the Crowden Letter
Backstage with Crowden’s John Adams Young Composers Program In 2017 we celebrate the tenth anniversary of our John Adams Young Composers Program (and its namesake’s 70th birthday). Here’s a glimpse into a typical semester for our Young Composers today.
Composing on a Theme Each semester, Crowden’s Young Composers work with their private composition teachers and a professional performing ensemble to compose original works for a specific instrumental combination. The performing ensembles expose students to the unique challenges of composing for different instruments in various combinations, and give students constructive feedback on their works-in-progress. Over time, students learn the intricacies of composing for all the families of orchestral instruments. One semester might feature the Baumer Quartet and works for string quartet, the next
the Left Coast Ensemble and works for combinations of violin, flute, and piano. This past spring semester, our Young Composers worked with the new music collective SFsound on works using extended and graphic notation. “The idea behind this project,” explains program director Matthew Cmiel, “was to expand the musical language that the students are drawing upon. I think that it is really exciting to see what happens when these students break free of the limitations of notation. Some have pieces that are very free and leave a lot up to the performers, like a picture book that functions as a score.
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