Three Decades of Workshopping

By Bekah Sandy

Luca Millard-Kish’s life changed somewhere around the second movement. As the violin soared through that section of the score, the Seattle teenager realized he was listening to his future. 

Luca had envisioned this exact scenario for years. As an elementary student, the young musician assigned instruments to his stuffed animals and arranged them into orchestra formation to play his compositions. But to be watching musicians from the Seattle Symphony perform his work live? 

“It was mind-blowing,” said the now-high school senior, recalling the public concert that was the culmination of his first Young Composers Workshop a few years ago. “I’d spent so much time thinking and rethinking and writing and rewriting and editing. To have it in its finished form and realized by musicians of this caliber was truly amazing. It sounded so rich, the way they breathed life into it. And then they arrived at the second movement, where there’s this melody I poured my heart and soul into perfecting. I’d imagined how it could sound, and the violinist took it there and beyond. That got me hooked.” 

It was a moment — one Luca knows he’ll look back on as significant. And he’s just one among hundreds of other students who’ve had this experience after completing the Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this spring and holds its culimnating concert on May 18, 2023.   

During the 1992/1993 season, then-Composer in Residence Bright Sheng teamed with Gerard Schwarz (then-Harriet Overton Stimson Music Director and current Rebecca & Jack Benaroya Conductor Laureate). Together, they launched the now-lauded educational program that sees original works by teens performed professionally and counts among its alumni such talents as Angelique Poteat. The renowned composer and clarinetist participated in the workshop 20 years ago with Samuel Jones (program director and Composer in Residence from 1998 to 2012), and describes her current position as having come full circle. As the Symphony’s 2022/2023 season Artist in Residence, Poteat is the instructor tasked with guiding the next generation of program attendees. “Perhaps it is because of this that I really value the potential impact that the workshop can have on young creatives, and I feel privileged to be given the opportunity and responsibility of doing what I can to nurture and inspire them,” she said.  

Poteat approached the 15-week curriculum with an emphasis on the practical logistics required to translate an artistic vision into a finished product. She remembers experiencing her own aha moment watching the process unfold. “As a student, I was able to create music in a professional setting guided by a professional composer, and it resonated with me so profoundly that I knew I wanted to spend my life collaborating with world-class musicians to share new aural experiences with as many people as possible.”  

Such sentiments motivate the Symphony’s Senior Director of Education & Community Engagement, Jérémy Jolley. While he aims to increase each students’ foundational knowledge of musical composition, he said, “The goal isn’t to replenish the composer community. It’s to galvanize young people in their pursuits of the act of creation and to empower them to express themselves and cultivate their own voices.” 

This is accomplished through the workshop’s usual three months of lessons covering theme, composition, scoring and instrumentation as well as more practical elements such as attending rehearsals and offering feedback to professional musicians. This season, the workshop is four months long because, in honor of the anniversary, the students are composing for a full orchestra instead of chamber ensembles as in years past. Yes, the recording of the students’ musical pieces offers an undeniable perk in terms of portfolios and college applications, but the final outcome transcends all that.  

“There’s a whole other life happening for these young people after they’re done here,” Jolley said. “We want them to develop how they approach problem solving and organizing their efforts, to be able to keep both the big picture and the details in mind. We’re trying to ensure they feel empowered in their future, wherever it might take them.”  

And there’s no doubt these youths are going places. About 10 students each year are chosen among the many applicants for the program, with participants ranging in age from 12 to high school seniors. In some cases, these are students ambitious and capable enough to produce orchestral compositions even before they can drive.  

“The music these students are writing? It’s at such a high level,” said Allison Damon, the Symphony’s Community Engagement Programs Manager. She facilitates much of the program and attends the weekly workshops with the students. “But the thing that’s most exciting for me to see is the connections they make and the way they give this whole thing such a community feel.”  

Throughout the workshop, students craft their own individual compositions rather than collaborating together on one larger piece. Each young musician hears their four-to-seven-minute orchestration at the public concert, but Damon said students like Luca will be just as invested in their cohorts’ pieces as their own. “I don’t think I’ve seen any aspect of competitiveness in this group,” she said. “They’re all so invested in each other’s development and are so encouraging. They very much have this ‘I’m doing my thing, and you’re doing your thing, and let’s all learn from each other’ approach, and honestly, it’s really beautiful.” 

For Luca, connecting with like-minded peers was one of the main draws when he applied for his first Young Composers Workshop. “As a young composer, it can be kind of hard to find your people,” he said. “And then all of a sudden, you’re surrounded by all of these [fellow students] who are all passionate about the same niche thing as you. That experience of finding people who love what I love kept me coming back.”  

And come back Luca did; he’s participated in the Young Composers Workshop three times. This year is his third and final stint. The program likely hasn’t seen the last of the almost-18-year-old, however. While he’ll start studying at New York University’s screen scoring program this fall, he imagines he’ll return to Benaroya Hall as an audience member and a supporter of the next generation of workshop participants, to whom he has one bit of advice: “Why not go for it? There’s no harm in trying, because it could be you. It could be you who has your music played on that stage.” 

The 30th Anniversary Merriman-Ross Family Young Composer's Workshop Concert happens on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30pm. Admission is free.

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 Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop Concert is presented as part of the Seattle Symphony’s New Music WORKS initiative, which is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

The Seattle Symphony’s Family, School & Community programs are supported by 4Culture, Marco Argenti, ArtsFund, D.A. Davidson, Delta Air Lines, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, the Klorfine Foundation, the Merriman-Ross Family, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and individual contributions to the Seattle Symphony Annual Fund.