The Portfolio Composer

Two questions are answered today, and this time by the composers who have shared their insights on Composer on Fire episodes before. The questions:

The questions are answered by the following composers:

David von Kampen

Frank La Rocca

Steve Bramson

Robert Paterson

Frank Felice

Please leave your comments and questions in the show notes below! Don't forget to send me your thoughts.

Gregory Spears writes music for modern and period instruments that blends aspects of romanticism, minimalism, and early music.  His work has been called “astonishingly beautiful” (New York Times), “coolly entrancing” (The New Yorker), and “some of the most beautifully unsettling music to appear in recent memory.” (The Boston Globe) Much of his work involves period instruments and is inspired by baroque and renaissance music. In 2009 Spears won a Jerome Composers Commissioning Award to support the composition of his string quartet Buttonwood for the JACK Quartet. The piece was inspired by his experience as composer-in-residence at the Buttonwood Psychiatric Unit in the winter of 2010.  At the time Spears was teaching a course at the Princeton Writing Program called Music and Madness, which explores the connection between mental illness and creativity. Spears has won prizes from BMI and ASCAP as well as awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fulbright Foundation (Fellowship to Denmark 1999-2000), and the Vagn Holmboe Competition. He holds degrees in composition from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Yale School of Music (MM), and Princeton University (PhD), and he has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo, the Aaron Copland House, and the MacDowell Colony.  Spears was also one of the resident composers for American Opera Projects’ Composers and the Voice 2007-2008 season. He lives in Brooklyn.

In this episode Gregory discusses creativity & mental illness, putting together commissions, and writing full time.

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This episode's Engraver's Minute topic is on serif and sans-serif fonts. You can see examples on the ND Music Edition website.

Jason Eckardt played guitar in jazz and metal bands until, upon first hearing the music of Webern, he immediately devoted himself to composition. Since then, his music has been influenced by his interests in perceptual complexity, the physicality of performance, political activism, and self-organizing processes in the natural world. He has been recognized through commissions, awards, and fellowships. His music is published by Carl Fischer.

Major festivals have programmed his works, including the Festival d'Automne a Paris, IRCAM-Resonances, ISCM World Music Days (1999, 2000), Darmstadt, Musica Strasbourg, Voix Nouvelles, Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Musikhost, Currents in Musical Thought-Seoul, New Consortium, International Review of Contemporary Music, Festival of New American Music, and the International Bartok Festival. Performances of Eckardt's music have been broadcast by the BBC, Saarlandisches Rundfunk, Radio Socioculturelle, WKCR, the Australian Broadcasting Company, WBAI, and Cultura FM Espana.

Eckardt has written on subjects ranging from cognitive research informing composition to Richard Serra's use of process from a musical perspective. His work has appeared in Perspectives of New Music, Autour de la Set Theory in IRCAM's Musique-Sciences series, L'etincelle, Dansk Musik Tidsskrift, Current Musicology, and a chapter in Arcana II, edited by John Zorn.

Also active as a promoter of new music, Eckardt co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Ensemble 21, the contemporary music performance group in New York City. Under his leadership, the critically acclaimed Ensemble earned a reputation for innovative programming and top-caliber performances, premiered over thirty works, and recorded for the CRI and Mode labels. In 1999, Ensemble 21 was the first American ensemble to collaborate in concert with IRCAM.

Eckardt received a doctorate in composition from Columbia University as a Presidential Fellow. In 1992, Eckardt graduated cum laude from Berklee College of Music where he was awarded the Richard Levy Scholarship. He has attended masterclasses with Milton Babbitt, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has taught at Columbia University, the Oberlin Conservatory, New York University, the University of Illinois, Rutgers University, and Northwestern University and is currently on the faculties of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In the 2015-16 academic year, he will be a Visiting Professor at the Peabody Conservatory.

In this episode Jason discusses the music business, objectivity, and visualizing the music.

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In this Q&A Garrett answers the following questions:

If got anything out of this episode please comment below! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask them in the comments or send them to me here.

Dr. Valerie Young is an internationally-known speaker, a leading expert on the impostor syndrome, and author of award-winning book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It (Crown Business, a division of Random House) now available in five languages.

A former manager of strategic marketing at a Fortune 200 company herself, Dr. Valerie Young has shared her highly relatable and practical advice to tens of thousands of executives, managers, and professionals at for-profit companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Impostor feelings are pervasive in higher education. Little wonder that Valerie has spoken to tens of thousands of students, faculty, and staff at over 70 major colleges and universities. Valerie’s insight and humor have made her a popular keynote and guest speaker at numerous conferences and association meetings.

