From Workshop to World Premiere

By Leilani Polk

For the past 33 years, a group of pre-college-age youths have been selected to participate in the 15-week tuition-free Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop, which allows these budding artists to develop their compositional skills and work on all aspects of composing, including writing themes, collaborating with orchestra musicians and preparing a final score with parts. Recently, the focus shifted to electroacoustic composition, with students learning how to combine electronic sounds with acoustic instruments, coordinate electronic sounds with live musicians and explore new sonic possibilities through electroacoustic techniques as helpfully mentored by acclaimed composer and electronic music specialist, Marcin Pączkowski. 

“Working with young composers is such a gratifying experience,” says Pączkowski. “I can see how the returning folks hone their musicianship and craft, while the ones participating for the first time surprise me with their musical language and aesthetic influences.” 

Electroacoustic music may incorporate any sounds generated or recorded and transformed using a computer with appropriate software or an electronic musical instrument. The combination of acoustic and electronic instrumentation is an incredibly diverse space in composition, speaking to the way music is composed now and will be composed in the future, and how other musical aesthetics and approaches cross-pollinate and inform contemporary classical music. 

“It’s important that the next generation of music makers can develop their skills in a wide range of musical styles,” Pączkowski points out. “By including the electroacoustic component in the Young Composers Workshop, we received applicants who come from various musical paths, not only classical, but also jazz or music production. Their participation not only allows them to engage with ‘classical’ and ‘electroacoustic’ music, but also exposes other workshop participants to a variety of styles and approaches. They learn from each other as much — if not more — as they learn from the feedback they receive from me or the orchestra musicians who play their music. I believe that such a stylistically varied educational opportunity is immensely valuable to young composers’ development on their artistic path.” 

Some students return to the workshop many times, for consecutive years, like fifth-year program participant Brannon Warn-Johnston, who was in seventh grade when she started, and wrote and premiered her first full-orchestra piece in the workshop’s 30th anniversary edition. Her compositions have since been programmed by Northwest Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Festival Orchestra, among others, and her first electroacoustic work, A Year with Cancer, has been performed nearly a dozen times with support from multiple grants, in community spaces and venues around the Seattle region and across the country. She says the program has helped her grow as a composer, “with each season offering something new to learn.”  

The workshop culminates in a chamber concert at Benaroya Hall featuring the world premieres of these young composers’ works performed by Seattle Symphony musicians. This year’s participants include Warn-Jonston, Ethan Eglip, Mason Piette, Nina Iorik, Avery Pun, Calder Staley, Karis Huang, Edson James, Beckett Van Dyck and Aiden Ramirez. Inspirations range from dream states to the perception of time, to representations of various soundscapes and explorations of different musical structures. The composers have written for flute, clarinet, two violins, viola, cello and piano. Some wrote for smaller ensembles, like a piano trio (violin, cello, piano), while others used all of the instruments available to them. All of the pieces feature electroacoustic sounds in some form. 

RSVPs are requested for the free concert, which is held in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall on Monday, June 8, at 7:30pm — but walk-ups are welcome! For more info about the program, click here. To watch a documentary about the workshop, click here. 

The Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop is generously underwritten by Pamela Merriman, Sonja Ross, and Kelley Ross. Additional support is provided by Patricia M. Davis, Ann Holbrook, and Michel and Christine Suignard. 

The Arakawa Foundation proudly supports the Seattle Symphony’s Youth Education Partnerships. Additional support is provided by Delta Air Lines.