LACO Partners With Kaufman Music Center's Luna Lab To Present Eight World Premieres

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra teams up with New York City's Kaufman Music Center to present a special digital performance featuring the world premieres of eight works by the 2019-20 Fellows in the KMC's Luna Composition Lab program, including three participants in Luna Lab Meets LACO initiated last season.

The virtual program, filmed in Zipper Hall at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, includes LACO artists performing new works by teen composers Olivia Bennett (age 18), KiMani Bridges (age 18), Madeline Clara Cheng (age 16), Ebunoluwa Oguntola (age 15), Anya Lagman (age 18), Sage Shurman (age 15), Chloe Villamayor (age 17) and Emily Webster-Zuber (age 16).

Thanks to the generosity of Santa Monica/Westside Legacy Fund for Women and Girls, the program was recorded last fall and has now been made available to the public at no cost and can be streamed on demand following its premiere on Thursday, February 11, 2021, at 4:00 pm (PT), at https://www.laco.org, LACO's YouTube and Facebook live channels.

Luna Lab, founded in 2016 by 2018 GRAMMY Award-nominee Missy Mazzoli and 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid with Kaufman Music Center, addresses the gender imbalance in the field of classical music by providing aspiring female-identifying, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers ages 12 -18 with a year of one-on-one mentorship, performance opportunities and high-quality recordings of their works.

The digital program, conducted by LACO Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr., features LACO musicians Tereza Stanislav, violin; Jason Issokson, violin; Robert Brophy, viola; Trevor Handy, cello; Ben Smolen, flute; and Wade Culbreath, timpani; plus special guest Vicky Ray, piano.

"LACO is proud to partner with Kaufman Music Center on Luna Composition Lab," says Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. "This vital program provides a significant avenue for expanding representation within the classical music community with Luna Lab Fellows receiving crucial mentorship opportunities and substantive musical opportunities designed to foster their considerable talent and help them advance in the classical music field."

Each year, Luna Lab Fellows are selected from across the country and paired with acclaimed female-identifying, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers who act as individual mentors. Fellows work with mentors via biweekly lessons on online platforms to create a new work. In the fall, Mentors guide the Fellows through the early stages of exploring a new sonic landscape that will develop into a piece, including sketches, conversations, directed listening and score study. Over the winter, lessons shift to prioritize the Fellow's new composition. During this time, Fellows hear the sketches of their work realized through a series of workshops with NYC's finest young musicians, who hail from Kaufman Music Center's Face the Music teen new music program and Special Music School High School, along with Juilliard Pre-College, Mannes Prep at The New Schools' Open Campus and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College. Following their mentorship year, Fellows enter an ever-expanding network of alumni across the country.

Luna Composition Lab joined forces with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2019-20 to develop Luna Lab Meets LACO, which provided mentorship and performance opportunities to young female-identifying, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers from Southern California throughout Spring 2020. The three Luna Lab Meets LACO participants were selected by a panel comprised of noted composers Ellen Reid, Missy Mazzoli and Derrick Spiva Jr. As part of the partnership, Luna Composition Lab Fellows and Luna Lab Meets LACO participants not only worked closely with mentors but they also attended interactive panel discussions on film composition with Jeff Beal and Kathryn Bostic, and leadership in the arts with Jean Davidson, Los Angeles Master Chorale President & CEO; Meghan Martineau, Los Angeles Philharmonic Vice President of Artistic Planning; LACO Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr., and Los Angeles Master Chorale Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong. Luna Lab Meets LACO was extended into the current season with the LACO recording project and its subsequent digital broadcast airing on February 11.

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