Second Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute Announced

The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University (CJS), in cooperation with The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, will present the second Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute (JCOI) in 2012 and 2013. The Institute will bring together up to 35 jazz composers at various stages in their careers, chosen from a national pool of applicants, to explore the challenges of writing for the symphony orchestra. Composers working in jazz, improvised, and creative music will be selected based on their excellent musicianship, originality, and potential for future growth in orchestral composition. Previous orchestral experience is not expected. The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday, April 16, 2012 at 5pm (EST). Guidelines and applications are available online at www.americancomposers.org/jcoi.

JCOI is a new development in the jazz field. While many jazz composers seek to write for the symphony orchestra, opportunities for hands-on experience are few. According to press notes, JCOI aims to provide new resources for both jazz and classical music, promoting the emergence of composers trained in both jazz and new orchestral techniques. Participants in JCOI will study with leading composers, conductors and performers in a curriculum designed and led by George Lewis (JCOI Director; Columbia University), Anthony Davis (University of California, San Diego), Anne LeBaron (California Institute of the Arts), Paul Chihara (UCLA), Nicole Mitchell (University of California, Irvine), James Newton (UCLA), Alvin Singleton (ACO advisor, Improvisation), and Derek Bermel (ACO Creative Advisor).

The Institute is organized into two phases. Phase 1 is the Intensive, and will be held from August 7-11, 2012 at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in Los Angeles. The Intensive will include a series of workshops and seminars on topics such as study of scores and compositional techniques, contemporary performance practice, orchestration, notation and score preparation, and practical work with the symphony orchestra. Participants will also receive live demonstrations of instrumental techniques from wild Up, a chamber ensemble known nationally for its performances of new music which often embrace improvisation and cutting-edge new music techniques.

Selected Phase 1 composers will have the opportunity to apply to Phase 2 of the Institute, the JCOI Readings, to be held from April through June 2013 with orchestras in California and New York. The composers chosen to participate in the Readings will write a new work for symphony orchestra, which will be workshopped, rehearsed and performed by one of four host orchestras – American Composers Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony, and one additional orchestra. During the Readings, the new works will be heard in rehearsal, open public readings, and a public performance. Composers will receive coaching from mentor composers and a professional music copyist/engraver during the period they are writing their pieces, as well as an honorarium to cover printing and preparation of orchestral parts; and feedback from orchestra principal musicians, conductors, librarians, and mentor composers during the Readings.

The first JCOI in New York in 2010 and 2011 was the subject of two features on National Public Radio, which reported that what the composers discovered while at the Institute has “the potential to shift the course of concert music.”  Participants hailed from a wide variety of backgrounds and jazz styles. The youngest participant, Phillip Golub, was 17 years old. An accomplished jazz and classical pianist, Golub was a high school student in the Los Angeles area and impressed panelists with his already advanced technique. The oldest participant was 67-year-old Rufus Reid, a classically trained bassist and Guggenheim fellow, who has performed and recorded with great jazz masters including Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt, Don Byas, Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, and many more.

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