JAVS Fall 2016

John most enjoys composing for musical theater, scoring for films, and also creating concert music like his viola concerto, Icarus . He plans to continue in all three genres and see where he finds the greatest success as he goes along. Like John, Michael is interested in film scoring— his favorite genre is cinematic orchestral music. Michael says, “I have a story in my head as I write music, but I think it is even more fun if the audience gets to watch the story as they hear the music.” Michael feels it is important to connect with the audience, and music is an important tool to help films, advertisements, and media make the connection. John is also very concerned about connecting with people through genres that are “relevant to human beings today.” He prefers to engage with “music written for living people, not for the sake of exploring or reenacting the past.” Conversely, looking at past music is exactly what Leon prefers to do: his compositional interests lie in re-contextualizing existing material to create new works. Leon says, “The music from an earlier period provides certain comfortable connotations,” and he enjoys changing the listener’s expectations and forcing them “to occupy two musical worlds at once.” Leon intends to make “appropriation music” the focus of his compositional exploration going forward. He looks to composers like Charles Ives and Clarence Barlow for inspiration but does not believe that “any composer has dedicated the majority of their works to this style of music, which I intend to.” process that being involved in the performance gives you something a lot more satisfying than just writing a piece sitting at a desk.” However, he also makes the point that when he is involved with performers, “I don’t want them to feel like I’m in charge; I like to collaborate with the performers.” John believes that the performers help to make his music better. He prefers to work closely with the artists, especially for the first performance of a piece, because the first draft of a score might not be perfect. “There are always mistakes that I’ve made in the notation and questions that need to be answered,” he says. John also finds it fascinating to see what different performers bring to his music: “I love to see what their life makes of my music.” Leon agrees with this. He has recently begun experimenting with allowing the performer more All three of these young composers enjoy interacting with the musicians who are performing their music. While that opportunity does not always come, as Michael describes it, “There is something about the creation

Michael Biancardi (photo courtesy of Madison Thorpe)

input into the music by giving improvisatory directions to express ideas that are difficult to notate. He says, “It also allows performers to judge the atmosphere of each concert and react accordingly with their improvisations; this give and take between musicians and audience has become a recent interest of mine.” The Music At this point, John has only composed one work for viola, Icarus , but it is, in his words, “Quite extensive.” This viola concerto is programmatic, telling the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun. Devan Freebairn, the soloist for the work’s premiere, mentions that “the end of the story doesn’t make it into the piece, where Icarus falls to his death because he flew too close to the sun. But I think the tension in the glissandi foreshadows that moment, though the piece ends in the glory of soaring flight.” Audience members have noted the cinematic feel to the piece and compared it to some of Hans Zimmer’s compositions. John explains that “it sounds very modern and has some cool extended techniques—like string glissandi and slapping harp strings—that people really find fascinating.” John’s next viola venture will be to make a transcription for viola of a cello nocturne that he had

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2016

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