITUS was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Chen Yihan spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Hear Chen Yihan's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Learn more about Chen Yihan at www.yihanmusic.com
Follow Chen Yihan on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Rodrigo Castro

Rodrigo Castro’s work is a counterpoint of ideas laid out in mosaic, fractal, and dendrite forms. Imbued with an esoteric spirit, the organic cell-driven structures that he creates in every piece project atmospheres where spectral and playful echoes are chanted in a shifting sense of time. Rodrigo’s music aims to perfume the environment with aleatoric waves that highlight the liminal spaces between individual and universal identities. His esoteric music evokes feelings or memories in each listener with spiritual and metaphorical considerations and with the aim to create musical landscapes that need to exist. As a troubadour of his own time, he uses the orchestra to redefine the vernacular melodies and rhythms of his Mexican and Cuban heritage. Rodrigo’s work is influenced by artists such as Silvio Rodríguez, Bob Dylan, Luis Eduardo Aute and Leonard Cohen.

Rodrigo’s piece La gaviota was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Rodrigo spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Composer Rodrigo Castro

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Underwood New Music Readings?

Rodrigo Castro: Considering the somewhat challenging circumstances behind my piece’s inception, and its varying stages of development, I was astounded and relieved upon finding out that I was one of the selected composers. In the following days, I began to feel more of a sense of contentment and pride in my work and efforts. By now, I feel excited from the anticipation and, most of all, incredibly thankful for this important opportunity.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

RC: In preparation for the readings, I had to reconsider some aspects of my piece with a critical sense for both refinement and pragmatism. It was encouraging to know that I still had the chance to chisel away at some specific details that could ensure a more productive experience. With that in mind, I reworked some minor aspects of the orchestration in certain passages, as well as the approach to some extended techniques and even some editing of the overall layout of the piece. It was a refreshing review of my ideas after having some time to gather a more objective perspective on the aesthetic intentions proposed in the work. With a better sense for how to balance out some areas, that may not have been entirely convincing, or even properly formed at first, the piece is now imbued with a new sense for the occasion.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

RC: I am very much looking forward to meeting all of the wonderful people behind this project. Naturally, the emphasis is on the experience of hearing my piece and learning all that there is still to learn about my work, but the feeling of belonging to such an important moment shared by all who are involved, is undoubtedly something to look forward to as well. As it is, composers of new music do not often have a such a significant chance to learn more about their creative ideas through a tangible experience, and everything has been set up for us to really dive deep into the atmosphere of our field. This is where the abstractness of what we do will become a reality that we can engage with. Our art form is mostly driven by context, and these readings are an important next step for our development in light of that pursuit.

I hope to learn about specific concerns, such as finding an equilibrium between one’s distinctive artistic vision and the practical considerations implied when working with an ensemble and within the protocols of our trade. I also hope that I will learn more, and in a comprehensive manner, about what it really means to be a composer in our world and of our times, through what promises to be a very meaningful experience.

Hear Rodrigo's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Jack Hughes

Jack Hughes is a Chicago-based composer who is interested in exploring the ways in which the inner life of sound interacts with a listener’s mind, body and soul. While Jack avoids being prescriptive in the response his music elicits, one of his core values is for his music be meaningful on some level to all audience members, regardless of their musical knowledge. He seeks to foster musical experiences in which imagination, empathy, and trust flow in all directions among the composer, performers, and listeners. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas. Jack Hughes received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music, in the studio of Keith Fitch. Jack served as composer fellow of San Francisco’s Volti choral ensemble in 2017 and of the Canton Symphony Orchestra in 2014.

Jack’s piece Needlepoint was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Jack spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Composer Jack Hughes. Photo by Phillip Sossenheimer

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Underwood New Music Readings?

Jack Hughes: I was thrilled. Right after receiving the email I found myself reflecting on the two weeks in August when I was working on one of the most difficult sections of the piece. It was incredibly hot in Chicago and composing felt exceedingly slow and difficult. To keep myself motivated I would imagine how exciting it would be to hear the work performed live, and it was so gratifying to find out that this hypothetical performance was going to become an actual performance!

