NJSO Edward T. Cone Institute: composers share stories
Through the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, four dynamic composers experienced an immersive week of masterclasses with renowned composer and Institute Director Steven Mackey, rehearsals with Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and sessions with industry leaders—all leading up to the NJSO’s world-premiere performances of their compositions at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton on July 19.
The composers shared the inspiration behind their works and reflected on the weeklong program in exclusive interviews with njsymphony.org:
David Biedenbender
Biedenbender's Strange, Beautiful Noises was inspired by the birth of his first son and the emotional year that preceded his son's arrival.
Biedenbender says:
The opportunity to work with a professional symphony orchestra is always appealing. Fortunately, it seems like growing number of orchestras across the country are becoming more interested in engaging contemporary music and young composers, which is heartening.
This Institute [with the NJSO and Princeton University Department of Music] in particular was interesting because there was a performance involved—most orchestras have offered reading sessions that are for a couple of hours, then you’re done. This is a more extensive program.
Daniel J. Choi
Throughout his life, Choi has found inspiration in great musical works—from cartoons to Berlioz—and found a way to incorporate those ideas into music that is distinctly his own.
Of his journey as a composer, Choi says:
I’ve really been composing [my whole life]—I don’t remember when I wasn’t. I wrote my first official piece when I was 8 years old. Like any other kid, I was doodling on the piano, and I came up with a melody and a harmony, so there you go!
I actually think I started composing because of watching cartoons when I was young. I really liked the music [of cartoon soundtracks]. So, kind of like amateur-style ear training, I would try to figure out the cartoon melody on the piano and then reharmonize it, try to make it my own. That my way of starting to compose. Then, I thought, what if I had my own melody to start with? So I started to slowly tune that craft. It’s been a very gradual process.
Chris Rogerson
A Ph.D. candidate at Princeton and native of Buffalo, Rogerson's Institute piece, Night and the City, was inspired by his college experience in Philadelphia.
For Rogerson, the Institute presented a unique opportunity close to home:
I am currently in the Ph.D. program at Princeton University, so I live in Princeton. I’ve seen the NJSO perform, and I have some friends who perform in the Orchestra regularly. I thought the Institute structure looked like a really worthwhile [program], and I feel like I can learn a lot from it.
[As a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton], I’ve gotten a chance to work with [Princeton University Department of Music Chair and Institute Director Steven Mackey] a lot, and he’s obviously really great [as a mentor]. So this was an interesting opportunity to continue working with him, but in a different context.
Lembit Beecher
Beecher's Kalevipoeg in California imagines the Estonian folk hero transported to present-day San Francisco, merging his Estonian heritage and California roots into a unique, imaginative work.
Reflecting on his week at the Institute, Beecher says:
Well, I feel so lucky in retrospect, because it has been such a special experience. It feels caring in a way you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a big orchestra. Everyone from [NJSO President & CEO] Jim Roe to every player, everyone involved, has been so interested, and everyone obviously has devoted a lot of resources and time to this project. I feel like that really rubbed off on the composers. We felt really special, and we also understood how much energy there is behind making an orchestra work.
Relive the action-packed week on the Institute blog.
Learn more about the Institute at www.njsymphony.org/institute.