The Minnesota Orchestra has selected seven composers from across the country to participate in the fourth annual Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute held at Orchestra Hall, October 27 through 30, 2004. The participants will have their works read and rehearsed by the Minnesota Orchestra and participate in workshops with Orchestra musicians and industry professionals. They will also take part in pre-reading discussions and receive post-reading composition mentoring with composer Aaron Jay Kernis, who serves as the Minnesota Orchestra’s New Music Advisor and Chairman of the Institute. The three reading sessions and pre-reading discussions are free and open to the public. The Composer Institute is presented in partnership with the American Composers Forum and in cooperation with the American Music Center. 

 “The Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute is a fine example of the forward thinking initiatives that the Orchestra, American Composers Forum and American Music Center have created and supported,” remarked Aaron Jay Kernis. “Not only will the invited composers gain direct experience of their orchestral writing brought to full ‘living color’ through the Orchestra’s artistry, they will also gain insights into improving and sharpening their already professional skills through a variety of seminars with leaders in the music community. These skills are vitally important to emerging composers, and previous year’s seminars have proven both insightful and invaluable to many participants. There really is nothing quite like this Composer Institute in the nation.

 The seven composers selected range in age from 20 to 36. They are: Patrick Burke from Yale University, Fang Man from Cornell University, Andrew Norman from the University of Southern California, John Christian Orfe, formerly at Yale University, David Plylar, formerly from Duke University, Sheridan Seyfried from the Curtis Institute, and Rob Smith from the University of Houston. All participant’s travel and hotel will be provided during the four-day Institute.

 A total of 131 scores were submitted to the American Composers Forum for the October 2004 Institute. Works were not to exceed 15 minutes in length and could not have previously been performed or read by a major orchestra. The works were selected with the invaluable assistance of a judging panel including composers Michael Daugherty and Kevin Puts, as well as Minnesota Orchestra Acting Associate Principal Bass William Schrickel. Additional help was received from David Wolff of the American Composers Forum. Minnesota Orchestra Associate Conductor Mischa Santora and Assistant Conductor Daniel Alfred Wachs will lead the Orchestra in readings and rehearsals of the chosen compositions. All pre-reading discussions in the Orchestra Hall Lobby Tier Drop and reading sessions are open to the public with no advance reservation required. For more information, call (612) 371-5660.

 In addition to hearing the Minnesota Orchestra play their compositions, the guest composers have the opportunity to attend a wide variety of instrumental and career-building seminars, many of which are not offered at music schools or conservatories. Topics for discussion include arranging commission and publishing contracts, protecting intellectual property, preparing music and parts effectively, honing public speaking skills, initiating community residencies, and working with conductors, librarians, artistic and marketing staffs, as well as union orchestras. These career seminars are led by Minnesota Orchestra musicians and music industry professionals from New York and the Twin Cities. Area composers are able to attend these seminars through the American Composers Forum. 

The American Composers Forum supports composers’ artistic development and develops new markets and audiences for their music. Based in Saint Paul, the Forum has grown into one of the largest composer-service organizations in the United States with 1,700 members, nine chapters and a wide variety of innovative programs. For more information, call (651) 228-1407 or visit online  at composersforum.org.

In September of 1998, Aaron Jay Kernis began an appointment as the Minnesota Orchestra’s new music advisor. In this artistic post, he composes pieces for the Orchestra, as well as serves as an advisor in the commissioning and support of other contemporary music for the Minnesota Orchestra. Born in Philadelphia in 1960, Kernis began his musical studies on the violin; at age twelve he began teaching himself piano and, the following year, composition. He continued studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and both the Manhattan and Yale Schools of Music. One of the youngest recipients to be granted the award, Kernis won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition String Quartet No. 2, “musica instrumentalis.” In addition to the Pulitzer, his many awards also include the 2002 Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition for the cello and orchestra version of Colored Field. From 1993-96 he held the appointment as composer-in-residence with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Public Radio and the American Composers Forum. Kernis’s music is published by Associated Music Publishers and Boosey and Hawkes.