2016–2017 Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival: The Music of Nico Muhly
Each year, the New Music Festival presents four concerts of modern music by world-class compositional voices of the 20th and 21st centuries. This year, the Conservatory’s Kunkemueller Artist in Residence is American composer Nico Muhly. Active at the highest levels of contemporary music and opera in the U.S. and abroad, Muhly is among the most brilliant composers of his generation. Having established many fruitful artistic relationships with our faculty members for 15 years, Muhly will begin his residency at the Conservatory on February 6 and conclude on February 11, 2017, which also marks the Conservatory's 150th anniversary.
During his residency, Muhly will perform in recital, teach composition seminars, coach chamber works in open master classes, and coach all musical selections for the New Music Festival concerts. He will also host a public forum on composing for the dramatic stage. Muhly’s longtime collaborator, violist Nadia Sirota, will also join in performing Muhly’s works alongside him in recital. She will engage with Conservatory composition students, and coach and speak about her radio show in open chamber music master classes.
Offering our students an opportunity to engage directly with a world-class compositional talent in producing original performances is the most valuable experience they can have working in American contemporary music. They will prepare, coach, and perform 14 of Muhly’s works for performances spanning the four days of the New Music Festival, all while working with the composer. In this environment, Conservatory students will experience how composers and performers collaborate effectively at the highest level.
There has never been a complete festival of Nico Muhly’s works in Boston, and many works will be performed live in Boston for the first time. The Conservatory’s New Music Festival is a focal point of the contemporary music scene in Boston each year, having previously presented critically acclaimed performances of the works of Boulez, Schuller, Andriessen, Crumb, and Martino.
