Musical America Blogs

By: Edna Landau To ask a question, please write Ask Edna. Since this will be my final Ask Edna blog post of the season, I thought it might be appropriate to offer some suggestions regarding how young musicians might want to use any extra time they might have over the summer. I contacted a number of good friends and colleagues to solicit their recommendations and am very grateful to them for their generous responses. They have inspired me to broaden my own horizons this summer as many of their suggestions have universal appeal. Before sharing their recommendations, I would like to say that there is nothing wrong with taking the summer off (if we are lucky enough to be able to do that) and thoroughly enjoying the free time, as well as the absence of a rigorous schedule that can sometimes prove stressful during the rest of the year. I came across an insightful article by best-selling author Mitch Albom called The Joys of Summer in which he discusses the increasing amount of activity in which young people are engaged year-round. He writes: “We need to lighten it up. Sometimes doing nothing is doing something.” I can certainly relate to that. Still, the summer can be a great time for attending performances in genres other than one’s area of concentration; trying out potential collaborators for a future chamber ensemble; listening to unfamiliar music with an eye toward expanding one’s repertoire; having coffee with individuals who might offer career advice, both in the arts and in business; exploring opportunities for future outreach or charitable endeavors; visiting museums and galleries, or watching legendary performances and master classes on YouTube. Janet Rarick, Associate Professor of Music Career Development at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, adds the following to this list: “Write to your extended family, former teachers and fans who have a special interest in you, updating them on your recent musical activities. If you are home for the summer, organize and perform a program in a church, school or retirement home. It might serve as a useful run-through of repertoire you are planning to perform in the coming season.” Sedgwick Clark, editor of the Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts, advises: “Go to concerts. Years ago I spent the summer in Aspen, covering the music festival for Musical America. I was perplexed by the low attendance at the many weekday student concerts, especially those featuring contemporary music. ‘They are practicing and studying’, I was told. But that’s not all there is to an education. Hear what your peers are thinking. Soak up the wisdom of the veterans. The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) plays ten concerts at Mostly Mozart in August. Marlboro is always invigorating as young players tackle the old masters, not to mention Tanglewood’s wonderful offerings. And that’s just the Northeast. Go to a concert!” I am happy to share my colleagues’ suggestions for summer reading: Janet Rarick:  Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch. A free copy can be downloaded at http://pdfepub.com/tag/stephen-nachmanovitch. Angela Beeching, founder of Beyond Talent Consulting: Lewis Hyde’s The Gift; Steve Jobs, the biography by Walter Isaacson; Arlene Goldbard’s The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future Nathaniel Zeisler, Director of Community Engagement and Adult Education at the Colburn School: A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel Pink. “This book is now about six years old but it provides a great framework for us as we consider the role of the artist in the 21st century economy. Fun, easy read!” Live First, Work Second, by Rebecca Ryan. “This book was written just before the economic downturn and is more about economic development, but artists can glean a lot from it. Also a quick, fun read.” Mary Kinder Loiselle, Director of Community Engagement & Career Development Services at the Curtis Institute of Music: The Art of Possibility, by Ben and Roz Zander. “It’s been around for quite a while but I find the exploration of living from a place of possibility to be continually inspiring.” Your Work, Your Life, Your Way, by career coach Julie Cohen. There is also a companion workbook: The Seven Keys Workbook and Journal. “I have found these books to be among the best I’ve seen in my thirteen years of coaching. They’re very clear, practical and full of focused content and exercises. I’m thinking that your readers might find them a valuable way to refresh and refocus over the summer months.” Jeffrey Kahane, pianist, and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: “No musical education is complete without having read The Magic Mountain and Doktor Faustus by Thomas Mann, in the recent translations by John Woods. Either one is enough to take up a summer or a good part of it. Doktor Faustus has some of the greatest writing about music ever, and Mann himself said that he conceived of The Magic Mountain as being constructed like a massive symphony. They both require intense concentration and slow, careful reading but are worth every minute; and in many ways, for all their profundity, they are also entertaining and sometimes hilarious.” Emanuel Ax, pianist and venerated teacher: “Christoph Wolff