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MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA READING SESSIONS
AND COMPOSER INSTITUTE


Composer Aaron Jay Kernis, Chairman.

The Minnesota Orchestra and the American Composers Forum, in cooperation with the American Music Center, present The Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute — a six-day intensive immersion into the world of the American symphony orchestra. The Institute nurtures participants' musical acumen, broadens their career management skills, and assists their growth as artists and community leaders.

Under the guidance of composer Aaron Jay Kernis, composers have their works read by the Minnesota Orchestra and participate in a series of professional workshops on music, career, and audience/community outreach issues. Composers meet with Orchestra members and attend small-group sessions with musicians and other leading music industry professionals.

Designed to address crucial issues for emerging composers in today's society, the topics of the Institute include:

MUSIC

  • Score presentation and part preparation.
  • The psychology of rehearsing and playing new music.
  • Building greater familiarity with instrumental techniques and idiomatic orchestral writing (string bowing seminar, percussion logistics).
  • Pre-reading consultations and post-reading mentoring sessions with Minnesota Orchestra New Music Advisor Aaron Jay Kernis.
  • Post-reading critique sessions with members of the Minnesota Orchestra.

CAREER

  • Managing your career; self-promotion; managers and agents.
  • Publishing; self-publishing or finding and working with a existing publisher; Internet publishing and distribution.
  • Performing rights; ASCAP and BMI.
  • Business management and legal skills: accounting, contracts, rights, insurance, investments, resume and interview skills.

AUDIENCE and COMMUNITY OUTREACH, EDUCATION

  • Introducing your work to the public; coaching on public speaking.
  • Working in the community: how to succeed in outreach/partnership settings.
  • Connecting with young audiences; preparing successful, age-appropriate school presentations with awareness of Goals 2000, the national school curriculum standards.
  • Writing works for educational purposes.

For further information on the Composers Institute, contact David Wolff at dwolff@composersforum.org or (651) 251-2833.

Visit the Minnesota Orchestra and the American Music Center.

Established: 2001
Who may apply: U.S. resident emerging composers