Students, Professionals Unite for ‘Composer Apprentice Project’

Following last fall’s Music, Justice and Gender conference at Syracuse University and early music projects at Cornell University and the Eastman School at the University of Rochester, the Musicology/Music History Cluster embarks this spring on the Composer Apprentice Project. Spearheaded by Cornell composer Kevin Ernste, the project will partner composition students from Cornell and SU with the celebrated chamber ensemble Brave New Works (BNW). This dynamic young group will give concerts at both institutions, performing works by the students. Two of the students—one from Cornell and one from SU—have been commissioned by BNW for an amount generously underwritten by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In addition to gaining insight into the creative process, all students will learn, in real time, how to prepare a piece of original music with a professional ensemble. 

Other projects for 2008 include a major conference at Eastman titled Music and Globalization, featuring a newly commissioned work by Chen Yi, and another installment of the Composer Apprentice Project, with a new set of student and professional artists.