has written a new book on Mozart’s last years, Mozart at the Gateway to his Fortune, that I really like. Also, Alex Ross’s The Rest is Noise remains a must read. Melinda Bargreen, longtime Seattle music critic: “One book I particularly like is Paul Elie’s 2012 Reinventing Bach, which I think is especially appropriate for young musicians because Elie discusses how musicians have reinterpreted Bach in new ways (and on new instruments) over time and also provides marvelous anecdotal and background material on Bach and those many interpreters.” And for your video enjoyment and inspiration: Bärli Nugent writes: “I believe that each and every young artist has a voice and a core of certainty about who they are that can sometimes become buried under a blizzard of other people’s voices and ideas. They should spend some summer time exploring the power that lies within. To this end, I suggest they watch the 1957 black and white film Twelve Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda, in which one juror in a murder trial sees things differently from the others. I also recommend a seven minute video, brought to my attention by the extraordinary Jane Kosminsky of Juilliard’s dance faculty: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnDeo0yhIws. Watch this in a quiet moment and stay until the end.” Angela Beeching: “I LOVED this Barbara Cook master class at the New York Public Library: http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/master-class-barbara-cook I hope that our readers will write in with additional suggestions, and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your loyalty over the past two and a half years, as well as wish you a most enjoyable and fulfilling summer. I look forward to joining you again in the fall. To ask a question, please write Ask Edna. © Edna Landau 2013

By: Edna Landau To ask a question, please write Ask Edna. Adam Schoenberg is a very gifted young composer with a knack for building relationships. He first entered my life early in 2011, shortly after I started writing this blog. He wrote me a lovely e-mail, saying that there were things he wanted to “Ask Edna” but he didn’t think they were straightforward enough for the blog. His thoughtful and considerate style of writing (as well as his compliment on my blog!) made me want to try and help him. He had graduated from Juilliard the previous year, where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree, and had already been commissioned to write works for the Atlanta and Kansas City symphonies. The premiere of his American Symphony was scheduled just a month later in Kansas City under the baton of its music director, Michael Stern. Our initial discussions revolved around generating attention for the Kansas City premiere and how he might get through to conductors and artistic administrators to acquaint them with his music. He was particularly interested in trying to secure a West Coast premiere for his chamber orchestra work, Finding Rothko, which was inspired by four paintings, one of which was housed at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. We met in person about a month later in Los Angeles, where he is based, and where I was making a visit to the Colburn School. At that time, he told me that there was a European music publisher that might be interested in him but that things were moving slowly, as they had never before represented an American composer. I gave him some suggestions about how to move things along in general and offered to speak to a few people on his behalf. In truth, I didn’t do all that much for him but he claims that my enthusiasm for his music and his entrepreneurial initiative gave him a big boost in continuing his networking and remaining optimistic that things could eventually fall into place. We stayed in touch for a short while and then there was a hiatus of 16 months. In October of 2012, I noticed that Adam was listed on Opus 3 Management’s roster, that he had a publishing agreement with Ricordi in London (part of the Universal Music Publishing Classical Group), and that his list of commissioned works had expanded to include a new work for the Atlanta Symphony, La Luna Azul, personally commissioned by its music director, Robert Spano; another art-inspired work, Picture Studies (conceived of as a 21st century Pictures at an Exhibition), jointly commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony and the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and a ballet-inspired symphonic work, Bounce, co-commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival & School and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I was eager to know all the intermediate steps that had led to these exciting developments and my curiosity brought me back in touch with Adam. I learned that while Adam was an undergraduate at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he was friendly with a young singer who was later represented by Jeffrey Vanderveen, then a managing director at Universal Music Group in Europe. He made an introduction for Adam to James Kendrick and Silke Hilger of Universal Music Classical Publishing. They subsequently came to Aspen to hear a performance of Finding Rothko and decided to take him on a few months later. By that time, Jeffrey Vanderveen had moved