Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza

Jacob was born and raised in Louisville, KY, and has written music for instruments, electronics, dance, and multimedia. His music is regularly played at festivals around North America and Europe, most recently at the Wellesley Composers Conference (Wellesley, MA), the Acht Brücken Festival (Cologne, Germany), Hear+Now (Louisville, KY) and June in Buffalo (Buffalo, NY). His works have been premiered by a variety of American and European ensembles, including Talujon Percussion Quartet, Ensemble SurPlus, and Ensemble Linea. You can listen to more of his works at www.jacobgotlib.com.In our conversation we talk about his work at Art x FM, living outside of a large city with a new music scene, and the experience of working with different kinds of ensembles.

Emre is a Turkish composer who is currently living in the Netherlands. His music has been performed in a number of prestigious festivals, including the Internationale Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (2010), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2011), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (2012) and Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik (2013). He received an honorable mention for his work Il voto dell’innocenza at this year’s Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2013. Currently, Emre is based in The Hague and is also a member of the artistic committee of the Nieuw Ensemble.In our conversation we talk about his time studying in Uzbekistan, his work with the Omnibus Ensemble, and his decision to move to Amsterdam.

Yoshi a Japanese American composer and conductor who is currently a Teaching Fellow at Columbia University. His principal teachers at Columbia have been Fabien Lévy, Fred Lerdahl, and Tristan Murail. His music has been performed worldwide by such ensembles as JACK Quartet, Next Mushroom Promotion, and the Nieuw Ensemble. He was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize 2011. Other recent honors include an artistic residency fellowship from Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbertide, Italy, as well as a commission from Ensemble Intercontemporain. You can listen to more of his music at www.yoshionishi.com.In our conversation we talk about how and why he came to the U.S., how he gets his initial impulse when beginning a piece, and his relationship to social media.The first piece played in this podcast is Tramespace, performed by the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Clark Rundell and recorded live by Richard de Gruyl for Concertzender/VPRO during Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2013. The second piece is Tr (épilogue) performed by Patrick McGuire.

I was recently invited to conduct interviews at Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2013, so for the next two and a half months the interviews will focus on the Gaudeamus Prize Nominees. The interviews took place in Museum Speelklok, which is a museum of street organs. So if every now and then you hear Thriller, Old Macdonald, or Gangnam Style being played on street organ in the background, you’re welcome.Daniel is a Brazilian composer and conductor who currently lives in Hamburg. He studied composition and music theory in Brazil (Universidade Federal do Grande do Sul), United States (University of Texas at Austin) and Germany (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg). He has been awarded with prizes and scholarships such as the (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2012, DAAD Preis 2011, Schleswig-Holstein Stipendienpreis, and the ISCM Aufführungspreis. His compositions have been heard in such important venues and festivals as the Academy of arts in Berlin, Philharmonie Essen, ISCM World New Music Days, Darmstädter Ferienkurse für neue Musik, Wet Ink Concert Series, and the Donaueschinger Musiktage Off-Programm. You can listen to more of his music at www.daniel-moreira.com. The piece played in this interview is titled The King from Papatua.

David is an Icelandic composer currently residing in New York. His works have been performed by ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Surplus, Avanti!, Eighth Blackbird, and Yarn/Wire. He is a founding member of the Icelandic Composer’s Collective s.l.a.t.u.r. and co-runs the record label Carrier Records with Sam Pluta and Jeff Snyder.In our conversation we talk about the Icelandic music scene, his approach to analyzing and working with material, and the differences between intentionality and perception. The music played on this podcast is Longitudinal Study #1 performed by Loadbang, and a clip from The Negotiation of Context C performed by Yarn/Wire.

Fred is a New York based composer whose music has been commissioned and performed by major chamber ensembles and orchestras. His seminal book A Generative Theory of Tonal Music, co-authored with linguist Ray Jackendoff, is a founding document for the growing field of the cognitive science of music. He studied at Lawrence University, Princeton, and Tanglewood. He has taught at UC/Berkeley, Harvard, and Michigan, and since 1991 has been Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, where he directs the composition program. Three of his works composed since 2000 - Time after Time for chamber ensemble, the Third String Quartet, and Arches for cello and chamber orchestra – have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in music. You can listen to more of his music at www.fredlerdahl.com.In out conversation we talk about his time studying at Tanglewood and with Milton Babbitt at Princeton, the differences in his approach to composing and music theory, and the changing academic landscape in the field of composition.

Conrad is a New York based composer who writes opera, symphonic music, chamber music, and music for his ensemble of amplified instruments and voices. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and numerous clubs and alternative performance spaces. Groups performing his music include Brandywine Baroque, Avian Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Louisville, New Jersey, and Indianapolis Symphonies, and the San Francisco Opera Center. You can listen to more of his music at www.conradcummings.com.In our conversation we talk about how he ended up studying at Yale, his experience being in an academic environment at Columbia, and how he works within the opera world.

Carl is a New York-based composer and conductor who was born in Hamburg, Germany. He studied composition with Hans-Jurgen von Bose and Wolfgang Rihm in Munich and Karlsruhe before moving to New York, where he received his doctorate from Columbia University under Tristan Murail. His works have been played at major new-music festivals and venues in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. He has received numerous awards, among them a fellowship from the DAAD, a six-month residency at the Cite des Arts in Paris, and a Fromm Foundation commission.In our chat we talk about his time studying in Munich, the festival and academic scene in Europe and America, and how he tempered the “squareness” of his music. The piece played this interview is titled Il y a l’Océan and was performed by the Mivos Quartet.

Juliana is a British composer living in Berlin. Her work ranges from chamber music and intimate semi-staged object pieces to large-scale electro-acoustic orchestral works, and often involves visual or theatrical elements. She has also created installations, and electronic performances embracing field recordings, samples, voice, text and foley. This set of interests has led her to develop collaborative practices spanning ad-hoc freelance and established institutional frameworks. Repeated collaborations with groups such as the Danish group Scenatet , the Australian arts collective Aphids, and Kammerensemble Neue Musik from Berlin, have enabled her to evolve a working practice based on the rehearsal processes of chamber music, yet with a flow of inter-disciplinary experimentation linking creative development, composition and performance.In our conversation we talk about her time studying at Cambridge, the time she spent living in Denmark, and her ambitions when composing Operas.

Wei-Chieh Lin is a New York based composer who was born in Taichung, Taiwan, his music has been performed at venues in the U.S. and abroad, including the Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Centre Pompidou, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall and the National Concert Halls in Taiwan. Among the ensembles that have performed or commissioned his works are Ensemble InterContemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Makrokomos Ensemble, as well as members of eighth blackbird and Klangforum Wien. You can listen to more of his music at www.soundcloud.com/wei-chieh-lin.In our conversation we talk about how he ended living in New York, his time studying with Milton Babbitt, and his approach to structural thinking.