October 2023 Newsletter

Department News
		48 HOURS SYMPOSIUM AND CONCERTS The IU Jacobs School of Music Composition Department is delighted to have Detroit-based Hub New Music as the guest ensemble for this year’s 48 Hours Symposium and Recitals. 48 Hours is a weekend-long project consisting of an intense period of 48 hours in which students compose works for a visiting ensemble. Hub New Music will be performing two concerts at the end of October: GUEST RECITAL – Friday, 10/27, 8:30pm Recital Hall 48 HOURS RECITAL – Sunday, 10/29, 7:00pm Recital Hall This year’s participating composers are: Christian Courage Barda, KiMani Bridges, Elijah Buerk, Noah Burns, Mil Carroll, Kenneth Hightower, Yao Hsiao, and Em Singleton.48 Hours was made possible by the generous funding of the Fox Family Trust.

		Jacobs Composition Academy Welcomes New Faculty The Jacobs Composition Academy welcomes composers Emma Cardon-Wake, Yi-De Chen, Xinyuan Deng, and Kian Ravaei to the composition faculty. These accomplished IU-affiliated composers will teach virtual private lessons to our students of varying ages and levels from all around the world. JCA is committed to creating an inclusive, diverse community, welcoming participants of all backgrounds, races, genders, and religions. These newly selected faculty continue to reflect this inclusivity so that students can see themselves represented and can find mentors to whom they relate. Fall semester is currently in-progress until November 17. The Spring semester will begin on January 8, 2024 and last until April 13, 2024. For further information, please click here to visit JCA’s blog page.
Alumni News
		David DeBoor Canfield (MM ’77, DM ’83) Named Composer-in-Residence Ian Hobson, artistic director of Sinfonia da Camera, a professional orchestra in Champaign, Illinois, has named David DeBoor Canfield as Composer-in-Residence with the orchestra, which will entail upcoming commissions from the orchestra on a regular basis. Canfield’s music has already been performed and commercially recorded by the orchestra. His new orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, on which Canfield is a recognized authority, is scheduled be premiered in March of 2024, in honor of the Sinfonia da Camera’s 40^th anniversary season and the sesquicentennial of the writing of this iconic work. The new orchestration will also be performed by Sinfonia da Camera in Chicago at a run-out concert. Canfield’s Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra with Piano Obbligato will also be premiered at Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, where the composer will be in residence the week prior to the premiere on October 12^th. The soloist will be Professor of Saxophone Dr. Mark Watkins and the orchestra will be led by faculty member Dr. Robert Tueller.

		Louis Goldford (MM ’14) Receives 2023 Martirano Award Louis Goldford received a 2023 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. His work Mauvaise foi (2022) for soprano, ensemble, electronics, and reactive lighting took 2nd Place and was performed by the Illinois Modern Ensemble conducted by Stephen Taylor and featured mezzo-soprano Thereza Lituma. Louis was in attendance for rehearsals, to give lectures, and serve in panel discussions with students alongside other invited guest composers.

		Salt Flat Portals: An Interdisciplinary Project by Amin Sharifi (MM ’18) The “Abstractum” project spotlights world-renowned artists Olga Kleiankina and Kelariz Keshavarz performing “Salt Flat Portals [2022],” an interdisciplinary project by Amin Sharifi (MM ’18). This work uniquely combines generative visuals, Afrofuturist actors, footage from the Great Salt Lake, and an evocative blend of flute, string quartet, and electronics. Sharifi’s creation resonates deeply with his interest in present-day socio-political challenges, particularly those in the Middle East. The event will feature works produced by artists of Iranian descent. Such works include photography by Nesam Keshavarz, a dance choreographed and performed by State Dance Company member Ariana Fajerman, with music by Reza Vali, Alireza Mashayekhi. The project premiered on September 17th at the Stewart Theatre in North Carolina State University.
Student News

		Kian Ravaei October Performances Kian Ravaei’s work Unstoppable receives two performances this month: October 4 at the Festival Estrenos Jóvenes Compositores in Lima, Peru, and October 28 at the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival. On October 7, Abeo Quartet will perform The Little Things at Chesapeake Music, and on October 14, guitarist Logan Purcell will perform Meditation and Dance (After Rumi) at University Heights United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.

Faculty News
		Don Freund Performances and Premieres Don Freund’s Louder than Words was performed by the Post-Haste reed duo (Sean Fredenburg, saxophone; Javier Rodriguez) along with pianist Chick Dillard in September concerts at the University of Idaho and Portland State University. Freund’s piano trio Autumnsongs will be the score for Christian Claessen’s choreography for the Fall Ballet in the MAC October 6-7, and the New Music Ensemble will premiere Freund’s Soul Chaconne, with tsunami on the October 28 NME concert.

		P. Q. Phan Premiere in Vietnam *Hồ Xuân Hương songs in Vietnamese* for coloratura soprano and string orchestra, commissioned by Prof. Trần Vương Thạch, former Director of the Hồ Chí Minh City Opera House is a song cycle which consists of provocative/poignant poems by Hồ Xuân Hương, a woman poet who sarcastically utilized aspects of old-time sexual behavior to defy the corruption and rottenness of male-privilege society in Vietnam’s 18^th century. This song cycle includes 4 of her striking poems Bánh trôi nước (the Floating Cake), Quả mít (Jackfruit) , Cái quạt (The Fan), and Tự tình 3 (Confession #3). The premiere will take place On October 24, 2023 at Hồ Chí Minh City Opera House in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam.