And Away We Go...

It has actually started. After many long flights and grappling with time changes and altitude (this is the mile-high city after all...) I'm sitting in Boettcher Concert Hall listening to the orchestra's first pass through of Angel Lam's piece In Search of Seasons. Aside from the fact that the music unfolding is delicate, sensitive, and just plain lovely to hear, there is a palpable energy in the air. The musicians, the composers, all focusd on this very concentrated moment, the first stab at a new work.
Imagine what it felt like the first time Mahler threw a downbeat on his first "Titan" Symphony. Or the moment when Beethoven first heard three brash E-flat major chords blared out by an orchestra as he gave a sucker-punch to the symphonic world. Or better yet, don't. Come by tomorrow morning and hear and feel it for yourself. There is an undeniable energy to the first run-through of a new work... a terror, a joy... let's face it, it's just pretty darn cool.

-John Glover, Ops Manager

caption:
1. Delta David Gier leads the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

You Can't Miss the Bear

Well, here we are. Finally in Denver for the readings! After arriving last night, I've been spending the morning working with the folks at the Colorado Symphony and preparing for everyone's arrival. It is sort of wonderful how many different folks are descending on Denver today. All of the composers (both our young participants and the mentor composers who will be giving them critiques and guidance throughout the three days), industry folks like Ed Harsh from Meet the Composer and Michael Geller from ACO/EarShot, conductors David Gier and Fergus Macleod, and of course there are all of the hard working people here at the CSO who have so generously taken part in this reading. And then of course there are the students and new music enthusiasts in the area who are coming out of the woodwork to observe a seminar this evening and also the public readings on Friday morning at the concert hall downtown.

While I was trying to find my way to the performing arts complex (which is so fantastic) from my hotel, I got directions from a few folks. The consistent bit of information was "You can't miss the bear..." Indeed. On my way to the hall, walking down 14th street, I passed what might be my favorite piece of public art ever. I suppose he's holding up the convention center?

Looking forward to three terrific days!

-John Glover

Christmas in July

Coordinating the logistics and practicalities of performances and readings of new music can be exhilarating... it can also be quite a bit of intense and occasionally frustrating work. All of the detail work of coordinating schedules, tracking parts, making sure bowings are handled, can sometimes - for a brief second - distract from the excitement of what it is that is actually happening.
There is one part of this job that has consistently been fun, however. Once we've determined the selected participants I get the job of calling them to tell them they've been selected. This is indescribably fun. It is a little bit like telling someone they've just won a new car or the lotto. I've had every reaction from people when I've given them news to let them know they've been selected: ranging from stunned silence or quiet graciousness to out and out laughing/screaming/yelling. Our develolpment director once said to me "I'm so jealous that you get to do that! I want to call them! It's like you get to be Santa Claus for these composers!"
Im pretty ok with this image. Merry Christmas in July.

-John Glover, Ops Manager

Scores scores scores...

One of the most incredible things about opening up a call for scores is that you realize how many composers there really are out there. Unlike singers, performers, actors (some of whom are also composers...) the act of composition happens almost entirely behind closed doors and in solitude. When ACO, or EarShot, sends out the word that they are accepting submissions for a reading the response never fails to surprise. My phone starts ringing constantly with people calling from every state and towns I've never even heard of. There are composers everywhere.
It brings to mind a concert I went to a year or so ago which featured Tania Leon conducting the Chicago Sinfonietta. The idea was for her to lead the group in a survey of women composers. She did one better and focused on living women composers. Between pieces she talked to the audience in her typically casual and inviting way. One thing she said struck me then, and seems even truer now that I'm receiving scores for these orchestra readings: "Composers are everywhere," she said. "They are your mailman, your accountant, and your next door neighbor."
Without being too dreamy-eyed about it, as I look over the stacks and stacks of scores that are sitting on the floor in my office it is both surprising and encouraging to know that there are so many people working with such dilligence and craft on new music for the orchestra. Teaching an old dog new tricks.
-John Glover, Ops Manager

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1. some of the scores submitted for the Colorado EarShot Readings in my office.