Seven Composers Selected for 2010 Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute
Seven Composers Selected for 2010 Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute
Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute & "Future Classics" Concert
October 25-30, 2010 at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
Seven composers have been selected as participants in the Minnesota Orchestra's 10th Annual Composer Institute. Chosen from a pool of 167 candidates through a competitive process, these seven composers hail from locations throughout the U.S., and their works represent a variety of musical styles. They are:
- Taylor Brizendine (Los Angeles, CA): MANDRAGORA OFFICINARUM
- Wang Jie (Philadelphia, PA): SYMPHONY #1
- Polina Nazaykinskaya (Austin, TX): WINTER BELLS
- Clint Needham (Bloomington, IN): THE BODY ELECTRIC
- Ben Phelps (Los Angeles, CA): OVERTURE MAXIMUS
- Narong Prangcharoen (Kansas City, MO): NAMASKAR
- David Weaver (Philadelphia, PA): MUTATIS MUTANDIS
These seven composers will travel to Minneapolis for six days of rehearsals, seminars and tutoring sessions from October 25 to 30, 2010, culminating in a public "Future Classics" concert of their works with The Minnesota Orchestra led by the Orchestra's Music Director Osmo Vänskä. The concert will take place at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on Friday, October 29.
"We received dozens of exceptionally-crafted scores, which made the final choices difficult," says Composer Institute Director Aaron Jay Kernis. "The high quality of submissions confirms what we know from past Institutes: the future of new orchestral music is vibrant and strong." The distinguished jury consisted of composers Augusta Read Thomas, Bright Sheng, former Institute participant Stacy Garrop and Minnesota Orchestra Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis. Aaron Jay Kernis chaired the panel.
In addition to the seven composers chosen to participate in the Composer Institute, the panel designated the following applicants as Runners-up:
- Michael Djupstrom (Philadelphia, PA)
- Max Giteck Duykers (Brooklyn, NY)
- Irving Feng-Hsu Lee (West Hartford, CT)\
- Michael Gilbertson (New York, NY)
- Tomas Ignacio Gueglio-Saccone (Syracuse, NY)
- Robert Honstein (New Haven, CT)
- Daniel Nelson (Lansdowne, PA)
- Christopher Trapini (Paris, France)
- Nicolas Vines (Cambridge, MA)
Cited for Honorable Mention are:
- Karl Blench (Houston, TX)
- Sung Hong (New York, NY)
- Ann Millikan (St. Paul, MN)
- Andrei Pinto-Correia (Quincy, MA)\Evan Ware (Ann Arbor, MI)
The Orchestra's Composer Institute, co-presented with the American Composers Forum in cooperation with the American Music Center, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional training programs for emerging symphonic composers. The Institute is an outgrowth of the Orchestra's earlier "Perfect Pitch" program, an annual series of new music reading sessions for Minnesota composers launched during the 1995-96 season. Many of the 94 composers who have previously taken part in "Perfect Pitch" and the Composer Institute have gone on to receive major commissions, awards, grants and additional performances of their works.
For more information on The Minnesota Orchestra's "Future Classics" concert on October 29 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, visit minnesotaorchestra.org.
The 2010 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute is generously sponsored by The Amphion Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation, the BMI Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Catherine L. and Gerald B. Fischer, the Jack and Linda Hoeschler Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, The Hella Mears Hueg and Bill Hueg, F. Bruce and Diana Lewis, the National Endowment for the Arts, David and Judy Ranheim, and Frederick E. and Gloria B. Sewell.
