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On Sunday, April 28th, the world premiere of MCI composer Duncan Petersen-Jones's new string quartet "Conflicting Emotions" will be given by the Converge String Quartet. The concert will be taking place at the University of Michigan.
Read on to learn more about the inspirations which drove the composer to create this new work: Describe your inspiration for composing the piece. The inspiration for each of the three movements in this string quartet is of a different emotion. The first movement is "Bewilderment", which is essentially about being overwhelmed, as if trying to take a breath of air and not being able to. The second movement is "Isolating Loneliness", which is about being truly alone with the feeling the there is nobody you can rely on. The third movement is "Rigid Egos", which is about egos that are so strong that they battle everything until it crashes at the end. What are some of the challenges you faced in writing the work? While there were several challenges I faced, I can't say any of them without spoiling the surprise of the piece. Is there anything specific about your piece that you'd like your audience to look out for? A music video is being made of this string quartet, so keep an eye out for it! What do you hope your audience ultimately take away the most from hearing your work? I hope people will get the feelings that this piece is trying to relay, and I hope that they not only enjoy the music, but also think more about the emotions that they feel from it.
This week will see the world premieres of two new compositions by MCI composer Daniel de Togni. "Sing Me Into Singing" will be premiered at the San Fransisco Conservatory of Music on Wednesday April 24th, while "Iterations: 4 Pieces for Narrator, Oboe, and Piano" will make its debut on Friday April 26th at the University of Central Arkansas. The latter piece, as well as another work by the composer titled "BEAT," will also be performed at Rad Sol 2019, a concert series founded by de Togni which aims to promote and perform concert music by composers in Arkansas.
We had the opportunity to speak with the composer about both of his new works. Read on to learn more about the inspirations that compelled him to create this new music: Next week, on April 23rd, sees the debut of MCI composer Janay Maisano's original score for the student short film "Menage a Trois" at the University of Redlands. The score features a trio of musicians whose instrumentation consists of ukulele, alto saxophone, and piano. Maisano also served as conductor for the recording sessions of her music.
Read on to learn more about her process for creating this score:
MCI began as a group of five composers before quickly expanding to 13. As of today, we have grown to an initiative of 37 members, representing more composers from various backgrounds of all kinds of music. We are excited to announce the results of our Call for Composers!! Please join us in welcoming the newest members of MCI:
MCI is also excited to announce that our board has expanded to the following roles:
Josh Trentadue [President] Duncan Petersen-Jones [Vice President, Treasurer] Kevin Day [Marketing Specialist] Helen Hé [Music Technology Specialist] Congratulations to all, and thank you to everyone who submitted an application to us this year! Starting this week, we will be introducing our new members through featured posts.
It's Midwest Clinic week!! We're so excited to meet all of you who will be attending this year's conference. This Thursday at 1pm, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Wind Symphony will be giving the world premiere of MCI composer Harrison J. Collins's "O rose of May," a brand-new work for concert band that was commissioned as part of a joint consortium with fellow MCI composers Caleb Hammer and Josh Trentadue. Watch below to learn more about Harrison's new piece, and be sure to check out the concert later this week!
"The idea to write this new piece for saxophone quartet just suddenly came to me one day. Often times, inspiration just comes to me at random moments and this piece was no exception. Having written for saxophone quartet in the past, it was nice to write for an instrumentation again that I was familiar with.
The concept for Converging Spectrums was the idea of having different spectrums of color and sound combine, twist, change, and ultimately, converge. There are many things you can do with saxophones to change the color, and so that was something I wanted to explore with this piece. I wanted to push myself to see how I could write for this concept and effectively communicate what I was hearing in my head. A big challenge for this piece was finishing the entire thing. I was working on two different commissions at the same time (a concerto and a high school band piece), and so it was hard for me to focus on writing the other movements without this saxophone quartet work sounding like the other two pieces. With this piece, however, I wanted the audience to just listen to how its musical ideas weave in and out, and how its melodic ideas change shape. I hope to have the completed work finished by 2019." -Kevin Day RSVP to this special event today!
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MISSION STATEMENTThe Millennium Composers Initiative represents composers from all around the world at the beginning of their professional careers, regardless of their aesthetic, style, or background. Creating fresh and engaging new music for all types of ensembles and mediums, we strive to push the limits of what defines music and art through experimental, conventional, and interdisciplinary means, providing new experiences for audiences and artists everywhere. |
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