Table of Contents
Message from the Executive Director
Walden Honored with National Music Education Award
Apply to Participate in a Walden Program (or two!)
Join jazz luminary Cyrus Chestnut and help support Walden
Event Roundup and Preview: Spring 2011
Walden Profiled in San Francisco Classical Voice
Read Walden’s 2010 Annual Report Online!
Community News and Goods
Opportunities & Organizations Listing
Now Hear This! Works by 2010 Walden Participants
Message from the Executive Director
Greetings from Baltimore, where the leadership team for Walden’s Young Musicians Program has gathered to develop this summer’s curriculum and plan for our upcoming 39th season. In addition to planning for ‘camp’, we’re in the midst of reviewing applications for our Creative Musicians Retreat to be held for the first time at Smith College in June, and for our Teacher Training Institute to be held in Dublin in August. There are still spaces available in each of our programs. I hope you’ll consider joining us and telling your friends, family and colleagues about our unique program offerings.
This issue of InterNetzo touches on many areas of interest to Walden supporters and alumni: a prestigious award bestowed on Walden by the American Music Center at an awards ceremony in New York on May 2, an exciting concert and support opportunity in Baltimore on May 1, a musical offering from one of our 2010 Composers Forums, updates from alumni, faculty and supporters, and much more.
This is an exciting time of year for all of us at Walden, as we ready our programs to welcome participants from around the world. Walden is so fortunate to have the support of hundreds of dedicated supporters who help make all of what we do possible. Without such support, we would not be able to provide any financial aid to deserving students and music teachers, or offer the rich and diverse concert series that we do. Thank you to those of you who have already made a gift to our annual fund this year. We really appreciate it. In 2010, more than 450 supporters invested in Walden and made all of it possible. Read about it here. I hope you’ll consider joining them in making 2011 our best year ever!
In next month’s InterNetzo, we will preview our Concert Series, which begins this year in Northampton with a concert by the International Contemporary Ensemble on June 12. We will also give you information about our faculty and staff, and tell you a bit about some of this year’s program participants. In the meantime, I hope that your spring is off to a great start.
Seth Brenzel
Director, Young Musicians Program
Executive Director
sbrenzel@waldenschool.org
Walden Honored with National Music Education Award
The Walden School will receive the 2011 New Music Educators Award from the American Music Center on May 2, 2011, at an awards ceremony in New York City.
The New Music Educator Award was established by the American Music Center’s Board of Directors in 2006. This award is open to conductors, professors, lecturers, academics, and others who have made important contributions in the realm of education, but might not always be well known to the rest of the new music community. Previous winners include musicologist Charles Hamm and the New World Symphony.
The Walden School is the recipient of our New Music Educator Award, honoring their creative philosophy and curriculum, as well as their contribution toward motivating and mentoring decades of successful students.”
– Joanne Hubbard Cossa, President and CEO of the
American Music Center
Also being honored at the awards ceremony will be preeminent composers William Bolcom and John Harbison, the Copland House and So Percussion, a fantastic quartet of percussionists dedicated to the performance of contemporary music. Many congratulations to everyone involved with Walden, whether since 1972 or since last month! This is a terrific acknowledgement of the great work that we all do together.
Read more about the award here.
Apply to Participate in a Walden Program (or two!)
Applications are still being accepted for each of our programs — it is certainly not too late to plan to spend part of your summer with Walden! And if you can’t attend one of Walden’s programs this summer, we hope you will tell your friends and family and colleagues about what a terrific experience they will have if they do! Limited need-based financial aid is available for all programs.
Creative Musicians Retreat – NEW!
June 11-June 19, 2011 on the campus of Smith College
For more information and to download application materials, visit: www.waldenschool.org/creative-musicians-retreat/
Any adult (18+) musician is invited to join Walden faculty, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Composer-in-Residence Russell Pinkston for a weeklong workshop in musicianship, composition, choral singing, improvisation, and more! Space is limited to 25 participants.
