Workshop: New Symphonies

Workshop: New Symphonies 
Ten monthly 3-hour sessions from September 2010 thru June 2011
• Schedule • New Symphonies • Cost • Scholarships • Register

Composing for orchestra is one of the most intimidating and stimulating ideas you can face. There is nothing more powerful than an orchestra blasting a fortississimo unison or as intricate and complicated as a delicate passage for woodwinds and strings. It is unprecedented for a program, dedicated to young composers age 14-19, to give exclusive access to a professional orchestra for a year.

But this school year, you and fifteen other young composers will learn the art of composing for orchestra from experienced composers Randall Davidson and Jocelyn Hagen and then witness the Minnesota Sinfonia read your composition in July 2011. Conductors Bill Eddins and Jay Fishman will coach and advise you on the common pitfalls and hidden secrets of writing for orchestra.

This year's theme is "New Symphonies" and you will be challenged to re-imagine and re-invent the orchestra of the 21st century.

• Will there be a new seating arrangement? 
• What new instruments will be added? 
• Will musicians improvise their parts? 
• Where will the audience sit? 
• Will projected images, movies, and lighting be used in live concerts? 

Enrollment is open to students of every level of musical experience. 

Spring Sessions dates are: 
February 19, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18

Readings: July 2011 
Sessions will take place from 2-5pm in Ferguson Hall on the West Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. 

You will be expected to bring your instrument(s), to compose at least 2-5 minutes of music every month, to participate in online music theory instruction, and to attend all ten monthly sessions.

Core features:

• composition tutorials
• orchestration clinics with orchestra musicians and conductors
• music theory and aural training
• readings of new works by the Minnesota Sinfonia in July 2011
• compose and perform new works by your peers
• online music theory and composition resources, including access to www.theoryinabox.org.

The "Workshop: New Symphonies" is funded, in part, by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.