Message from Seth Brenzel, Executive Director
Walden begins today!
Summer is here, bringing with it another summer of transformative music programs at The Walden School. Today, June 15, our 2024 Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) begins, and our Young Musicians Program (YMP) starts on June 29. I can’t wait to experience the energy, diversity, and creativity that our more than 100 participants will bring to Walden this year.
In this edition of InterNetzo, we are excited to share the incredible lineup of faculty and staff who will bring our Summer 2024 programs to life. We also share a recap of the festive Walden celebration and fundraiser that was held on May 5 in Washington, DC, raising more than $11,000 in support of critical scholarships and world-class artist residences at Walden’s programs this summer.
Please read on for more news and updates from the Walden community. And stay tuned for more updates throughout the summer as our programs and Concert Series get underway. I hope our paths cross soon!
Sincerely,
Seth Brenzel
Executive Director
415-587-8157
This Weekend at Walden
At Dublin School,
Dublin, New Hampshire (and online!)
All events are free and open to the public.
Join us for the opening concert of Walden’s 2024 Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR), featuring artists-in-residence David Friend (piano) and members of International Contemporary Ensemble: Colleen Bernstein (percussion), Isabel Lepanto Gleicher (flutes), Nicolee Kuester (horn), Dan Lippel (guitars), Josh Modney (violin), and Damian Norfleet (voice). The concert will feature music by current Walden faculty members and by CMR Composer-in-Residence Oscar Bettison.
Sunday, June 16, 7:30 pm Eastern
Composer-in-Residence Presentation
With CMR Composer-in-Residence Oscar Bettison
Note: This event will not be livestreamed.
Oscar Bettison’s music lives, thrillingly, on a razor’s edge between unpredictability and a groove wrought of full-bodied play. Born on the United Kingdom’s Channel Islands to Spanish and British parents, Bettison was fascinated from an early age by the interplay between the “weird, hazy, tenuous aural image” in his imagination and the wild effort to wrestle it onto the page. After studying in Amsterdam with Louis Andriessen and Martijn Padding, he learned to embrace this creative discomfort, crashing through challenges with fantastic, imaginative twists. As Bettison has said: “It’s not that refinement is a bad thing. But there are times when it can get in the way.” Join us for a presentation by Mr. Bettison of some of his work.
Fundraising Event
Event recap: A Walden Celebration and Fundraiser in Washington, DC
Thank you to all who joined us for The Walden School’s celebration and fundraiser in Washington, DC, on Sunday, May 5!
It was a wonderful afternoon of food, drink, conversation, and music held in the beautiful and historic DACOR Bacon House, just steps from the White House. The Claremont Trio (violinist Emily Bruskin, cellist Julia Bruskin, and pianist Sophiko Simsive) wowed with their engaging performances of works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Kati Agócs (a 2022 Composer-in-Residence at Walden), and Johannes Brahms. In between pieces, Julia Bruskin shared reflections from her many visits to Walden’s Young Musicians Program, saying, “There’s no place like Walden.”
We are so grateful to our host committee and all of our event donors for your generosity. With your help, we raised $11,480! Thank you! Your support brings Walden 2024 that much closer.
If you would like to show your support to Walden, contributions are warmly appreciated at any time. You are welcome to donate online or send a check to The Walden School at 7 Joost Avenue, Suite 204, San Francisco, CA 94131.
Summer 2024 Faculty and Staff
Each summer, Walden assembles a stellar team of faculty and staff to mentor and inspire our participants and provide them with unparalleled musical experiences. Our philosophy is that by participating together in all levels of community life, faculty, staff, visiting artists, and students can create an environment where close relationships develop and creativity flourishes.
Walden’s 2024 faculty and staff team is a wonderful mix of returning team members, team
members returning in new roles, and several new staff and faculty members. Walden’s faculty are a diverse group of improvisers, composers, conductors, performers, and music scholars, all of whom are committed to the creation and dissemination of new music and to developing the next generation’s composers, performers and arts advocates.
Visit our website to learn more about the faculty and staff at Walden’s Young Musicians Program (YMP) and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR).
