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With Artistic Director Maria Schleuning
and pre-concert presenter Laurie Shulman |
This past weekend, I travelled to Dallas, Texas for a three-day
residence with Voices of Change. Currently in its 39th year, the ensemble is dedicated to performing new music, as well as music of the recent past. They
have commissioned over twenty-five works, given more than seventy-five world
premieres, and released five CDs, one of which was a finalist for a 1999 Grammy
Award (classical small ensemble category). They regularly bring in composers
from around the country, so I was excited when Artistic Director and violinist
Maria Schleuning contacted me and said the ensemble would be featuring me and a
few of my works on their series.
My residence involved several components: rehearsals of my Silver Dagger and The Book of American Poetry, Volume III; an outreach program at a local
high school involving a performance of one of my works, followed up with a
discussion about how I wrote the piece as well as questions from the students;
a very spirited pre-concert discussion with Laurie Shulman, the program
annotator and pre-concert presenter for the ensemble; and the concert
itself. The performers were comprised of many top musicians in Dallas
(several are members of the Dallas Symphony and Dallas Opera Orchestra) and
were superb. I also met and worked with mezzo-soprano Claire Shackleton, who
had an absolutely lovely voice and a theatrical flair to match; she sang my
Book of American Poetry beautifully. Our rehearsals went so smoothly that I was
able to make several last-minute adjustments to The Book of American Poetry,
something you can only do when musicians have the music down cold!
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| With mezzo-soprano Claire Shackleton |
Voices of Change also hosts a great tie-in event for their
concerts called SoundBites. Held at Times Ten Cellars, this free event featured
wine tastings while patrons listened to clarinetists Jonathan Jones and Jazmin
Yuen perform my Stubborn as Hell. We also treated the audience to a short
coaching session in which I shaped the piece with the musicians; this provided
the audience with a behind-the-scenes look into how a composer
operates. Activities like this are a fantastic way to take some of the
mystery out of composing for non-musicians – not too much, but enough so they
understand why and how we do what we do.
Voices of Change had another special event: three Texas-based composers who won the ensembles’ Young Composers Competition had their
pieces performed by Dallas Symphony musicians in an hour-long workshop. I was
on hand and offered constructive feedback, as did the musicians. I was also thrilled
to meet Fabian Beltran (the first place winner) at this event, as he will be
one of our participating composers at Fresh Inc Festival next month for which
I’m on faculty along with Fifth House Ensemble and composer Dan Visconti (keep
posted for blogs about Fresh Inc next month).
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With composer Jack Waldenmaier
and board members Heather Carlile and Harvey Stiegler |
Through it all, southern hospitality abounded. On the night I
arrived to Dallas, Voices of Change board member Heather Carlile and her
husband Jack Waldenmaier graciously threw a dinner party in my honor and
invited several local composers and friends. Board members, musicians,
and staff drove me all over town for rehearsals, dinners, and receptions. When
I didn’t have time to get supper between back-to-back events on Sunday, Maria
brought me a delicious homemade meal. The townspeople were friendly, as were
the drivers: at one point, I mistakenly crossed a street against a green light
and into oncoming traffic. When I realized my error, I looked up at the driver
who was patiently waiting for me to cross…without honking. Perhaps living and
working in a major, bustling city has left me a little more jaded than I
realized; nonetheless, I was touched by the hospitality I encountered in all
aspects of my trip.
Voices of Change has made a strong commitment to the music of
living and recent composers, and their residencies with living composers are
wonderfully beneficial for both the residents and musicians of Dallas as well
as for their featured composers. Anyone who is fortunate to be an invited guest
by Voices of Change is in store for a perfect weekend!
