LMU Music presents New Music on the Bluff 21 April 17, 2021 | 5:00 p.m. Program Idle Seamus Michael Byrne Orange County School for the Arts Santa Ana, California Martha Masters, guitar I am a classical guitarist and I really quite love to perform guitar pieces; however, I am relatively new to the world of composing. I wanted the piece to be framed by two voices then a dance-like middle section with a single voice: I really liked the kind of contrast. Sh-outs Chloe Elise Garcia Villamayor The Buckley School Sherman Oaks, California Marisa De Silva, soprano Chloe Elise Villamayor is an eighteen-year-old composer, violinist, and songwriter who believes that music is not only a reflection of the world but a tool to heal those within it. “Sh-outs” for soprano and delay pedal recognizes childhood and memories as timeless and something that continues to live on within each of us. The piece features a 3+2+2+3 rhythmic pattern inspired by the Arabic 10 beat and nonsense syllables, which mimic carefree footsteps and the ,( هنيجرج ) rhythmic cycle, Jurjīnah whimsically mysterious childspeak idiomatic to children. Furthermore, the loudness in the meaning of the word “shout” juxtaposed with the sonically gentle attack of the word “sh” emulates the recklessness and softness children possess. Due to the use of the delay pedal, the vocalist sings with her past self allowing the vocalist to an extent, in Kurt Vonnegut’s words, become “unstuck in time.” Words Are Last to Fall Asleep Madeline Clara Cheng Mountain View High School Mountain View, California Sara Andon, flute Madeline Clara Cheng (b. 2004) is a composer, saxophonist, and pianist from Mountain View High School. She was a Luna Composition Lab Fellow, the first-place winner of the 2020 National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest, and a recipient of the 2021 ICEBERG New Music Young Composer Scholarship. Madeline’s compositions have been performed by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Project Saint Louis. Her works have received top awards from the Robert Avalon International Competition, the Golden Key Music Festival, Webster University, and the University of Illinois School of Music. This summer, she will be attending the Tanglewood Young Artists Composition Program on full scholarship. She also enjoys sushi, fashion, bubble wrap, musical theatre, and guinea pigs. Inspired by a late-night conversation with a close friend of mine, Words Are Last to Fall Asleep is about the resonating impact of an individual’s words on another person. This piece is set in the plane of threshold consciousness that exists between sleep and wakefulness, also known as the hypnagogic state. As they slowly drift off into sleep after talking to someone dear to them, the last things on the person’s mind are the spoken and unspoken words still floating from the conversation. Two Experiments Holden Mui I. Resonance Naperville North High School II. Fractals Naperville, Illinois Wojciech Kocyan, piano Holden Mui is currently a high school senior from Illinois at Naperville North High School. He enjoys learning mathematics, and has used mathematical ideas in his composition, Two Experiments for Piano. The first experiment, Resonance, explores the ideas of cycling and periodicity to phase through all possible harmonic combinations, and the second experiment, Fractals, uses self-similarity as a basis for register, shape, dynamics, and waveform. Clouds Dmitri Volkov I. Wispy Ridgefield High School II. Translucent Ridgefield, Connecticut Robert Fleitz, piano Dmitri Volkov is an aspiring composer whose pursuit of music includes studying composition with Paul Frucht and violin with Jessica McNamara. He also plays trombone in several groups through Ridgefield High School. Other instruments he is exploring include: mandolin, bass, piano, and others. Compositionally, Dmitri was a national finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer competition, and a national runner-up in the National Federation of Music Clubs composition competition for his string quartet Growth. Lately, he has been experimenting with the use of microtones and electronics in his compositions. Besides music, Dmitri is interested in computer science and has published an app, metro.drone, to the App and Google Play stores. Dmitri is actively looking into audio programming and trying to find innovative and legitimately interesting ways to combine his two interests. Among the Pines Noah Goddard Moorpark High School Moorpark, California Ken Aiso, violin Noah Godard is a 17 year-old composer, oboist, and jazz pianist from Moorpark, California. He was a 2021 YoungArts Finalist in music composition and has been a Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellow since 2019. Noah studies composition with Brett Banducci, and has participated in the MATA Jr. Festival, Sunset Chamberfest Young Composers’ Workshop, and Idyllwild Arts Summer Composition Workshop. He has thrice been named