YMP Faculty and Staff
David Carlton Adams, Faculty
Zaki Andoh, Staff
William Bolles-Beaven, Faculty
Seth Brenzel, Executive Director & YMP Program Director
Kittie Cooper, Faculty, Academic Dean, & Director of Composers Forums
Shannon Dunning, Staff
Jeff Dutter, Staff
Kari Francis, Faculty & Choral Director
Aidan Gold, Faculty
Cara Haxo, Faculty & Academic Dean
Francesca Hellerman, Faculty & Assistant Director of Composers Forums
Gree Jordan, Nurse
Ross Karre, Technical Director
Hilary Kole, Faculty
Loretta Notareschi, Teaching Mentor
Carlos Henrique Pereira, Faculty
Dahlia Riddington, Staff
Marco Roberts, Staff
Luke Schroeder, Assistant Director of Operations & Faculty
Sammi Jo Stone, Director of Operations & Faculty
Theo Trevisan, Faculty
Nate Trier, Faculty
Samantha Wolf, Faculty
Paul Zito, Staff
CMR Faculty and Staff
Seth Brenzel, Executive Director
Alex Christie, Faculty & Director of Electronic Music
Cara Haxo, Faculty
Francesca Hellerman, Staff
Caroline Mallonee, Faculty & CMR Program Director
Ted Moore, Technical Director
Loretta Notareschi, Faculty
Sam Pluta, Faculty
Dahlia Riddington, Staff
Sarah Riskind, Choral Director
Luke Schroeder, Staff
J. Sparr, Faculty
Sammi Jo Stone, Director of Operations
Call for Memories and Photos
Attention alumni! We are renewing a call for treasured memories and photos from your time at Walden or the Junior Conservatory Camp (JCC), to be included in a 50th/70th-Anniversary memory book.
Please aim to keep your reflections to a maximum of 250 words.
Alumni are also invited to share up to five treasured photos with the community to be included in the memory book.
Please send your memories and photos to us at alumni@waldenschool.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
Community News
Denise Ondishko’s Moments in Nature featured on new recording
A three-movement composition by Denise Ondishko, Moments in Nature for saxophone and digital audio, is featured on Inflorescence, a new album by saxophonist Kyle Horch. In these pieces, Ondishko is heard reciting a poem along with digital audio that she designed and created in her home studio, and a live saxophone recorded for the album. Ondishko is a Young Musicians Program (YMP) alumna and a former Walden staff member, faculty member, and Board member. She was featured in a previous edition of InterNetzo, where she shared that her work with Horch was instrumental in keeping her involved in composition.
Modney releases Ascending Primes
Composer-violinist Josh Modney, who performs and records as Modney, released a new double-album of solo and ensemble works on Pyroclastic Records, Ascending Primes. The album builds on Modney’s interests in tuning systems and exploring “extremes of harmonicity and dissonance.” The works are performed by prime-numbered ensembles featuring several Walden-affiliated artists: Erica Dicker (violin), Marina Kifferstein(violin), Mariel Roberts (cello), and Sam Pluta (electronics). Modney is a frequent Walden visiting artist who will return to both the Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) and the Young Musicians Program (YMP) in Summer 2024.
Nnenna Ogwo’s Juneteenth Festival returns
This June, Juneteenth LP (Juneteenth Legacy Project), founded by Nnenna Ogwo, will present a series of musical events celebrating Juneteenth, the national holiday commemorating the end of slavery in America. The Juneteenth Festival will culminate in Ogwo’s annual Juneteenth celebration at Joe’s Pub on June 19, featuring music by Black composers across genres. Ogwo’s Juneteenth LP was honored this year with a special grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music (a Walden School supporter), in honor of the Fund’s 30th anniversary. Ogwo is both a YMP and CMR alumna, as well as a past board member, faculty member, and visiting artist. A complete lineup of the Juneteenth Festival can be found here.
Alex Christie earns PhD
Composer, electronic musician, and intermedia artist Alex Christie, a YMP alumnus and veteran Walden faculty member who will return to teach at CMR this summer, earned his PhD from the Department of Music at the University of Virginia on May 18. His dissertation is titled “Light, Sound, Systems, Deer: Nonhuman Agency and Intermedia Practice,” and it represents the culmination of many years of Christie’s artistic practice and scholarship. Congratulations, Alex!
We Want To Hear From You!
If you have a recent or upcoming premiere or concert, publication, award, new job, or a celebratory life event, please share your news, which needn’t be music-related (although we love your music-related news to be sure!). Email your news to alumni@waldenschool.org.
Stay in Touch
You can like The Walden School page on Facebook and join The Walden School private group to hear about events and opportunities throughout the year. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, bandcamp, and at waldenschool.org.
A dance during the 2019 Young Musicians Program