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

JH: I'm trying to study my score in a more detached and practical way--almost as though I didn't write the piece. This more detached relationship to the piece is a nice contrast to the intensely personal connection we often feel to our pieces while composing. I'm trying to think very practically: highlighting spots that might potentially be difficult for the orchestra and coming up with some potential alternative dynamics or registral changes in case a passage needs revision. Most of the changes I've made to my piece have just been small tweaks and formatting changes. With orchestral music the editing never ends!

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

JH: I'm so excited to meet the other participating composers and to hear their works. And I look forward to speaking with audience members about their experience of the concert. Hearing ACO read and assemble my piece will be a special experience that will help me understand orchestral composition in a deeper way.

Hear Jack's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Follow Jack on Soundcloud

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Jihyun Kim

Jihyun Kim’s music has been performed in the prestigious venues around the world, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Harris Hall in Aspen, DiMenna Center, Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence Italy, and Seoul Arts Center in Korea. Jihyun’s works were performed by eminent ensembles such as Tanglewood New Fromm Players, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Asciano Quartet, Karien Ensemble, Switch Ensemble, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, Cornell Festival Orchestra, Bloomington Trio, and Chanticleer LAB Choir, and were featured in Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Mayfest, the University of South Florida New Music Festival, Midwest Composers Symposium, and Korean Music Expo.

Jihyun’s piece A Tramp in the Assembly Line was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Jihyun spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Composer Jihyun Kim

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Underwood New Music Readings?

Jihyun Kim: I was extremely happy to find out that my piece was selected among many others; this is the opportunity that I have been always wanting to participate in, as I have seen my friends participating in previous editions and really enjoying the experience. Especially with this work, I am very excited to hear the work come to life by a wonderful orchestra specialized in new music.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

JK: I have been making a few changes for the readings: One of the mentors, Mr. Derek Bermel gave productive comments on the piece and also the publisher, Mr. Bill Holab, gave me suggestions on perfecting the layout of the score/parts.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

JK: I am very much looking forward to working with ACO under the baton of maestro Ludovic Morlot, and hearing the valuable insight of the renowned mentor composers, Derek Bermel, Tania León, and Anthony Cheung. It will also be an inspiring experience to hear the works of my colleagues. It is exciting to see the workshops that ACO is offering: meeting with the publishers and presenters and learning about the world of publishing and programing will provide me with critical information and knowledge that every young composer needs.

Hear Jihyun's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Learn more about Jihyun at www.noeljihyunkim.com

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: inti figgis-vizueta

inti figgis-vizueta is a queer Andinx experimental composer based in Brooklyn, NY. They write identity-focused musics, often channeling story-telling and the manifestation of non-hegemonic voices in concert spaces. inti works to create transparent, self-contained musical processes through which melodic and timbreal interaction blooms and consumes itself. inti studied with Felipe Lara. inti has received numerous awards, most recently the 2019 Hildegard Competition from National Sawdust and the 2019 Mizzou International Composer’s Festival featuring Alarm Will Sound. They’ve won calls for scores for organizations such as Verdant Vibes, N/A Ensemble, UnTwelve, Baltimore Choral Arts, and 113 Collective. Their music has also been played by ensembles such as loadbang, PUBLIQuartet, Hypercube, RTE Contempo String Quartet, and Balance Campaign as well as the Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra and SJSU Wind Ensemble.

inti’s piece Symphony for the Body was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. inti spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Composer inti figgis-vizueta. Photo by Ella Joklik

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Underwood New Music Readings?

inti figgis-vizueta: I was incredibly excited, obviously; having an orchestra put its weight behind my music, even for a few hours, is something incredibly thrilling. I am also happy to join the long lineage of music whose early stages were nurtured and incepted by this supportive, forward-thinking organization.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

IFV: My main goal is making sure my notation is as clear as possible, so that most of our rehearsal is spent on music-making rather than the initial dance that notation as specific as mine sometimes requires. Through previous readings with both conservatory and youth orchestras I was able to integrate best practices I had the privilege to observe.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

IFV: I'm excited to hear the music of my fellow participants and have mentorship from Tania Leon, a longtime inspiration and hero. I value community-building above all in my musical practice and the Underwood Readings are another branch in which to grow.