Young Musicians Program (aka YMP)
June 25-July 31, 2011 on the campus of the Dublin School
For more information and to download application materials, visit: waldenschool.org/young-musicians-program
Join Walden’s top-notch faculty and staff for a 5-week summer music immersion experience of musicianship, composition, choral singing and many other enriching activities. Open to young musicians ages 9-18. Guest artists will include Paul Moravec, Pamela Z, Eric Huebner, and the Firebird Ensemble, among others.
Teacher Training Institute’s Developing Creative Expression (aka TTI)
August 3-August 10, 2011 on the campus of the Dublin School
For more information and to download application materials, visit: waldenschool.org/teacher-training-institute
Walden’s master teaching faculty will lead a group of 40 like-minded music educators through a professional development experience like no other, and provide pedagogy instruction in musicianship, solfege, rhythms, improvisation, composition, choral singing, computer music,and jazz musicianship. Grammy-nominated Dave Eggar will appear in concert as part of the workshop!
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Join jazz luminary Cyrus Chestnut and help support Walden
We hope you’ll join us for a musical afternoon with jazz great and Walden alumnus Cyrus Chestnut. Hailed as “the best jazz pianist of his generation” by Time Magazine, Chestnut will perform a program of standards and original works in this intimate house concert. We hope you can join us for hors d’oeuvres, drinks, conversation and spectacular music to benefit Walden.
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2011
Time: 3-5:30 p.m.
Location: A private home in Baltimore, Maryland
Please contact us for details
$100 per person suggested donation.
Smaller and larger contributions also welcome.
All donations go towards financial aid for Walden’s programs.
RSVP now by email or call (415) 648-4710.
There are still a few prime seats left!
Can’t attend, but still want to make a gift? Click below.
Your gift of any size makes it possible for creative young people and music teachers to have the experience of a lifetime at Walden. Thank you!
Event Roundup and Preview: Spring 2011
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, April 10, 2011, to be exact, over 30 Walden and JCC alumni and friends gathered for the annual New York Alumni Composers Forum at Ann Goodman Recital Hall in the Lincoln Center neighborhood of Manhattan. Works by Alex Ness (Staff ’03, Faculty ’06-08), Evie Grainger (YMP ‘09-10), Michael Johanson (YMP ’79-86, Faculty ’89, ’93, ’95-96), and Steven Jon Kaplan (YMP ’74) were performed. Bassist Rebekah Griffin Greene (TTI ’10, Faculty ’99, ’01, ’10) and her trombonist husband Terry Greene performed their own improvisation. Other performers included baritone Jefferson Packer (TTI ’10; Administration ’10-present), violinist Jane Chung (Visiting Artist ’04, ’09-10), cellist Jane Cords O’Hara (Visiting Artist ’08, ’10), and guest pianist Solon Gordon. Forum moderators Marguerite Ladd and Michael Johanson engaged the composers, performers, and audience in lively discussion about the works being presented. Afterwards, a reception at the hall flowed into a group dinner around the corner at a local restaurant, where 14 of the participants continued the conversation well into the evening.
If you missed the New York Forum for reasons of timing or geography, you’ll have another chance to meet up with other Walden and JCC alumni at two upcoming performances by PRISM Saxophone Quartet (Visiting Ensemble ’93, ’94, ’99, ’05). On June 3 and 4 in New York and Philadelphia, the group will be performing a program of premieres, including “The Giving Tree,” a work by Cara Haxo (YMP ’04-09), most recent winner of the annual PRISM/Walden School Young Composer Commissioning Award. PRISM’s programs are electrifying – outstanding works performed brilliantly by committed performers.
Click here for details and for ticket information.
Read Walden’s 2010 Annual Report Online!
2010 was an outstanding year at Walden, thanks to our wonderful supporters. Click hereto see who contributed to The Walden School last year and what their giving accomplished. If you haven’t already made your 2011 donation to The Walden School, you can do so online by clicking below. Thank you!
