Tacoma, WA – Made possible through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, Symphony Tacoma Music Director and Cascade Conducting Artistic Director Sarah Ioannides championed a new, innovative program enabling six composers to have their works performed and recorded by Symphony Tacoma musicians. Select recordings will premiere on the Symphony Tacoma YouTube channel on Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 pm PST.
The project arose through a new collaboration with Cascade Conducting, which completed its fourth year this June, enabling both conductors and composers to work together to create new pieces of music. The 2021 class of 18 conductors worked alongside the composers under the mentorship of Symphony Tacoma’s new composer-in-residence program which is led by the new Dean of Music at the Juilliard School, David Serkin Ludwig.
With the addition of a Composers Masterclass, Ioannides notes that the goal of this program aims to “foster opportunities for young conductors, primarily from the Pacific Northwest, as a launching pad for their careers as they work with living composers to prepare, conduct and perform their works.”
“The results were spectacular on both sides of the program!” said Ioannides
The participating composers included Mieke Doezema, Brian Morales, Jorge Morales, Mark Pritchard, Randall Smith and Elise Winkler. Over the week of June 26, the students worked diligently alongside Ioannides and Symphony Tacoma musicians to bring their compositions to life in a digital performance. Selections from this performance have been compiled into a program that will premiere on the Symphony Tacoma YouTube channel on July 17 with members of the 2021 class of conductors on the podium.
“It’s always exciting to commission works, but it’s even more exciting for Symphony Tacoma to be able to help produce these new pieces and hand them over to the next generation of conductors,” said Ioannides.
The 2021 Cascade Conducting Masterclass and Composers Workshop was generously sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, MultiCare, Tacoma Creates, Artsfund, L.T. Murray Family Foundation and the Tacoma Philharmonic Trust.
