TED HEARNE SELECTED AS THIRD ANNUAL NEW VOICES COMPOSER
Michael Tilson Thomas, Boosey & Hawkes, New World Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony Continue Initiative with Emerging Composers
SAN FRANCISCO (April 7, 2014)—Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, Boosey & Hawkes, the New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony today announced composer Ted Hearne as the third annual New Voices composer. A recipient of the Gaudeamus Prize; ASCAP’s Leonard Bernstein Award and Morton Gould Award; fellowships from the Barlow Endowment, the Fromm Music Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and two residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Ted Hearne has captured the attention of the classical, pop, and rock worlds. His collaborations with ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and artists like Erykah Badu have earned him praise from musicians and critics. Also a singer, Hearne has been called a “vocal hellion” by Time Out Chicago, and The Los Angeles Times has said, “No single artist embodies the post-genre Brooklyn scene, but Hearne may be its most zealous auteur.”
“Ted Hearne is an exciting young composer, his music often combining various musical traditions and styles,” comments Michael Tilson Thomas. “I look forward to working with him in a variety of new commissions and settings on both coasts.”
“I’m honored and excited to be taking part in the New Voices program,” says Hearne. “With this initiative, it seems clear that Boosey and Hawkes, the New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony recognize the need for bridges between American orchestras and what I know to be an extremely vibrant new-music community. There are so many incredible ideas coming from the composers of my generation, and so few opportunities to explore and develop those ideas with American orchestras. New Voices aims to change this by fostering fruitful collaborations, and I’m thrilled to be taking part. I am also greatly looking forward to working with Michael Tilson Thomas, along with the San Francisco Symphony and Fellows of the New World Symphony.”
New Voices, a partnership between Boosey & Hawkes, the New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony, aims to develop the professional careers of emerging composers in the Americas. Each year, one composer is chosen from a selection of invited applicants to participate in a multi-organizational residency that covers areas in career development including, but not limited to, working with a publisher, realizing new compositions, and premiering their works on both coasts with the New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony in orchestral and chamber settings. Mr. Hearne was selected by a panel of judges consisting of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and composers John Adams, Steven Mackey, and David Del Tredici.
After receiving hands-on experience at the New York offices of Boosey & Hawkes, Mr. Hearne will collaborate with the New World Symphony in the workshopping, rehearsal, and performance of two new works in the 2014–15 season. These New Voices commissions consist of one work for chamber ensemble and one work for orchestra, to be premiered by the New World Symphony in the 2014–15 season. The works will then receive their US West Coast premieres by the San Francisco Symphony during the 2015–16 season.
In November 2013, Cynthia Lee Wong—the second annual New Voices composer—saw the premiere of her septet, Snapshots, by the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL. Her new orchestral work, Carnival Fever, will receive its world premiere this April by the New World Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Both works will travel to the West Coast of the United States for performances with the San Francisco Symphony during the 2014–15 season. In addition, the inaugural New Voices composer, Zosha Di Castri, will see her percussion quartet, Manif, performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony during the 2014–15 season.
Boosey & Hawkes, a leading international figure in music publishing, offers the selected composer first-hand experience in all aspects of publishing, from material preparation to promotion of the music through a comprehensive residency in New York. Boosey & Hawkes provides support and guidance towards best practices for high-quality score preparation, focusing on the preparation of materials for a premiere, which is paramount to the composer’s professional training and development. In addition, the New Voices composer learns about industry practices, including commission contract preparation, copyright registration and licensing procedures, and how to promote the music through publicity and marketing strategies.
At the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS) co-founded by Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), the New Voices composer works extensively with MTT, NWS Fellows, guest faculty, and others to workshop the new compositions and prepare them for their world premieres at the Academy. MTT will conduct the premiere of the new work for orchestra in January 2015 at the New World Center and the new chamber work will be premiered the following April.
At the San Francisco Symphony, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and members of the orchestra work with the New Voices composer for two full weeks after the works have debuted in Miami Beach. MTT will lead the Orchestra in the West Coast premiere of the newly commissioned orchestral work in a subscription concert at Davies Symphony Hall, and, in a second week with MTT and the SFS, the composer will work with members of the orchestra who will perform the new chamber commission, as well. These two works will be performed in San Francisco during the 2015–16 season.
About Ted Hearne
Composer, performer, singer and bandleader Ted Hearne (b. 1982, Chicago) draws on a wide breadth of influences ranging across music’s full terrain to create intense, personal, and multi-dimensional works.
In the past season, Hearne has written new works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the European Contemporary Orchestra, A Far Cry, and the Albany Symphony. In the coming season, he will write a chamber work for eighth blackbird, a cantata for Philadelphia’s The Crossing, and an opera to be premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). His Katrina Ballads, a modern-day oratorio with a primary source libretto, was awarded the 2009 Gaudeamus Prize, and subsequently named one of the best classical albums of 2010 by several publications, including The Washington Post.
Hearne’s most recent collaboration paired him with hip hop/soul icon Erykah Badu, for whom he wrote an evening-length work combining new music with arrangements of songs from Badu’s 2008 record New Amerykah: Part One. Premiered by Badu with conductor Alan Pierson and the Brooklyn Philharmonic in two sold-out performances at BAM, the work was met with instant acclaim with The New York Times praising the “rich harmony and tonal range and pulsation” of the music.
Active as a conductor of contemporary music, Hearne has recently worked with the Red Light Ensemble, the Wet Ink Ensemble, TILT Brass, Ensemble Pamplemousse, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Hearne’s work as a singer ranges from the many techniques explored in his own music to roles in avant-garde operas such as Jacob Cooper’s Timberbrit and James Ilgenfritz’s The Ticket that Exploded. His electronic/vocal duo with Philip White, R WE WHO R WE, has earned praise for its radical deconstructions of music from the pop landscape, and his forthcoming album, Outlanders, will see release this fall.
Ted Hearne attended Manhattan School of Music and Yale School of Music. He has received fellowships from the Barlow Endowment, the Fromm Music Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and ASCAP, and two residencies at the MacDowell Colony. In fall 2014, he will join the composition faculty at the University of Southern California. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.
For more information, visit www.tedhearne.com.
# # #