Hear inti's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Learn more about inti at www.inticomposes.com
Follow inti on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Aaron Israel Levin

Aaron Israel Levin writes music that is guided by the emotional dynamism of storytelling and drama. He draws from a variety of musical and non-musical influences – including film, theater, and performance art – to create compositions that are both personal and wide-ranging. Aaron’s music has been performed by the Bent Frequency Duo, Fifth House Ensemble, loadbang, Pavia Winds, the Yale Philharmonia, mezzo-sopranos Kayleigh Butcher and Lisa Neher, and percussionists Dmitrii Nilov and Sam Um. Passionate about collaboration, Aaron frequently works with artists from different mediums. He has collaborated multiple times with playwright Christopher Gabriel Nuñéz, and has also developed projects with projection designer Johnny Moreno, and choreographers Celeste Miller and Mary Gwin.

Aaron’s piece In Between was selected for the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings where it will be workshopped and read by American Composers Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Aaron spoke to us about the readings and his piece.

Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Composer Aaron Israel Levin. Photo by Eric Snoza

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Underwood New Music Readings?

Aaron Israel Levin: I really couldn’t believe it because I was so elated. I think I immediately emailed the composition teacher who had worked with me on the piece that it had been selected, and it was a really special moment sharing that news with him. So many fantastic composers have worked with the American Composers Orchestra through the Underwood New Music Readings over the years, and I am deeply humbled to be included this year.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

AIL: I made a few orchestrational changes to make certain moments more clear. I also decided to make the principle cellist more of a protagonist. In my initial draft, the solo cello doesn’t really speak until the end of the piece; but in this revision there is a solo moment right at the beginning, which I feel gives the work more of a complete, cyclical structure. I’m excited to hear how it works!

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

AIL: I’m really looking forward to working with the fantastic mentor composers, Derek Bermel, Anthony Cheung, and Tania Léon, as well as the esteemed conductor Ludovic Morlot. I’ve never worked with a professional orchestra before, so I’m hoping to learn more about what that process is like, and what the best ways are for composers to effectively work with the conductor and the players in bringing a new piece of music to life. I’m also excited to meet the other participant composers and to hang out in New York City!

Hear Aaron's piece at the 2019 Underwood New Music Readings. Rehearsals, workshops, and final readings are open to the public on May 23 and 24 at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 W 4th St). RSVP here

Learn more about Aaron at www.aaronisraellevin.com
Follow Aaron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Where We Lost Our Shadows - Composer Portrait: Gloria Coates

Gloria Coates has written sixteen full-scale symphonies, eleven string quartets, several orchestral works, a number of song cycles, and a chamber opera, Stolen Identity. The 1978 premiere in Warsaw of her Symphony No. 1, “Music for Open Strings” brought her acclaim; the work was among the finalists for the 1986 International Koussevitsky Award. It was also the first piece by a woman composer to be performed at Munich’s Musica Viva, in 1980. Symphony No. 1 “Music for Open Strings,” was written in 1973 and is scored for a string orchestra playing entirely on retuned open strings. The work opens with the strings tuned to a minor pentatonic scale (B flat, C, D flat, F, G flat), which are returned to their normal tuning movement by movement.

We spoke with Coates about the story behind Symphony No. 1, “Music for Open Strings,” as well as her experiences as an American woman composer in Europe, and what advice she has for young composers.

American Composers Orchestra performs Symphony No. 1, “Music for Open Strings” on Thursday, April 11, 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall, Zankell Hall. Click here for tickets and more information.

Composer Gloria Coates. Photo by Simon Leigh

American Composers Orchestra: Can you talk about your decision to write a symphony for open strings with “abnormal” tunings? What was the creative process like?

Gloria Coates: In 1971, I was commissioned to write a work for the Rhineland Chamber Orchestra.  

