Festival Week Composers Forum III

FREE and Open to the Public

Join us for an evening of new works by Walden students from all over the world, moderated by composer-in-residence Nathaniel Stookey.

Walden Composers Forum

During Composers Forums, students present their improvisational or compositional works in a concert setting. Works are performed by students, faculty, or visiting artists. Forums are overseen by an independent moderator who leads a discussion of each piece with students, faculty, and the audience. Students receive constructive feedback as a springboard toward further work either on the piece at hand or future pieces. Forums are designed for the beginner as well as the advanced student, and are greatly beneficial to both. The emphasis on creative work at Walden is on process over product, and Forums provide a unique opportunity for musical and personal growth. Moderators are faculty members or recognized composers and performers in the music world outside of Walden. Past forum moderators have included Samuel Adler, Thomas Benjamin, Martin Bresnick, Earle Brown, Andrea Clearfield, Randolph Coleman, James Freeman, Adolphus Hailstork, George Lewis, Eugene O’Brien, Russell Pinkston, Philip Rosenberg, Allan Schindler, Alex Shapiro, Bright Sheng, John Weaver, and Chen Yi, among others.


Festival Week Composers Forum II

FREE and Open to the Public

Join us for an evening of new works by Walden students from all over the world, moderated by composer-in-residence Nathaniel Stookey.

Walden Composers Forum

During Composers Forums, students present their improvisational or compositional works in a concert setting. Works are performed by students, faculty, or visiting artists. Forums are overseen by an independent moderator who leads a discussion of each piece with students, faculty, and the audience. Students receive constructive feedback as a springboard toward further work either on the piece at hand or future pieces. Forums are designed for the beginner as well as the advanced student, and are greatly beneficial to both. The emphasis on creative work at Walden is on process over product, and Forums provide a unique opportunity for musical and personal growth. Moderators are faculty members or recognized composers and performers in the music world outside of Walden. Past forum moderators have included Samuel Adler, Thomas Benjamin, Martin Bresnick, Earle Brown, Andrea Clearfield, Randolph Coleman, James Freeman, Adolphus Hailstork, George Lewis, Eugene O’Brien, Russell Pinkston, Philip Rosenberg, Allan Schindler, Alex Shapiro, Bright Sheng, John Weaver, and Chen Yi, among others.


Festival Week Composers Forum I

FREE and Open to the Public

Join us for an evening of new works by Walden students from all over the world, moderated by composer-in-residence Nathaniel Stookey.

Walden Composers Forum

During Composers Forums, students present their improvisational or compositional works in a concert setting. Works are performed by students, faculty, or visiting artists. Forums are overseen by an independent moderator who leads a discussion of each piece with students, faculty, and the audience. Students receive constructive feedback as a springboard toward further work either on the piece at hand or future pieces. Forums are designed for the beginner as well as the advanced student, and are greatly beneficial to both. The emphasis on creative work at Walden is on process over product, and Forums provide a unique opportunity for musical and personal growth. Moderators are faculty members or recognized composers and performers in the music world outside of Walden. Past forum moderators have included Samuel Adler, Thomas Benjamin, Martin Bresnick, Earle Brown, Andrea Clearfield, Randolph Coleman, James Freeman, Adolphus Hailstork, George Lewis, Eugene O’Brien, Russell Pinkston, Philip Rosenberg, Allan Schindler, Alex Shapiro, Bright Sheng, John Weaver, and Chen Yi, among others.


Composer-in-Residence Presentation: Nathaniel Stookey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony at age 17, Nathaniel Stookey has gone on to collaborate with many of the world's great orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Manchester's venerable Hallé: Orchestra, where he was composer-in-residence under Kent Nagano. Stookey's concerto for two violins and strings, Double, was commissioned to represent the year 1999 in the millennial Festival of 999 Years of Music in Sheffield, England, and has since been released on Albany records. In 2006, the San Francisco Symphony commissioned, premiered, and recorded The Composer Is Dead, a sinister guide to the orchestra with narration by Lemony Snicket. "Having created a furor in the United States" ( Hamburger Abendblatt ), the work has since been performed by over 100 orchestras on four continents, and according to BBC commentator Norman Lebrecht, is one of the five most performed classical works of the 21st century, worldwide. His latest orchestral work, Mahlerwerk, commissioned by NDR-Sinfonie (Hamburg) for the final concert of their centennial Mahler cycle, was premiered under Christoph Eschenbach before an audience of 10,000. The Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitung describes this "crazy puzzle" as an "intelligent, musically very appealing, even exhilarating homage to Gustav Mahler." Stookey's most recent work, String Quartet No. 3 'The Mezzanine' — commissioned and premiered by the Kronos Quartet in 2013 — received critical acclaim for its "wealth of puckish inventions, including an offbeat rhythmic groove that morphs into a tenderly sardonic waltz, and a slow hymn whose harmonies grow and expand in surprising directions" ( San Francisco Chronicle ).


