Young composers enjoying a dream situation at Banff
BANFF - Eight young Canadian composers have experienced a dream situation this summer.
The entire musical resources of the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts have been thrown open to them - giving them an unique opportunity to explore their work through group sessions, private lessons, rehearsals
and public concerts.
They are participants in a pilot composers workshop program, and Banff officials say the experience has been so successful it's certain to become an integral part of the
school's summer curriculum.
"It's different from anything done before here:" says Oscar Morawetz, the veteran Canadian composer
who chaired the program.
"It's wonderful that these young composers have been able to hear first-class performers play their works. I never had that chance when I was young."
Workshop participants share
Morawetz's enthusiasm.
Likes challenge
"It's great to be around performers who are real professionals or on the verge of becoming professionals," says Robert Rosen, a young Edmonton composer who graudated
[sic] in composition from the University of Alberta last year.
"I think the most rewarding aspect for me has been the inspiration of being around so much music-making."
Rosen also likes the hard work and challenge which the four-week program offers.
At one recent class, composer- instructor Malcolm Forsyth walked into the classroom, told members of the group to go off and each write a new composition within two hours. When they returned with their finished scores, Forsyth had a group of musicians waiting to perform them.
"It was a pressure-cooker situation," says Rosen. "But we learned a lot from it."
The program is specifically aimed at young professional composers who have already written a number of works which have been performed. The ordinary student, no matter how gifted, is not welcome.
"We wanted young composers of serious purpose and proven ability," says Morawetz. Participants were selected on the basis of finished scores submitted to Morawetz during the winter. Originally the program was to have been restricted to six successful applicants, but quality of entry was so high that the ceiling was raised to eight.
"These are extremely gifted young professionals," stresses Morawetz, "and it's a privilege to work woth
[sic] them. When I was their age, I used to dream of taking four or five of my compositions to musicians and have the music performed but that dream was never fulfilled. That is why this program is so wonderful at Banff."
But the key component of the workshop is the cycle of public performances of the works, be they for solo instrument, voice or full orchestra. At a weekend recital, Rosen, for example, had two of his works performed - a group of four "poems" for
piano and a string quartet.
"These are fine musicians," says Rosen. "They are very busy. Yet, they have been
prepared to give our music their full attention and to help make this workshop
successful."
The workshop doesn't just involve outstanding student musicians. Professional faculty members have also helped make it a success. At one recent major concert in the Banff Festival of the Arts, cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and painist
[sic] Ada Bronstein performed a complex chamber work by workshop member Sylvia Rickard of Victoria.
But the workshop also seeks to be practical about the pitfalls of being a professional composer.
"I tell them things I have learned in 30 years of composing," says Morawetz. "I tell them the sort of things which you don't
discover in books, but only through experience."
He is also prepared to tell them the grim facts about pursuing serious composing as a full-time career.
"I tell them," sighs Morawetz, "that one day they'll have to teach for a living in order to survive."