Back in 1962, after a summer course with Alexander Tcherepnin at the Salzburg Mozarteum, he jotted down several Chinese pentatonic scales he brought back with him from China while he was teaching there, and said, “You might want to use one of these scales one day.” I chose one of the scales and wrote an adequate piece. Not me! I felt, so tore it up. I tried a few more times to no avail. About to give up using the scale, I awoke one morning with an idea to see whether I might tune the instruments to this scale. It worked! Then I wrote a little tune using the scale and had the orchestra play it with open strings.  Many ideas struck me as I looked at the hocket-like matrix. Each time it was played, I had two instruments fall out of this matrix into a phrase of a particular color. With each repeat, more and more colors were added to the melody until it disappeared into an explosion of colors. This was the first movement.

The second movement used the open strings in a sort of scherzo.

For the last movement I decided it should be based on an early quartet I had written while studying in Louisiana in 1963 using glissandi in all instruments.  This had been rejected as “preposterous” by my professor. I had said, “Why can't I write this in glissandi if it can be played?” He laughed, “You can write it, but who will listen to it?” I whimpered, “I would.” So now I decided I would use this material. I set our normal scale vertically which happened to coincide with the tunings of the strings.  Then I had the instruments emerge from it using open strings. As I wrote it, more complex rhythms and intervals took over and it seemed to be a final movement. I called this piece “Music on Open Strings” and sent it off to the US copyright office.

ACO: Can you talk about what you remember about your very first time hearing an orchestra perform this piece? How long was it from the time you finished the piece to its world premiere?

GC: The Rhineland Chamber Orchestra began rehearsals but there was much protest, especially from the violin section. Someone came into the rehearsal from the street very excited at the new sounds and wanted to know when it would be performed. This gave me confidence which was short-lived as the last movement, when played, sounded like an old fashioned washing machine and the orchestra could not play it without accents on the beats. My attempts at getting a conductor to perform it properly were rejected, and I sadly took the piece out of the concert and put it away, hoping for better times.

I took it to Boosey and Hawkes in New York, and an editor named Stuart Pope was excited about it, and said it would be ideal for their Education Department. I told him it was a regular concert piece so turned down that wonderful offer. Before going out the door, he called at me, “Why don't you write a movement connecting that last movement with the other two?” (I had thought it would be interesting for the audience to see and hear the orchestra retuning for an interval of time.) This thought stayed with me, and a few weeks later I sat in a restaurant and suddenly saw a possibility. One of the strings did not need retuning, so was able to use it to retune with tuning by fifths. I found myself writing little canons and then arrived at a point of using the fine tuner with chords in fifths from the entire orchestra. This became the third movement named “Scordatura” … and completed “Music on Open Strings.”

It took five years before it was premiered, having been rejected by Wolfgang Fortner for Musica Viva. (After its success at Warsaw Autumn and a change of artistic director, it became the first orchestral work by a woman in the then 34 year history of Hartmann's famous Musica Viva series.)

The American conductor Richard Kapp was interested in performing this work with his Philharmonia Virtuosi. Alas, some musicians were afraid of their instruments’ being ruined … Stradivarious, Ramati and such … so he sent the score back.

A few years later, an avant-garde ensemble from Poland came through Munich led by Zygmunt Krause. After the concert I told him about my piece and he advised me to send it to Warsaw Autumn Festival. It was accepted. 

Again, a stumbling block! At the rehearsal, the orchestra did not want to play the piece on open strings.  Their reason was that it did not sound beautiful, but most of all, they could not crescendo the movement with open strings. I asked them to play it both ways for me, and I heard it did not meet with my expectations. I told them I would decide the next and last day about what I would do.

That night I could not sleep … pacing the room on the fifth floor of the old Bristol Hotel, an idea struck me: perhaps if I used the bow for the crescendo … loosen the hairs of the bows and in the matrix where the rests were, tighten the hairs, and gradually a crescendo might appear. There was no time to try this out at the last rehearsal. I had to find an instrument before 9am.

I glanced down at the plaza from my window and saw a man carrying a case. It was now about 3:30am so wondered if this were a doctor called out to deliver a baby in the night. But there was a slight chance it was an instrument. The elevator was locked for the night so I ran down the spiral staircase and out into the plaza. I saw no one. Then, around a column there he stood! I tried to talk to him, but he spoke no English, no German, no French. I motioned as if playing a violin and he nodded! … and pointed to the poster on the column about an orchestral concert and to Krakow … pointing to his watch. I showed him my name on the same poster and he understood. We woke the night watchman of the hotel who spoke German and he translated my request with the bow hairs on the strings. It worked!!

