Until this month, very little had come of finishing my Bachelor’s degree. I managed to finish two short pieces last summer: HER&HIS/ZAG&ZIG for solo trombone, premiered by Aubrey Kelly in October, and Self Effacement (Aldo Clementi in Memoriam) for two pianos (which I still plan on revising and expanding). I had several other compositional goals that I failed to meet. I entered a few competitions, just to see what would happen. Then, over the past few weeks, three important events have made me much more confident of my abilities:
- I was selected to participated in the Vancouver International Song Institute’s Art Song Lab 2012. I’m paired with poet Shannon Rayne and we’ll be creating an art song to be performed by a team of professionals on June 8 after a week of workshops.
- For the Seven Lakes was one of two entries selected in the Via Choralis call for scores. I was somewhat surprised since I wrote it quite quickly at the end of January (though I’d been mulling some ideas in my head for a few weeks beforehand) and because it’s in no way a typical community choir piece. Via Choralis, directed by Nicholas Fairbank, will be performing it on April 21 and 22 and the winner and runner-up will be announced at one of the concerts (I won’t know which I am until then).
- I was accepted into CalArts’ MFA program in composition at the Herb Alpert School of Music. I’m still waiting to hear back from Wesleyan, and there are important financial considerations to attend to, but I am completely dazed by this news, and hope beyond all hopes that I can go.
All of this adds up to a very exciting next few months musically. Keep posted for updates, whoever actually reads this, and I promise I’ll update more often.
Nathan Friedman 