In this episode Valerie discusses fear, doubt, and the imposter syndrome in creatives and academics. Dr. Young gives us three steps to dealing with our fears, doubts, and impostor feelings. She suggests we:

Purchase her book: The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It

Websites:

Recommended Book:

I sat down recently with three of best composers I've ever had the privilege of knowing: Timothy Tharaldson, Kurt Knecht, and David von Kampen. All four of us are MusicSpoke composers, which is an innovative new distribution platform for self-published composers that Kurt Knecht and his wife have recently launched. Our conversation was very long and will be broken up into two parts, this is part 2.

In this conversation the four of us go deep into the issues of music publishing, keeping the audience in mind, new trends in music, and several other topics.

You can learn more about MusicSpoke at www.musicspoke.com.

Here is some information on each of the composers:

Timothy Jon Tharaldson is a composer based out of Colorado. His choral works have been performed across the country by various community, church, and high school choirs. He has compositions published through Hal Leonard, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and his own publishing company High Pants Guy Music.

He is currently a cantor at Assumption Parish in Thornton, Colorado. He has taught at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado and Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado. He holds a BA from St. Cloud State University; a MM from University of Northern Colorado, and has almost completed a DA in Choral Conducting and Composition, also from UNC. Also a singer, Timothy has been a member of the national acclaimed choir Kantorei, based in Denver.

Website:

Kurt Knecht is a composer, organist, and conductor currently living in Lincoln, Nebraska. His compositions have been described as “funky” and “joyous” in the Washington Post, and the American Record Guide has called him a “fresh voice.” His compositions have become a staple of the modern choral festival literature and have been performed at festivals and concerts in over 37 states. Performances of his compositions include international performances at festivals and concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Cuba, New Zealand, and a performance at the Kennedy Center by the Grammy Award winning Washington Chorale. Upcoming performances of his compositions include the World Choir Symposium in Seoul, Korea, the International Clarinet Society Conference, and the National Conference of the Organ Historical Society. He is regularly commissioned and publishes with Walton, Pavane, and Colla Voce. He has received the ASCAP Plus award (2008-2013) from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. His composition Missa Prolationem was awarded the Folsom Prize for the most outstanding dissertation of the University of Nebraska in 2009. As an eclectic performer, Kurt has been a featured soloist with groups ranging from Smokey Robinson to The Florida Orchestra. Kurt regularly appears as a concert organist and collaborative pianist. He also performs in the improvisation duo Mondegreen with violist Jonah Sirota of the Chiara Quartet. He is the music director at St. Mark’s on the Campus in Lincoln, NE. He received the Bachelor of Music from the University of Tampa with concentrations in Piano Performance and Theory, the Master of Music in Composition from Southern Methodist University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition with a minor in Organ Performance from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Website:

David von Kampen is a composer living in Lincoln, Nebraska. David’s creative work spans a wide variety of genres and styles, including jazz, choral music, hymnody and liturgy, solo voice, chamber music, and musical theater. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nebraska. David is a four-time Downbeat Award winner in graduate-level jazz writing categories, winner of the 2014 San Francisco Choral Artists New Voices Project, winner of the National Band Association’s Young Jazz Composers Competition, and received Honorable Mention in the 2014 New York Youth Symphony First Music Commissions. He has over 40 choral and instrumental compositions and arrangements published with G. Schirmer, Concordia Publishing House, UNC Jazz Press, and others. David is active as a pianist and musical director in jazz and theater settings, and as a clinician for both vocal and instrumental ensembles. He is currently an adjunct professor of composition at Concordia University, Neb., and directs the Chamber Singers and Women’s Chorus at Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln. David is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association. He lives with his wife Mollie and daughter Gretta.

Website:

Recommended Music:

Recommended Books:

I sat down recently with three of best composers I've ever had the privilege of knowing: Timothy Tharaldson, Kurt Knecht, and David von Kampen. All four of us are MusicSpoke composers, which is an innovative new distribution platform for self-published composers that Kurt Knecht and his wife have recently launched. Our conversation was very long and will be broken up into two parts, this is part 1.

In this conversation the four of us go deep into the issues of music publishing, keeping the audience in mind, new trends in music, and several other topics.

Here is some information on each of the composers:

Timothy Jon Tharaldson is a composer based out of Colorado. His choral works have been performed across the country by various community, church, and high school choirs. He has compositions published through Hal Leonard, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and his own publishing company High Pants Guy Music.