ACO: Many of your earlier works for orchestra were not originally classified as symphonies. Why was this the case? What made you retitle them as symphonies?

GC: I would say my life is different from most composers, because I was rather isolated. I wasn’t getting grants like my peers were. It was a different situation because there were no women composers then. I never set out to write an orchestra work. The first titles I had, I always tried to do something sort of programmatic. Even with “Music for Open Strings,” at one point I called it “The Three Ages of Samurai.” I never called it a symphony … Then there was a piece I wrote and it was so complicated. I think I had 54 instruments going simultaneously. It was a commission for an orchestra piece from the Stuttgart Radio and I could use all my ideas for a very large orchestra. I was able to put into practice things that had never been done for orchestra before. I thought that this piece was so huge that I would call it a symphony. It didn’t follow the rules for the old-fashioned symphonies, but then nothing that I had written followed the rules.

I thought, “If that’s a symphony, what were those earlier pieces that I’d written?” I went back over them, and the ones with more movements, that were heavier, I called symphonies. So by this time I had seven symphonies altogether. 

I sent Classic Produktion Osnabrück, which is very good label in Germany, recordings of my Symphonies No. 1, 4, and 7 … CPO sent my symphonies to a well-known musicologist, who wrote back, “I had no idea you’d written symphonies.” I thought, “I wonder if those were symphonies?” I wasn’t sure because they were different from symphonies normally. So he analyzed them and wrote that these are real symphonies, using examples of Mahler to evaluate them. Then other musicologists realized this and called them real symphonies, which they were. I continued then to write symphonies. 

ACO: An important part of your career has been to promote American music in Europe, with a German-American Music Series (1971-1984), writing musicological articles, and making broadcasts for the WDR Radio Cologne, and Radio Bremen. Can you talk about why this initiative is important to you? What improvements, in terms of the attitude towards American music, have you seen since you first moved to Europe in 1969?

GC: I think Germany is very proud of its musical heritage, and when I was first there the Americans were thought of more as light and superficial, even Charles Ives … Basically American music had very little promotion. I didn’t get paid for it … but I was able to have a music series promoting American music at the Amerika Haus. They helped with promotion and production. I did that for 13 years, and I think it made quite a difference. I also helped organize performances European music in America to facilitate an exchange of ideas.

Things changed through the years. The Wall came down. There was more money. And then there was a book that came out called Desert Plants: Conversations with 23 American Musicians around 1975 and I was asked to review it. Basically what the German writer [Walter Zimmermann] was doing was promoting only a very avant-garde group of Americans, like John Cage and Harry Partch. I would say that more conventional and new music people, even electronic artists, were pushed out. I created quite a long radio program for Radio Bremen, which was also broadcast on WDR Radio Cologne, which sampled all these various American composers … That was so successful that WDR Radio Cologne invited me to do a series of broadcasts music based on different themes, which I could use to promote more American music and also women composers, because there had been no women composers on the radio at that time. So I promoted American music quite a bit. In fact, I wasn’t able to do much of my own composing because I was busy doing this. It was kind of a dedication feeling I had. 

ACO: You have lectured about your concepts and techniques of composing at Harvard, Princeton, Brown, and major institutions around the world. Can you talk about some of the most common advice you give young orchestral composers?

GC: There’s a way that you can compose by looking at scores and developing your technique from that. That's all right. However, I feel that it’s important to go within yourself and that means you have to live more. It has to do with exploring yourself and trying to find the connections with what you’re expressing. It sometimes happens with an instrument, like if you’re a singer you’ll have a different compositional expression from if you’re a saxophone player. So my feeling for young people is to experience life and to find their own individual expression. If you have say 2,000 composers all with a similar technique, which one will stand out? It’s really the one who has that basic knowledge of music, but also has a personal voice that touches the audience.

Each composer has his own manner of composing. Mine is more intuitive than technical. I express myself as honestly as I can. I only hope it is received by the listener in his own way.

