Etchings 2024. New York City. August 4 - 11
Lessons, Masterclasses & Workshops by:
Melinda Wagner | John Aylward | Hassan Anderson |
Ecce, and special guest Popebama
Since 2009, Etchings has been one of the premiere music festival academies for emerging composers, hosting guest composers Kaija Saariaho, Geog Friedrich Haas, Francesco Filidei, Lee Hyla, Philippe Hurel, David Rakowski, Franck Bedrossian, Martin Brody, Stefano Gervasoni, Philippe Leroux, and many others.
Fellows are welcomed into our ensemble’s community and afforded opportunities that cultivate their creativity and imagination in supportive ways.
Guest Artist: Melinda Wagner
Celebrated as an “...eloquent, poetic voice in contemporary music...” [American Record Guide], Melinda Wagner’s esteemed catalog of works embodies music of exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. Wagner received widespread attention when her colorful Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then, major works have included Concerto for Trombone, for Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic, a piano concerto, Extremity of Sky, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony for Emanuel Ax, and Little Moonhead, composed for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as part of its popular “New Brandenburgs” project.
Among honors Wagner has received is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP. Wagner was given an honorary doctorate from Hamilton College, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. Melinda Wagner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2017.
A passionate and inspiring teacher, Melinda Wagner has given master classes at many fine institutions across the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and UC Davis. She has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College, and has served as a mentor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Atlantic Music Festival, and Yellow Barn. Ms. Wagner currently serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music.
Guest Artist: Curtis Stewart
Praised for “combining omnivory and brilliance” (The New York Times), four-time GRAMMY Award-nominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart translates stories of American self determination to the concert stage. As a solo violinist, composer, Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, professor at The Juilliard School, and member of award-winning ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail, he realizes a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures and musics. Stewart’s 2023 album of Love., a tribute to his late mother Elektra Kurtis-Stewart, has been nominated under Best Instrumental Solo in the 2024 GRAMMY Awards. As a soloist, Curtis Stewart has been presented by Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Cal Performances, Washington Performing Arts, Virginia Arts Festival, and the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, among many others. His 2021 album Of Power (Bright Shiny Things) was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Stewart has been commissioned to compose new works by the Seattle Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall’s Play/USA, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and members of the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, La Jolla Music Society, Sybarite5, the New York Festival of Song, Newport Classical Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman Cello Institute, among others. Among his recent commissions, he composed The Famous People, five recompositions of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances, for a premiere by violinist Gil Shaham with the Virginia Symphony in March 2023. An avid teacher, Curtis Stewart currently teaches at The Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program, and for 10 years led all levels of music theory and orchestra at the Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts in NYC. Learn more at www.curtisjstewart.com.
Guest Artists: Popebama
Popebama is a New York-based experimental duo that focuses on exciting performances of unconventional works. Described as “Noisily Virtuosic” (clevelandclassical.com), Erin Rogers (saxophone) and Dennis Sullivan (percussion) are composer-performers who apply text, electronics, and high-energy instrumental writing to freshly-squeezed sounds.
Specializing in works conceived by Rogers and Sullivan, Popebama has championed composers such as Merche Blasco, Paul Pinto, Jenna Lyle, Rick Burkhardt, Seong Ae Kim, Kittie Cooper, Ryan Carraher, Varun Kishore, Chin-Ting Chan, Chelsea Loew, Daniel Silliman, S Whiteley, and Alex Christie. The duo has collaborated with yarn/wire (NYC), Tøyen Fil Og Klafferi (Oslo), Brandon Lopez (Brooklyn), Anne La Berge (Amsterdam), Merche Blasco (NYC), Jessica Pavone (Queens), Ogni Suono (Cleveland), Rage Thormbones (LA), and DECODER (Hamburg). Popebama has been featured at the Elbphilarmonie (Hamburg), NYmusikk Bergen (Norway), The Shed (NYC), Edmonton Fringe Festival (Canada), Splendor (Amsterdam), Diabolical Records (Salt Lake City), VU Symposium (Park City), Bodies-As-Technology (Brooklyn), ReSound Festival (Cleveland), The Stone (NYC), SPLICE Festival (Kalamazoo), New School of Music (Boston), Studio Loos (Den Haag), Chance & Circumstance Festival (Long Island City), and The Walden School (New Hampshire).
Recent highlights include the premiere of Fight Songs (2020), an evening length work composed by Rogers and Sullivan for Popebama and Decoder Ensemble which premiered at Hamburg's Elbphilarmonie. That same year Popebama also released their debut album, Nation Building. They served as ensemble in residence for the 2021 and 2023 SPLICE Institute in Kalamazoo, MI. 2024 will see the release of Popebama's next studio album, featuring the premiere recording of Rick Burkhardt's Wing.