He is currently a cantor at Assumption Parish in Thornton, Colorado. He has taught at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado and Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado. He holds a BA from St. Cloud State University; a MM from University of Northern Colorado, and has almost completed a DA in Choral Conducting and Composition, also from UNC. Also a singer, Timothy has been a member of the national acclaimed choir Kantorei, based in Denver.

Website:

Kurt Knecht is a composer, organist, and conductor currently living in Lincoln, Nebraska. His compositions have been described as “funky” and “joyous” in the Washington Post, and the American Record Guide has called him a “fresh voice.” His compositions have become a staple of the modern choral festival literature and have been performed at festivals and concerts in over 37 states. Performances of his compositions include international performances at festivals and concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Cuba, New Zealand, and a performance at the Kennedy Center by the Grammy Award winning Washington Chorale. Upcoming performances of his compositions include the World Choir Symposium in Seoul, Korea, the International Clarinet Society Conference, and the National Conference of the Organ Historical Society. He is regularly commissioned and publishes with Walton, Pavane, and Colla Voce. He has received the ASCAP Plus award (2008-2013) from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. His composition Missa Prolationem was awarded the Folsom Prize for the most outstanding dissertation of the University of Nebraska in 2009. As an eclectic performer, Kurt has been a featured soloist with groups ranging from Smokey Robinson to The Florida Orchestra. Kurt regularly appears as a concert organist and collaborative pianist. He also performs in the improvisation duo Mondegreen with violist Jonah Sirota of the Chiara Quartet. He is the music director at St. Mark’s on the Campus in Lincoln, NE. He received the Bachelor of Music from the University of Tampa with concentrations in Piano Performance and Theory, the Master of Music in Composition from Southern Methodist University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition with a minor in Organ Performance from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Website:

David von Kampen is a composer living in Lincoln, Nebraska. David’s creative work spans a wide variety of genres and styles, including jazz, choral music, hymnody and liturgy, solo voice, chamber music, and musical theater. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nebraska. David is a four-time Downbeat Award winner in graduate-level jazz writing categories, winner of the 2014 San Francisco Choral Artists New Voices Project, winner of the National Band Association’s Young Jazz Composers Competition, and received Honorable Mention in the 2014 New York Youth Symphony First Music Commissions. He has over 40 choral and instrumental compositions and arrangements published with G. Schirmer, Concordia Publishing House, UNC Jazz Press, and others. David is active as a pianist and musical director in jazz and theater settings, and as a clinician for both vocal and instrumental ensembles. He is currently an adjunct professor of composition at Concordia University, Neb., and directs the Chamber Singers and Women’s Chorus at Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln. David is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association. He lives with his wife Mollie and daughter Gretta.

Website:

Recommended Music:

Recommended Books:

Welcome to the first Composer on Fire Q&A episode! These Q&A episodes will be short form and will provide answers to listener-provided questions. The questions for this episode are:

Keep sending me your questions. You can send them to me Twitter (@composeronfire), via Facebook, or through my contact page.

Missy Mazzoli was recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (The New York Times), “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out New York) and “one of the new wave of scarily smart young composers” (sequenza21.com). Her music has been performed all over the world by the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, pianist Emanuel Ax, the American Composers Orchestra, JACK Quartet, New York City Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, cellist Maya Beiser, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Kathleen Supové, Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony and many others. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia, Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre-Group, and in 2011/12 was Composer/Educator in residence with the Albany Symphony. Missy was a visiting professor of music at New York University in 2013, and recently joined the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music.

Mazzoli is an active pianist and keyboardist, and often performs with Victoire, a band she founded in 2008 dedicated to her own compositions. Their debut full-length CD, Cathedral City, was named one of 2010′s best classical albums by Time Out New York, NPR, the New Yorker and the New York Times. Their second album will be released in March, 2015. Pitchfork praised Victoire for “condensing moments of focused beauty and quiet conviction from the pandemic distractions of modern life,” WNYC dubbed the group “consuming and arresting,” and NPR’s First Listen asks “Is Victoire’s music post-rock, post-mimimalist or pseudo-post-pre-modernist indie-chamber-electronica? It doesn’t particularly matter. It’s just good music.”

Mazzoli is the recipient of four ASCAP Young Composer Awards, a Fulbright Grant to The Netherlands, the Detroit Symphony’s Elaine Lebenbom Award, and grants from the Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, and the Barlow Endowment. She is also active as an educator and a mentor to young composers; in 2006 she taught composition in the Music Department of Yale University, and from 2007-2010 was Executive Director of the MATA Festival in New York City, an organization dedicated to promoting the work of young composers.

In this interview Missy discusses grant writing and marketing yourself as a composer.

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