American Composers Orchestra performs Symphony No. 1, “Music for Open Strings” on Thursday, April 11, 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall, Zankell Hall. Click here for tickets and more information.

Where We Lost Our Shadows - Performer Portrait: Shayna Dunkelman

Shayna Dunkelman is a musician, an improviser, and a percussionist based in Brooklyn, NY. She is known for her versatile and unique techniques, and her use of electronics to access a sonic pallet not found in acoustic percussion. Dunkelman is the founding member of the retro-future electronic band Peptalk with Michael Carter and Angelica Negron based in Brooklyn, NYC. She was also a member of the world touring band Xiu Xiu for six years.

Shayna Dunkelman is a featured soloist in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun and Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar’s new multimedia work Where We Lost Our Shadows, which explores the timeless story of human migration and the resilient human spirit.

American Composers Orchestra presents the New York premiere on Thursday, April 11, 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall. Click here for tickets and more information.

Where We Lost Our Shadows - Performer Portrait: Ali Sethi

Ali Sethi is a renowned Pakistani author and musician. Having grown up in Lahore, Pakistan, Sethi graduated from Harvard College and authored the critically acclaimed novel The Wish Maker. He is also a trained vocalist in the Indo-Pakistani classical traditions of Khayal and Ghazal. A regular on the popular Coke Studio program, he is known for combining live music with historical narrative and critical analysis. He lives between Lahore and New York City.

Ali Sethi is a featured soloist in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun and Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar’s new multimedia work Where We Lost Our Shadows, which explores the timeless story of human migration and the resilient human spirit.

American Composers Orchestra presents the New York premiere on Thursday, April 11, 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall. Click here for tickets and more information.

EarShot Sarasota Orchestra - Composer Spotlight: Sam Wu

The music of Sam Wu deals with the beauty in blurred boundaries. From Shanghai, China, Wu attends The Juilliard School for his M.M., after receiving an A.B., with honors, from Harvard University. His teachers include Tan Dun, Robert Beaser, Chaya Czernowin, Richard Beaudoin, and Derek Bermel. Wu also has been featured on the National Geographic Channel, Business Insider, Harvard Crimson, Yale Daily, Asahi Shimbun, People’s Daily, China Daily USA, SinoVision, CCTV, and ICS, among others.

Sam's piece Wind Map was selected for the EarShot Sarasota Orchestra New Music Readings, where it will be rehearsed and performed under the direction of conductor Christopher Rountree. A reading session on Saturday, March 16, 8PM is open to the public at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

We spoke with Sam about his piece and the EarShot program.

Composer Sam Wu

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Sarasota Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings?

Sam Wu: I was thrilled! It is a rare opportunity for young composers to hear their orchestral music played live, particularly by an ensemble of as high a caliber as the Sarasota Orchestra. I also really look forward to meeting my amazing peer composers and our esteemed mentor composers！

ACO: You write that Wind Map was composed with inspiration from a graphic visualization of global wind patterns, in which empirical data results in aesthetic beauty. Are there any examples in your piece of this same process, in which the input (pitches, note-lengths, or dynamics, for example) came from rigid, empirical data, but resulted in something much more artistic?

SW: Not really! I did not think as much of producing direct musical "analogies" of the empirical data. Rather, I wanted to perhaps "reinterpret" the swirls and colors of the wind map in musical form; in general, once I feel that I have a source of inspiration I want to explore throughout an entire piece, I keep it in the back of my mind as I think more abstractly / in musical terms as I start writing.

View the live graphic visualization of global wind patterns at earth.nullschool.net

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

SW: Besides some minor instrumentation changes, I also shortened a few bars, and played with some harmonies in the climactic session. I was lucky to hear this piece read by the Juilliard Orchestra last fall, so I based my edits off of that reading recording.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

SW: I really look forward to hearing and studying the other pieces being read! I feel that, in addition to lessons with teachers, I also learn so much from my friends and peers (both their works, and how they contribute in rehearsal settings). I'm sure that I will feel the same way when I'm in Sarasota. I also am excited to learn more about the "behind-the-scenes" work of a professional American orchestra -- ACO and Sarasota organized various career development Q&A sessions with the Sarasota staff in addition to the readings and feedback sessions themselves.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am to be able to participate in EarShot; a HUGE thank you to everyone at ACO and the wonderful Sarasota Orchestra for making all this possible for us!

