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Composers Forum |
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Question #15 - What are some of the highlights of your career as a composer? MSB - M. Susan Brown; SH - Steve Hahn; TK - Tim Krueger; TS - Terry Schlenker |
| MSB - When I wrote my first mass as a junior and senior in college, a friend offered to perform it for her honors conducting project. Hearing the performance was a peak time. Being recorded in a recording session, by a wonderful group such as St. Martin’s, as opposed to doing crude recordings on my boom box has been a personal high. Getting my first work published by a well-known publishing house was very exciting (Mary’s Song, Concordia House). SH - The last year the National Endowment for the Arts gave grants to individual artists, I was one of just twelve jazz composers in the United States who received a grant. I was especially pleased because the grant was awarded based on my first CD, at which time I’d been writing for the Chapman Stick for only a few years. Also, my CDs, which contain my compositions, have been reviewed internationally, to very positive response. Just this week (July 28, 2005), one of the top Chapman Stick players was interviewed by KyndMusic Right Action, an international magazine, and he was asked what Stick players/composers are his favorites. I was honored to be one of the four he mentioned. I’ve had people tell me over the years that they’ve been heavily influenced by my music. That’s pretty much the ultimate compliment. TK - The Lamentations of Jeremiah. There is more of my heart in that piece than in any of my other compositions. I feel a lot of satisfaction in hearing it performed repeatedly. I have similar feelings toward my Alleluia, Song of Gladness. I think a composer feels more like a real composer when someone other than his own group performs some thing he has composed. My Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are now being performed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Detroit. I suspect I’ll also feel a lot of satisfaction if and when one of my pieces is published. TS - The world premiere of my Mass for Double Choir was certainly a great highlight. Any time I feel I can get an audience to feel what I was trying to express is also a great joy to me. I felt that way about the premiere of Timor et Tremor in June [2005]. Hearing my music or an interview on KVOD is always wonderful. In my earlier years, my graduate recital and winning the Young Artist’s Orchestral Composition Competition were moments of deep pride for me. |