Formerly Known As Classical
teens who play new music
at the
Sunday, February 6, 2011
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
In the Summer of 2000, at age eleven, I attended the American Mavericks Festival put on by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. I had been playing guitar and composing my own music from a very early age but hearing the music of John Adams, Lou Harrison, Charles Ives, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and others in a series of ten concerts over two weeks was a life changing experience. I emerged on the other side with three clear goals. First, I wanted to write my own music which would reflect my reactions to the exciting new music of today. Second, I wanted to perform as much of this music as possible. Third, I wanted to put on events which would help me relive the excitement I felt at American Mavericks.
I enrolled in a composition class at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and wrote a piece heavily influenced by Adams' Shaker Loops and Reich's Electric Counterpoint which won me my first award, a commission to write a piece for the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet. This led to an exhilarating series of composing projects: an opera for the Crowden School co-written with my friend Preben Antonsen, a memorial sonata for visionary composer Lou Harrison, and a series of orchestral works for the Berkeley Symphony, the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.
I had a great time working on all those projects but I began to feel there weren't enough opportunities for teenage musicians to perform the new music I love. My friends and I all performed in orchestras and chamber music groups which stressed the great works of the past. I love the repertoire, cherished the education I was being given and didn't think complaining about program choices was an appropriate response so I founded
Formerly Known As Classical. We will play music we love written Since We Were Born.
Matthew Cmiel