Sam Wu's piece Wind Map will be performed by the Sarasota Orchestra, led by conductor Christopher Rountree, on Saturday, March 16, 8PM at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

Learn more about Sam Wu at www.samwumusic.com

EarShot Sarasota Orchestra - Composer Spotlight: Kitty Xiao

Kitty Xiao ​is an Australian composer, pianist, and collaborative artist based in Rochester, New York. She is currently completing a Master of Music (Composition) at the Eastman School of Music as a graduate award recipient, studying composition with Robert Morris and piano with Tony Caramia. Xiao is founder, composer and pianist of Nimbus Trio and released her first album ​Novum​ in 2016 as a represented artist of Move Records label. In 2017 Kitty formed the Six Piano Collective and is Artistic Director of the ​Six Piano Project​. The same year she launched a new concert series ​NoiseSense​. 

Kitty Xiao's piece Ink and Wash was selected for the EarShot Sarasota Orchestra New Music Readings, where it will be rehearsed and performed under the direction of conductor Christopher Rountree. A reading session on Saturday, March 16, 8PM is open to the public at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

We spoke with Kitty about her piece and the EarShot program.

Composer and pianist Kitty Xiao

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Sarasota Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings?

Kitty Xiao: Excitement to work with and meet everyone!

ACO: You write that your piece Ink and Wash is inspired by Chinese calligraphy and the work of New York-based artist Gu Wenda. Can you talk about any particular works of his that inspired the piece? How does the meaning of the characters, in addition to how they look, fit into the inspiration you take from these works?

KX: I am interested in the energy, gesture, and intent in the practice of the tradition. His works Negative and Positive Characters and Tranquility comes from Meditation liberate themselves from traditional technical and aesthetic structures, and often rearranges Chinese characters over surreal splashed ink landscapes. I was drawn to the way in which Wenda works with a past tradition to create new ways in questioning the present and the future.

Negative and Positive Characters by Gu Wenda

Tranquility comes from Meditation by Gu Wenda

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

KX: I am currently familiarizing myself with my piece again, as I finished composing it in November! There's a part of me that wants to keep it completely fresh for the first time I hear the orchestra read it, but I also want to be there and being able to address any part of the score. I expect the first reading will reveal much of any changes that will be required for the performance. I think the feedback will be extremely valuable for developing my orchestral writing whether I choose to further develop this piece or any future projects.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

KX: I think the workshops and readings will open up great discussions about topics of orchestration and also challenges and solutions for composers working with orchestras. It's going to be wonderful receiving the support and conversation with the mentor composers.

Kitty Xiao's piece Ink and Wash will be performed by the Sarasota Orchestra, led by conductor Christopher Rountree, on Saturday, March 16, 8PM at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

Learn more about Kitty Xiao at www.kittyxiaomusic.com

EarShot Sarasota Orchestra - Composer Spotlight: Nicky Sohn

From ballet to opera to Korean traditional-orchestra, the wide-ranging talent of composer Nicky Sohn is sought after across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Characterized by her jazz-inspired, rhythmically driven themes, Sohn’s work has received praise from international press for being “dynamic and full of vitality” (The Korea Defense Daily), having “colorful orchestration” (NewsBrite), and for its “elegant wonder” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), among many others. As a result, Sohn has enjoyed commissions from the world’s preeminent performing arts institutions, including sold-out performances at the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, The National Orchestra of Korea, and the New York Choreographic Institute at New York City Ballet.

Nicky's piece Bird Up was selected for the EarShot Sarasota Orchestra New Music Readings, where it will be rehearsed and performed under the direction of conductor Christopher Rountree. A reading session on Saturday, March 16, 8PM is open to the public at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

We spoke with Nicky about her piece and the EarShot program.

Composer Nicky Sohn

American Composers Orchestra: What was your reaction to finding out your piece had been selected for the Sarasota Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings?