a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and received an Honorable Mention in the 2020 NextNotes High School Music Creator Awards. When he’s not playing or composing music, Noah enjoys growing bonsai, studying linguistics, and drinking tea. Among the Pines was written in August 2020, as part of the Idyllwild Arts Summer Composition Workshop. It was inspired by the beautiful landscape of Idyllwild, and the stark contrast between green pines and white rock formations. die Gestalt, for Olga Tytarenko Ziyi Tao Special Music School New York, New York Ken Aiso, violin Ziyi Tao was born in 2002 in Beijing, China. He is currently studying composition at the Special Music School High School at Lincoln Center, NYC, with Dr. Max Grafe. He has also studied with many other teachers, including Jon Deak, Molly Herron, Shedrick Mitchell, and Dr. Reiko Füting. Ziyi’s works have been performed by various ensembles and artists around the world, including soprano Lucy Shelton, pianist Peter Dugan, the Hypercube Ensemble, the Parhelion Trio, the New York Philharmonic, and the St.Petersburg Philharmonic. Ziyi is also involved in other musical activities: he has served as a church organist for several different churches, including the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Fort Hamilton, and the St.George Episcopal Historical Church in Flushing. Ziyi studied conducting under Mike Repper and Alan Buxbaum at the New York Youth Symphony, and has also served as a composition student mentor under Jon Deak at the New York Philharmonic. I had always been reluctant to write for the solo violin with a twofold reason: I don’t play strings, which seem to have more techniques than there are for most other instruments; my experience with the violin has always been somewhat oversaturated with ideals I don’t necessarily understand — violin seems to represent the perception of beauty, it seems to be a symbol for status — the concertmaster always gets to shake the hand of the conductors and composers (though there are historical reasons for this I still think it’s interesting why the timpanists are rarely given the same chance and attention), and that there are probably more violin pieces written than there are anything else. Though it bothers me a little bit that so many are constantly emphasizing the importance and greatness of Bach nonstop, I must admit that his music has probably had the greatest influence on me — some of my darkest times in the past have always been uplifted by his music, it was also through studying his fugues that I first began to learn how to write music myself. For a period of time, his shadow constantly comes through in my own compositions: it brings back so much of what I want to rid, but can’t; the harder I try, the harder it is. So this time I decided to confront him — by recognizing him through the quotation of his music and the distortion of this style that means so much to me. This piece has very little original material if at all; though the definition and validity of that idea itself is also called into question, especially when writing for the violin. This piece is written for, and dedicated to Olga Tytarenko. Inspiration for Prayer in three movements Adah Kaplan Germantown Academy Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Ken Aiso, violin Valeria Morgovskaya, piano Adah Kaplan is a violinist and composer whose works draw inspiration from a variety of genres, including but not limited to: 70s rock, ancient Israeli folk tunes, and a kid rhythmically tapping their pencil in math class. Recently, her piece “whitewashed” for solo violin was performed by Lara St. John, Sarah Whitney, and Jennifer K. Curtis, and her piece “Beware of Road Hazards” for cello and looper pedal has been selected for workshopping with Thomas Kraines through his ACF Call for Scores. Adah plays in Philadelphia Sinfonia, Philadelphia Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra, and the Auger Ensemble — a string trio coached by Linda Reichert that exclusively works on contemporary music. “Inspiration for Prayer” is inspired by Rabbi Chaim Stern’s “Prayer Book Meditation,” which poetically describes the different types of people who enter the synagogue and what they each gain from prayer. To show these three very different emotions, I combined aspects of music that signify that particular emotion nowadays with what resembled that emotion in ancient Israeli folk music. In three movements, the violin and piano duet illustrates how prayer helps a happy person to spread positivity, a mourning person find solace, and can restore the faith of even the most cynical of people. Lilly McCarty, host Performer Bios Martha Masters first achieved international recognition in 2000 when she won first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition. That same year she also won the Andres Segovia International Competition in Linares, Spain, and was named a finalist in the Alexandre Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities in Lodz, Poland.