Community News and Goods
The Walden School welcomes news and information from members of the Junior Conservatory Camp and Walden School communities to include in our print and online newsletters. News may be sent via mail or email. We will publish your contact information only if you specifically request that we do so. Please send info to alumni@waldenschool.org or The Walden School, 31A 29th St., San Francisco, CA 94110. We reserve the right to edit submissions and regret we cannot publish all information provided. For upcoming event listings, go to www.handoverhand.org.
Jim Altieri (Faculty ’02,’06-07, Teacher Training Institute ’06) recently collaborated with the band Pearl and the Beard on their new album, Killing the Darlings. He played violin several tracks, and composed a French horn quartet for a track that was performed by the acclaimed quartet Genghis Barbie. More information is available here. Jim also played accordion in Elevation Maps, a piece by Tristan Perich for five accordions and five channel one-bit audio, in a tour this month which includes several East Coast cities, as well as Santa Fe, New Mexico. After a mini-tour with Peter Evans (Guest Artist ’07-08)and Sam Pluta (Staff ’01-02, Faculty ’03-10), they’ve been getting lots of great feedback about “Sum and Difference”, their album of laptop / acoustic instrument duets. You can check the album out on Carrier Records’ website. Finally, he’s been at work with singer-songwriter Matt Singer on his new album, contributing accordion parts to several songs, and playing with his band live and on tape. See tweeg.net for more details.
Erica Ball (Young Musicians Program ’06-07) had a piece featured on a concert by the Arneis Quartet, along with a composer-audience discussion, at the public library in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Kate Ettinger’s (Young Musicians Program ’03-05) orchestra piece Caedo, Caedere (2011) was recently premiered at Oberlin by the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. You can read more here.
Jane Lange (Young Musicians Program ’09-10)was named a recipient of 2011 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award. The winning piece is Moments, which was composed last year at Walden. Read the article about her in the San Francisco Classical Voice.
Aurora Nealand (Faculty ’03-07, Visiting Artist ’09-10)is a featured artist on the HBO show Treme. Read more about the show here.
This has been a big month for Nat Osborn (Young Musicians Program ’00-03), who appeared multiple times with groups Hawthorne, Nat Osborn and the Diamond Allegory, and also accompanying Aimee Bayles, whose album he recently produced.
Alica Rabins’s (Young Musicians Program ’88-93) band Girls in Trouble has a new album, “HALF YOU HALF ME”, which will be released by Jdub Records on May 17 (and available at shows starting in April). The album features ten new songs and beautiful design by the band’s artist-musician-designer friend David Pokrivnak. A tour of California, the Southeast, the Northeast, and a big NYC show at Joe’s Pub on May 19th will follow. More information about that show is available here. Alicia also had some poems on the back cover of the March/April American Poetry Review.
A small but vibrant group of Los Angeles-based Waldenites got together this April, with alumni Alan Shewmon, (Junior Conservatory Camp ’63-60, Young Musicians Program ’72)Ted Masur (Teacher Training Institute ’04-07, Faculty ’08), Alan Chan (Teacher Training Institute ’04, ’06, Faculty ’10), Julian van Eyken (Teacher Training Institute ’08), and donor and designer Chris Maikish joining Seth Brenzel (Young Musicians Program ’85-90, Teacher Training Institute ’08, Staff ’94, ’96-97, Admin ’94-11) and Esther Landau (Teacher Training Institute ’08, Admin ’05-11).
Now Hear This! Works by 2011 Walden Participants
The Walden School 2010 Young Musicians Program Festival Forums presented the world premieres of over 50 pieces, including Kaeli Mogg’s ROUGH, performed by Amelia Lukas, flute, Meighan Stoops, clarinet, Jake Tejada, trumpet, Steve Parker, trombone, and Nadia Sirota, viola.
(note: depending on your operating system, this link will either open your media player and play the track, or save the track to your computer)