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Twin Concerts Foster a New York-Budapest Exchange of New Music By RAYMOND J. LUSTIG
This month, The Juilliard School and the Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest, Hungary, will host the New York-Budapest Twin Concerts, an exchange of compositions by student composers. Conceived and organized by Kati Agocs (a third-year D.M.A. candidate in composition)—with the help of Dean Stephen Clapp, Associate Dean Bärli Nugent, and Hungarian composer Balazs Horvath of the Liszt Academy's faculty—the concerts' goal is establishing a mutually beneficial dialogue between younger composers from both countries. While New York and Budapest are each major musical capitals, and the Liszt Academy is counterpart to Juilliard in serving as a premier training facility for its country's musical talent, Agocs—who is herself half-Hungarian and travels regularly to Hungary—noted a mutual gap in awareness of each other between young Hungarian and American composers. "The idea grew out of discussions with other young composers during my visit to the Liszt Academy last summer," says Agocs. "I became keenly aware of the desire and need to establish a dialogue between composers from our respective countries." She encountered much enthusiasm, both in New York and Budapest, for an exchange of music and ideas, and set about planning an opportunity for such an exchange. For Agocs, the bridging of this one cultural gap would not only serve to ally composers and performers from these great musical centers, but also contribute to the general expansion of young composers' horizons. "Although it may seem at times that we live in separate worlds," she notes, "it is important in the long run for composers to be at home in the international realm."
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Bridging the N.Y.-Budapest cultural gap will serve not only to ally composers and performers from these great musical centers, but also to contribute to the general expansion
of young composers’ horizons.
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The Twin Concerts, as their name implies, will have identical programs: four works by Liszt Academy composers and four works by composers from Juilliard. The performers, however, will only play at their home institutions, giving the composers the chance to work with and hear their music in the hands of two different ensembles—one from their own conservatory and one from a school more than 3,000 miles away. Both concerts will be preceded by mini-residencies that will include seminars, coachings, and panel discussions.The participating composers were chosen on the basis of submissions solicited last spring. Entries were to be scored for up to 10 players, and be as long as 12 minutes. More than 30 scores were submitted, and the selection committee—including faculty members from both Juilliard and the Liszt Academy—had the difficult task of choosing the eight works most suitably representing the spectrum of compositional thinking at the respective schools. In the end, the committee settled on works by Juilliard composers Norbert Palej, Mathew Fuerst, Justine Fang Chen, and Kati Agocs (with Reena Esmail as a runner-up and alternate), and Hungarian composers Marcell Dargay, Balint Bolcso, Ilona Mesko, and Daniel Dinyes.The Juilliard concert will take place on November 1 at 8 p.m. in Paul Hall. There will be an open, preconcert "Composer-to-Composer" panel beginning at 6 p.m. in Morse Hall, in which the eight composers will discuss current issues of compositional practice—ranging from stylistic tendencies, to shared challenges, to thoughts on the future of concert music—and take questions from the audience. Here the direct participation of the composition faculty will greatly enrich the experience for both the visiting and resident composers. In addition, the composition department will hold a special seminar that same day at 4 p.m. in Morse Hall, with presentations by the participating Liszt Academy students regarding the state of new music in their country and school.It is also anticipated that this will be an exciting opportunity for student performers to work closely and connect with talented young composers from opposite sides of the ocean. As an added incentive for performers here at Juilliard, the project has been integrated with the chamber music program, to encourage the participation of existing ensembles by offering credit towards chamber music requirements. The project will also see the participation of Juilliard Plays Juilliard—the new ensemble founded by composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum (B.M. '00, M.M. '02, composition) and violist Nadia Sirota (B.M. '04, viola, and current master's candidate) to provide dedicated performers with new music written by Juilliard composers. All ensembles performing will participate in two days of coaching and dress rehearsals with the composers. It is hoped that the special attention given to the preparation of the compositions will result in highly communicative interpretations of the ideas within, and provide a rewarding experience for composers, performers, and audience alike.The concert in Budapest is being organized by the Liszt Academy's Balazs Horvath. The four Juilliard composers will leave for Budapest on October 18 to begin a mini-residency that includes two days of coaching with the ensemble playing their music, a composers' forum, and a preconcert discussion panel, culminating in the Budapest concert on October 23.The Franz Liszt Academy was founded in 1875 with Franz Liszt himself as its first president. For Budapest—one of Europe's most beautiful cities, whose inner city, with its panoramic view of the Danube, has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site—the Liszt Academy is not just a renowned conservatory, but also one of the city's most important centers of musical life, with an intense schedule of concerts by distinguished ensembles and performers (and famously excellent acoustics in its main hall). The concert in Budapest will be included as part of the city's prestigious Fall Festival, bringing additional exposure for all involved. The visiting Juilliard composers will also be taken on a tour of the Liszt Museum and the house where the great Hungarian composer Bela Bartok once lived. They will have the chance to experience life at the cultural heart of Hungary.Juilliard and the Liszt Academy owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Susan Adler, a Juilliard donor who also has ties to the Liszt Academy. Ms. Adler's generous support helped to make the Twin Concerts possible.Kati Agocs hopes that the music and ideas exchanged will supply a window of insight for composition students' transatlantic counterparts, and that the project will provide participants and attendees alike with the chance to network with musicians in the partner country and stimulate further collaboration. "Out of a more sympathetic understanding of the common issues," she says, "they might also realign their goals for the future of our field."Raymond J. Lustig is a master's student in composition.
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