Nicky Sohn: I was absolutely thrilled! Bird Up is the first orchestra piece I have written since being out of school, so it meant extra special to me that the piece was selected for this wonderful program. It is always nerve-wracking, but the most exciting experience is to have my orchestra music in front of each member of the orchestra. So, to be given this opportunity to hear my piece played by the Sarasota Orchestra with the great mentors next to me, I felt extremely excited and honored.

I was also really happy to be able to edit and give my piece another go. The piece was read at the Aspen Music Festival in the prior summer, and there were sections I wanted to edit and fix to make the piece better. It is rare to receive a second chance with an orchestra piece as a young composer, and I was sincerely grateful for this opportunity.

ACO: Your piece Bird Up is inspired by the chaos of New York City, as seen through the lens of Adult Swim's bizarre "anti-talk show" The Eric Andre Show. Do you have any personal experiences with chaos/absurdity in NYC that inspired the piece? Was writing this piece a way to help cope with this aspect of living in NYC, which many people find to be stressful, or are these chaotic moments something that you savor?

NS: Definitely! I lived in New York for 9 years, from the age 15 to 24. Everyday was filled with excitement, but also so much stress and chaos. Now that I look back, I have no idea how I survived through those years. Living in New York gave me so much inspiration and energy, but everyday was also a struggle. Even in my own apartment, which was never really affordable, and extremely tiny, I always felt restless and unsettled. When I moved to Los Angeles, I finally realized laundry and grocery shopping did not have to be such a battle.

Bird Up encapsulates my perspective on the nature of New York City, as seen through the lens of the bizarre humor in The Eric Andre Show. The show reflects the extreme end of the chaos that New Yorkers sometimes encounter with a humorous twist—Eric Andre dresses up in a neon green morph suit and confronts strangers on the street. When planning this work, my goal was to create an orchestra piece that reflect The Eric Andre Show’s prominent attributes—lively, energetic, and most importantly, loud. I wanted to keep the energy up throughout the whole piece, but still have a lot of different orchestral colors and textures. My music tends to be pulse driven and quite rhythmic, and I intended to emphasize and magnify the rhythmic aspect. New York was always dynamic, and full of sounds no matter what time it may have been. I also placed several police whistles and siren in different sections of the orchestra to show the chaotic street scenes of New York.

ACO: What are you doing to prepare for the readings? Are there any changes you have made to your piece?

NS: During the preparation for the readings with the Sarasota Orchestra, I have been learning so much about how many layers of work one needs to put in in order to get an orchestra piece done. This was the first time someone looked through my parts in depth and gave me constructive criticism in part preparation especially on layouts, fonts, and spacing. I have edited my score and parts a lot appearance-wise. I had to reformat the score and the entire set of parts which brought me many sleepless nights, but I am honestly really happy with the result. Moreover, last I heard the piece read at the Aspen Music Festival, I felt the ending needed a little more build up. I added and extended some of the parts. I also adjusted and re-orchestrated a few sections to try different colors and timbres.

ACO: What are you looking forward to about the workshops and readings? What do you hope to learn from the experience?

NS: Collaborating is one of my favorite aspects of being a composer. Composing tends to be very solitary, and oftentimes I feel limited with what I know, what I feel, what I can hear, and what I can express. Having another brain, set of ears, and heart always has been the best part of my work. I admire the music of the mentor composers very much, and of course, Maestro Christopher Rountree is one of the most exciting and inspiring conductors and I am absolutely thrilled to work with them and hear their reaction and ideas on the piece.

Anytime I hear an orchestra play my music, I always get surprised by the energy and the wide range of expression and intensity that gets delivered through an orchestra. I can only use my imagination to estimate the sound and color of each passage when I’m writing the work, but hearing it live has always made me more curious of the possibilities. Orchestra is, of course, the most effective, compelling, and charming tool for composers to expand their music and themselves. Hearing my piece played live helps me so much to grow my imagination and open up and I always end up having hundreds of things I would like to try in the next orchestra piece.

Nicky Sohn's piece Bird Up will be performed by the Sarasota Orchestra, led by conductor Christopher Rountree, on Saturday, March 16, 8PM at Holley Hall. Click here for more information.

Learn more about Nicky Sohn at www.nickysohn.com