A Quartet of Student Compositions to Premiere

At this year’s Composers Concert, faculty member Jeffrey Milarsky (BM ’88, MM ’90, percussion) will lead the Juilliard Orchestra in four premieres by undergraduate and graduate composers Jack Frerer, Will Stackpole, Marc Migó, and Marco-Adrián Ramos.

On-Again, Off-Again by Jack Frerer

“Write what you know” is something I think about a lot, and having lived in New York for a few years, I probably know the subway system better than I know certain relatives. On-Again, Off-Again is about my commute home to 157th Street. To me, nothing could be a better symbol than the subway of the energy shifts that you find in New York.

I divided On-Again, Off-Again into three sections. The first is fast, frantic, repeatedly cutting between musical gestures of the subway doors sliding shut, trains hurtling down tracks, their cars violently rocking back and forth. Each time these gestures repeat, they’re intersected by a somewhat silly Leroy Anderson-esque tune which arrives whenever the train balances itself out, having reached cruising speed. As this musical train reaches its stops, this tune decelerates, reaching a full stop at each platform. The music ascends to the second section, the 125th Street 1-train stop, which skies over Harlem. The music passes in what seems like slow motion, peaceful and clear, before accelerating, growing more and more intense, and plummeting back underground for the third section: a final, manic push for the train to reach its destination in which all of these musical themes and gestures combine before the doors slam shut one final time.

Third-year Jack Frerer holds the George Gershwin Scholarship and the Richard Rodgers Scholarship in Composition

Feed by Will Stackpole

For the two years before I composed Feed I had been living with a growing sense of negativity and unease. This was in part due to the drastic developments in world events that have gone on in recent years, but it felt as though there was an even more permeating cause. This was a feeling I noticed not only in myself but in many others around me regardless of age, gender, race, income, political affiliation, or religion, and I began to wonder what could be affecting so many people this way. With the advent of social media 10-or-so years ago, we experienced a shift in the way our society operates. From Facebook and Instagram to 24-hour news, Reddit, and Snapchat, we are inundated with alerts that tempt us to browse infinite lists of ... well, nothing really. As we strive to become more and more connected—more “social,”—we in fact only become more easily distracted and distanced from our experiences. This influx of information leaves us with frustration in place of connection.

Feed reflects on this anxiety. Throughout the whole piece, a single musical idea is developed, growing longer and longer, but it’s constantly interrupted and imposed upon by chattering and intrusive orchestral episodes. A few of these episodes even depict the feeling of an endlessly scrolling screen, using an auditory illusion called a Shepard tone. The orchestra ends up in a sort of conversation with itself about whether to pay attention to these musical distractions, at times lashing out to put a stop to them, and at other times easing back into the comfort of the theme that serves as the backbone of the piece. In addition to the more standard orchestral instrumentation, Feed has a prominent part for drum set. It creates a frantic energy in places, helping to distinguish the main musical ideas from the interruptive episodes and propelling the music forward in other places. It’s a sound I’ve been wanting to pair with the orchestra since it’s so versatile and so ingrained in our collective ear.

Doctoral candidate Will Stackpole (MM ’16) holds a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship

Nocturne by Marc Migó

Nocturne is actually the second movement of a double concerto for violin and piano. I wanted to explore the common elements that connect Spanish musical roots with Argentinian ones, as both cultures are close and dear to me. This is why I decided to compose this double concerto as if it were a journey from the Mediterranean coastline (Movement 1, “Fantasy”) to the energetic and vibrant Argentine province of Tucumán, located on the opposite side of the Atlantic (Movement 3, “Rondo alla Chacarera”).

The movement that will be played at this concert serves as a bridge connecting the two sides of the ocean. It starts alla saeta (an improvised religious chant from Spain) with an intimate and quiet violin accompanied by muted strings and sometimes a solo cello. This climate will gradually remind the audience of Argentinian dances such as the zamba—elegant and majestic—and the tango— energetic and passionate. Then there will be an unusual re-exposition of the initial material resulting in the convergence of two apparently irreconcilable worlds: the quasi-religious, mystical musical background and the mundane dances. In contrast with the first and final movements, the second is the quietest. The violin has a much more prominent role than the piano and only the string section and harp are used.

Marc Migó is a first-year master’s student

Toys in a Field by Marco-Adrián Ramos

Toys in a Field is a cycle of four songs for tenor and orchestra set to poems from Dien Cai Dau, a work in which Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Yusef Komunyakaa recounts his experiences serving in the Vietnam War (the title means “crazy head” in Vietnamese). Being someone by no means unaffected by the charged discourse of today, these words vibrated strongly in my mind as they no doubt have for many people since the book’s publication 30 years ago. In the piece, a reduced orchestra plays an extended kind of chamber music with and around the soloist, augmenting the intensely intimate quality of the poetry. There are also veiled allusions to the traditional musics of Southeast Asia, existing more in memory and silhouette than actuality.

Marco-Adrián Ramos (BM ’17) is a first-year master’s student and holds the Georgia Shreve and Abraham Ellstein Memorial scholarships in composition