to Opus 3 Artists in New York as Vice President, Artist Manager, and he brought Adam on to the artist list. Adam’s Aspen association proved fruitful in other ways as well. He was a student there in 2002 and 2003 and, needing a summer job, returned for the following two summers as a stagehand. While there, he met Michael Stern, who became a regular tennis partner, and Asadour Santourian, Artistic Advisor and Administrator. His first ever commission was from Aspen for a quintet for the American Brass Quintet (premiered in July 2006 and later recorded by the ensemble). Around the same time, Adam was commissioned by Michael Stern to write his first orchestral work Finding Rothko for the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. Six years later, when Adam was hoping to get on the radar screen of the Los Angeles Phiharmonic, it was Asadour Santourian (in town for pre-concert lectures) who suggested that he contact Chad Smith, Vice President of Artistic Planning at the orchestra, and use his name. Adam subsequently met Chad Smith for coffee and gave him two of his scores. Now he greatly looks forward to the inaugural performances of his new work Bounce at the Aspen Music Festival on July 17, 2013, with Robert Spano conducting, and at the Hollywood Bowl on September 10 with Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting. Adam met Robert Spano in Miami, where he was living in 2009. Spano was guest conducting the New World Symphony and happened to be taking a rehearsal break outside the hall when Adam was walking down Lincoln Road. He walked over to Mr. Spano and said: “Hi, I’m Adam Schoenberg and we have two things in common. We both went to Oberlin and I studied orchestration with Christopher Theofanidis.” Mr. Spano excitedly responded: “I just commissioned him to write his first symphony and the score just arrived today. Do you want to hear it?” He took Adam upstairs, played some of it for him and then invited him to lunch the next day. Adam brought along two of his pieces and eight weeks later, he got a call. Mr. Spano said: “I’ve found a way to program Finding Rothko in Atlanta and I’m commissioning you to write a new work” (which became La Luna Azul). Adam’s time is taken up with many things in addition to his composing. His American Symphony was conceived of as a musical message of hope that would unite the orchestra community throughout the country. He is currently engaged in a project to secure performances of it in all 50 states by the 2015-16 season. So far, he has commitments from seven. His time is also taken up with teaching at UCLA and with a Young Composers Institute for high school students which he founded this past year while composer-in-residence with the Kansas City Symphony. This project, while not unique, generated a great deal of excitement in the community and was a thrilling experience for the young participants whose works were performed by members of the symphony.  He hopes to start more programs like this around the country. Adam is excited that Reference Recordings and the Kansas City Symphony, with Michael Stern conducting, plan to record a CD of three of his works in 2014, all of which were commissioned by the orchestra. He has been commissioned to write a new work for the Lexington (KY) Philharmonic, where he will be composer-in-residence next season. He is also proud of his first major venture into film scoring, having recently collaborated with his father, composer Steven Schoenberg, on the score for the movie Graceland. Recognizing that composers have relied on patrons and benefactors since the time of the Renaissance, Adam recently added an innovative “Patrons” page on his website which allows for tax-deductible gifts of support via Fractured Atlas’s fiscal sponsorship program. He received his first gift just recently. Despite the fact that he has a publisher and manager, Adam hasn’t stopped networking. He still sends e-mails to artistic administrators from time to time when he feels he can build on an existing connection. He may soon have to make adjustments to his busy schedule as he and his wife are expecting their first child in August (which partly explains the title for his newest work Bounce). I have no doubt that Adam will continue to set the bar very high for himself and that he will be successful in achieving his goals. He told me the following: “All I really care about, and what I think every composer should care about, is to write the best possible music that expresses who we are. I want to write music as beautifully and intensely as I can, and I am happy if the audience and performers respond deeply to my music.” He must have been gratified when Atlanta arts critic Mark Gresham wrote: “La Luna Azul deserves a descriptor not often afforded contemporary music: ‘beautiful’.” Timothy McDonald of the Kansas City Star has also written: “Schoenberg demonstrated a distinctive and exciting compositional voice. His American Symphony is bold and brilliant, and deserves to be a staple among orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.” Michael Stern told me that he has every expectation that Adam will be a real voice in American music in the coming years. It would seem that he is far from alone in his estimation. To ask a question, please write Ask Edna. © Edna Landau 2013