The Walden School Players

 

The presence of a visiting performance ensemble on campus during Festival Week has long been a Walden School tradition. Renowned contemporary music groups such as the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, The Peabody Trio, and Non Sequitur have completed residencies in years past, performing student pieces as well as sharing their own repertoire. For the last several years, Walden has hosted its own professional ensemble-in-residence, The Walden School Players. All distinguished musicians and specialists in contemporary music, the Players share their talent and wealth of experience in contemporary music with the Walden community each summer during the course of a two-week residency. Although the roster changes somewhat from year to year, several of the Players have been returning to Walden for many summers and have formed lasting relationships with students, faculty, and staff.

While in residence at Walden, the Players work closely with student composers in readings and rehearsals, giving feedback as students prepare their pieces for Festival Week. Then, over the course of three Festival Week Composers Forums, they perform students’ pieces.

In addition to their work with students, the Players present a concert of modern and contemporary chamber music in an event that is always a highlight of Walden’s concert series. This concert is FREE and open to the public, and will take place in Louise Shonk Kelly Recital Hall.


Composers Forum IV

 

FREE and Open to the Public

Join us for an evening of new works (improvisations, compositions, works-in-process, group collaborations, etc.) by Walden students from all over the world.

Walden Composers Forum

During Composers Forums, students present their improvisational or compositional works in a concert setting. Works are performed by students, faculty, or visiting artists. Forums are overseen by an independent moderator who leads a discussion of each piece with students, faculty, and the audience. Students receive constructive feedback as a springboard toward further work either on the piece at hand or future pieces. Forums are designed for the beginner as well as the advanced student, and are greatly beneficial to both. The emphasis on creative work at Walden is on process over product, and Forums provide a unique opportunity for musical and personal growth. Moderators are faculty members or recognized composers and performers in the music world outside of Walden. Past forum moderators have included Samuel Adler, Thomas Benjamin, Martin Bresnick, Earle Brown, Andrea Clearfield, Randolph Coleman, James Freeman, Adolphus Hailstork, George Lewis, Eugene O’Brien, Russell Pinkston, Philip Rosenberg, Allan Schindler, Alex Shapiro, Bright Sheng, John Weaver, and Chen Yi, among others.


Urban Raga Trio

 

Urban Raga Trio: Nocturne Project

Nocturne is inspired by the North Indian concept that certain ragas express the mood, pathos, and experience of night. This project will synthesize vocabulary from Indian night ragas, western classical nocturne compositions, and contemporary improvisations to create a cross-cultural and dynamic form of night music. Within the context of American creative music, Nocturne evokes abstract themes such as the meditation of a world at rest; night terrors conjured by the imagination; and the slow cadence of blue light melting into darkness.

Urban Raga Trio consists of saxophonist Aakash Mittal, guitarist Matt Fuller, and percussionist Rajna Swaminathan. The concert is FREE and open to the public, and will take place in Louise Shonk Kelly Recital Hall.


Walden School Open House

 
Wednesday, July 16, 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Dublin School, Fountain Arts Building

Come visit Walden and get a glimpse of what makes this program so special! Featuring a showcase of student performances, faculty demonstrations, ensemble rehearsals, and a special performance by visiting artist, Aakash Mittal and the Urban Raga Trio.

Light appetizers and refreshing beverages will be served.


2014 Young Musicians Program

The Walden School Young Musicians Program provides an unparalleled creative summer experience for musically inclined students ages 9 to 18. Part school, part camp, and part festival, the program convenes each summer for five weeks in Dublin, NH. Through rigorous and innovative daily instruction, students hone their musical and creative skills within a supportive community of like-minded peers and mentors.

-Enrollment limited 50 students, from around the world
19 faculty & staff (all full-time and residential)
-Curriculum focuses on musicianship, improvisation, composition, choral singing, and more
-Concert series, composers forums, artist residencies, weekly hikes, dances and daily recreation activities

The dates for 2014 are Saturday, June 28 through Sunday, August 3. Students ages 9-18 (including high school seniors) are welcome to apply. A shorter, 3-week residency is available for students ages 9-11, if interested. For more information or to ask any questions you might have, write us at students@waldenschool.org.

Visit: https://waldenschool.org/young-musicians-program/
to learn more about the program and to request an application.


Indiegogo Campaign

Help us put the SING back in fundrai-SING!

Join our Indiegogo campaign, May 15th - June 27th, and support the 2014 Young Musicians Program Chorus.

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At The Walden School, choral singing is the glue that binds us. All faculty, staff, students, and members of the administration participate in several choral groups, as well as the all-school chorus. This special facet of the Young Musicians Program brings everyone together in the same room, at the same time, working on the same activity. Memories of a lifetime are made in chorus.

Help support this unparalleled program and join our campaign today.  And please spread the word! Check our Indiegogo page regularly for updates.