Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Mannes Honors Composition Concert and Graduation

Last Saturday was the Honors Composition Concert at Mannes College. This was the final concert of my four years of study at Mannes pre-college, functioning as my senior recital. I have to say that this concert was simultaneously one of the most intensely enjoyable, exciting and gratifying experiences of my life.

I specifically wrote a piece called Circus fanfare for this concert, intended as a special celebration of the accomplishments of the Honors composers, (Anteo Fabris, Kamron Sanie, Deniz Tetik, and myself) at Mannes.

From the Program Notes-

My original inspiration for this piece, was that I wanted to do something to celebrate and honor the achievements of my fellow composers and friends here at Mannes, especially the graduating seniors. It just so happened that the four honors composers; Kamron, Anteo, Deniz and I, played violin, trumpet, french horn, and piano respectively, and so I thought it would be fun if we could all play together in the same piece. After thinking it over, I decided to add some percussion instruments, with the intention that the glockenspiel and timpani would not only be used for effect, but could work as solo instruments. I ended up naming the piece after I began writing it, because something in the music reminded me of a circus, and of course, a fanfare. This is my first piece for such a large ensemble, and it was quite an adventure learning how to write for so many instruments. Finally, this piece is dedicated to my composition teacher, Eleanor Cory, whose guidance and support have helped me more greatly than I can express in words.