Composer Institute
The 2013 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute and the January 11, 2013, Future Classics concert have been cancelled due to a standstill in labor negotiations. Composers who were selected to participate in the 2013 Composer Institute and Future Classics concert will have the opportunity to participate in the 2014 program.
The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, co-presented each season by the Minnesota Orchestra and American Composers Forum in cooperation with New Music USA, provides the opportunity for emerging symphonic composers from across the nation to participate in an intensive immersion into the world of a major American symphony orchestra. The Composer Institute is directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis.
2014 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute
| KATI AGÓCS Boston, Massachusetts |
Perpetual Summer |
| EUGENE BIRMAN Oxford, England |
Tomorrow, at Dawn |
| TEXU KIM Bloomington, Indiana |
Splash! |
| LOREN LOIACONO Ithaca, New York |
Stalks, Hounds |
| EVAN MEIER College Park, Maryland |
Fire Music |
| MATTHEW PETERSON Stockholm, Sweden |
Hyperborea |
| MICHAEL SCHACHTER Ann Arbor, Michigan |
Freylekhe Tanzen |
About the 2014 Composer Institute participants
Kati Agócs’ music has been commissioned and performed by such ensembles as the Toronto Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird. She has been awarded the Charles Ives Fellowship and the ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Fellowship, and her music was the Audience Choice Winner at New York’s SONiC Festival. She holds a doctoral degree from the Juilliard School and now serves on the composition faculty of the New England Conservatory. Born in Canada of Hungarian and American ancestry, she maintains a work studio in Newfoundland. Her website is agocsmusic.com.
Eugene Birman has written in various genres for a range of ensembles and performers, and his music has been performed across the U.S., Europe and Asia. The first prize winner of the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione “Lavagnino 2007,” he has received commissions from the Latvian Radio Choir, Estate Musicale Chigiana and Estonian Music Days, and he has been a guest on ABC’s Good Morning America, Radio Classica and ERR Klassikaraadio. A graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard joint B.A.-M.M. program, and a former Fulbright scholar, he is currently pursuing a doctorate in music at University of Oxford, Christ Church. His website is eugenebirman.com.
Texu Kim’s music has earned awards and honors from the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Isang Yun International Composition Prize and Joong-Ang Music Concours. He has been commissioned by Ensemble Modern and Ensemble TIMF, and his works have been performed by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, among other groups. He holds composition degrees from Seoul National University, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry; he is now pursuing a doctorate at Indiana University. In 1998 he was a silver medal winner at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Melbourne, Australia.
Loren Loiacono’s works have been performed by such ensembles as the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, Yale Symphony Orchestra, 5th House Ensemble and Argento Ensemble, and her music has been featured on National Public Radio. She is pursuing a doctorate in composition at Cornell University; she previously earned degrees from Yale University, where she was the recipient of the 2012 Woods Chandler Memorial Prize and the 2009 Abraham Beekman Cox Composition Prize. This summer she will be a fellow at both the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Her website is lorenloiacono.com.
Evan Meier’s music has been performed in the U.S. and abroad by such ensembles as the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Nimbus Ensemble, Great Noise Ensemble and Calyx Quartet. His one-act chamber opera, The Last Act of Revolution, will be presented this fall by New York City Opera’s VOX 2012; it was premiered earlier by the University of Maryland Opera Studio. He holds degrees from Chapman University, Cal State Northridge and the University of Maryland, and he has attended several major festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Music11, the Fontainebleau American Conservatory and Opera From Scratch. His website is evanmeier.com.
Matthew Peterson has received commissions from musicians and ensembles in the U.S., England and Sweden, and his works have been performed across North America and Europe. His output includes two chamber operas and six orchestral scores; choral works; pieces for soloists, chamber ensembles and electronic media; and post-rock songs for his band in Sweden. He has received many honors including the Fulbright Grant. He studied composition at St. Olaf College, Indiana University and the Gotlands Tonsättarskola, served on the faculty of the Gotland School of Music and was an associate instructor at Indiana University. His website is matthew-peterson.com.
Michael Schachter’s background includes studies in both composition and piano. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, he traveled to Chennai, India, on a John Knowles Paine Fellowship, and studied Karnatic music. He recently completed his master’s degree at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he studied with Bright Sheng and Evan Chambers; he will begin pursuing a doctorate there in the fall. He maintains a private piano and composition studio in Ann Arbor, and he has taught “Composition for Non-Majors” at the University of Michigan under Bright Sheng and Michael Daugherty. His website is michaelschachter.com.
More about the Composer Institute
The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute is unique in the nation in its combination of orchestral rehearsals, public performance, and numerous targeted workshops with leading music industry professionals on musical, career, business and professional development issues. The Institute nurtures the participants’ musical acumen and broadens their career management skills, assisting in their growth as artists and community leaders. Seminar topics include many not offered elsewhere, including advanced instrumental and orchestral writing, copyrights, commissioning, licensing, publishing, promotion, music preparation, public speaking, working with conductors and union orchestras, community residencies, CD and media production, and working in educational settings, among others.
“The week at the Composer Institute was one of the best weeks in my life,” says Ming-Hsiu Yen, a 2008 Institute participant. “The first-rate music education system in the United States is what brought me here from Taiwan, and the conservatory training that I received has been invaluable in making me a better musician. There has been nothing, however, that could compare to what I learned in a week at the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute.”
The Composer Institute is an outgrowth of the Orchestra’s “Perfect Pitch” program, an annual series of new music reading sessions for Minnesota composers launched during the 1995-96 season in collaboration with the American Composers Forum. Perfect Pitch was reformulated in 2001 as the Composer Institute, as the program’s focus broadened and national participation was invited.
Click here for information about past Composer Institutes.
About the Composer Institute leaders and seminar faculty
Composer Institute Director Aaron Jay Kernis, who founded the Institute in 2002, has enjoyed a close association with the Minnesota Orchestra since 1992; for ten seasons he served as the Orchestra’s new music advisor. His music is featured prominently on orchestral, chamber and recital programs around the world, and America’s foremost musical institutions and soloists have commissioned his work, from the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra to Joshua Bell and Renée Fleming. Among his many honors are a Pulitzer Prize and a Grawemeyer Award.
Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, now in his ninth season as the Minnesota Orchestra’s music director, has drawn acclaim for his performances with the Orchestra in Minnesota as well as on four major European tours and in concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. His recording projects with the Orchestra have also met with great success. He is in demand as a guest conductor of leading orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Japan. For 20 years he was music director of Finland’s Lahti Symphony. He began his career as a clarinetist, holding major posts with the Helsinki and Turku Philharmonic Orchestras.
Roger Frisch became a member of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1974 and was appointed associate concertmaster in 1995. He has been featured as soloist with the Orchestra in repertoire by composers ranging from Vivaldi to Corigliano, and he frequently appears as soloist with other orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. His e-book, The Orchestra Audition: How to Prepare, was published in 2003.
Ed Harsh was appointed president of Meet the Composer in 2007, after having served as vice president since 2005. He has 15 years of professional experience in the arts as program director, development officer, composer, teacher and writer. A founding member of the Common Sense Composer Collective, he has composed commissioned works for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles, and he has authored 20 published items.
William Holab owns Bill Holab Music, which engraves music and provides additional services for composers and publishers. It is the publishing agent for such composers as Richard Danielpour, Michael Daugherty and Michael Torke. He studied as a composer at the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School, has worked for several publishing firms and is an authority on plate engraving and the translation of its principles to computer-based note setting.
Attorney James M. Kendrick specializes in intellectual property matters with an emphasis on the music and audio-visual industries. He has acted as president of Schott Music/European American Music since 2002. He serves as a director and/or secretary for several institutions including the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., and the Koussevitzky Music Foundations. Before studying law, he was trained as an oboist and helped found European American Music.
Kathy Kienzle joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1993 and became principal harp the following year. A frequent soloist with the Orchestra, she has premiered two major works: Rautavaara’s Harp Concerto and, with Sir James Galway, Liebermann’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. She has made two CDs with flutist Michele Frisch: O Bell’ Alma: Music from the Opera and La Belle Vie.
Peter Kogan was appointed principal timpani of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1986. He has been featured as soloist with the Orchestra in works of Schiff and Shchedrin. In 2009 he collaborated with Minnesota-based sculptor and artist Brian Leo to design and build historical replicas of a pair of Classical timpani, based on scholarly research and designed specifically for the Classical repertoire of Haydn through Schubert. Their success has led Kogan to build additional sets for sale under the name "Klassischewienerpauken™."
Brian Mount joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1997 and was named principal percussion in 1999. He has been part of chamber ensembles at several Orchestra concerts and was a soloist in recent seasons in works of Shchedrin and Peck. He spent four seasons as principal percussion of the Honolulu Symphony and has also performed with the National Repertory Orchestra.
John Nuechterlein has been president and CEO of the American Composers Forum since 2003. He is responsible for the strategic leadership and overall management of the national organization based in St. Paul, and provides oversight of its independent chapters. With a background in finance and marketing, he brings to the Forum more than 15 years of corporate management experience. He also serves on the board of Minnesota Citizen for the Arts.
Frank J. Oteri is the composer advocate at the American Music Center and the founding editor of its web magazine NewMusicBox, which has been online since 1999. A crusader for new music and the breaking down of barriers between genres, he has written for many publications and has hosted several music series. His own compositions have been performed in the U.S. and abroad.
Stephen Paulus has written 50-plus works for orchestra, ten operas and more than 200 choral works. He has been commissioned by such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, and his operas have been performed by companies across the U.S. He is a co-founder of the American Composers Forum, and his music is published by his own firm, Paulus Publications, Inc., and by Schott Music Corp. of New York.
Composer Alex Shapiro’s acoustic and electro-acoustic chamber music is performed and broadcast across the U.S. and internationally. Her music is published by Activist Music, and is featured on more than 20 commercially-released CDs. An accomplished pianist, she is also an active guitarist. She was educated at the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and has received many national honors and awards.
Composer Steven Stucky, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music, has written commissioned works for many of the major American orchestras and ensembles. He has taught at Cornell University since 1980, where he serves as Given Foundation professor of composition. He has also been associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for more than 20 years, and currently serves as consulting composer for new music.
Principal Viola Thomas Turner, a member of the Minnesota Orchestra since 1994, appears regularly with the Orchestra as soloist, performing such works as Berlioz’ Harold in Italy and Strauss’ Don Quixote in recent seasons. Before arriving in Minnesota he was principal viola of the Berlin Radio Symphony for 11 seasons.
The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute is generously sponsored by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.; The Amphion Foundation, Inc.; Catherine L. and Gerald B. Fischer; Jack and Linda Hoeschler Family Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation; Hella Mears Hueg and Bill Hueg; Daniel and Constance Kunin; National Endowment for the Arts; David and Judy Ranheim;and Frederick E. and Gloria B. Sewell.
We gratefully acknowledge the American Composers Forum as our partner in presenting the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute.
