EarShot
t’s easy to forget when listening to such universally beloved treasures of the symphonic repertoire as Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, and Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings that each was created by someone who was in his twenties. The willingness of orchestras to take a chance on these early-career works was fundamental to their ultimately entering the canon. While nowadays there are greater numbers of emerging composers than at any other time in history, having a shot at an orchestral performance is still an all-too-rare opportunity. However, one of the ways that orchestras around the country are helping to nurture future masterpieces is by participating in EarShot, the national orchestral composition discovery network. americanorchestras.org
Memphis Symphony Orchestra
The value of direct musician communication with a composer during the creative process is great, as notation can be approximate, particularly in modern music. Instead of complete experimentation, we were able to rely on precise communication to create the desired sonic effects. Also, players’ personalities often translate into their playing; at the EarShot readings, it was interesting to witness the personality of a composer and look for the same phenomenon in their writing. –Todd Skitch, flute, Memphis Symphony Orchestra
appropriate and efficient ways to interact with the orchestra’s various branches.” Composers aren’t the only ones who value EarShot; musicians whose orchestras have participated in the program say that they enjoy working with contemporary composers. “The coolest part of the experience for me,” says Roger Wiesmeyer, who plays oboe and English horn in the Nashville Symphony, “was the shift from ‘curators of a gloried past’ to co-creators in a very collaborative process with some of the finest young composers on the scene today. Everyone—composers, Giancarlo [Guerrero], and the orchestra—brought to it their best game. I look forward to many more experiences like this in the future.”
A Memphis Symphony Orchestra percussionist marks his score during an EarShot orchestral reading in 2009.
EarShot
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EarShot provides orchestras with an interrelated set of services that facilitate new-music readings, composer institutes, and competitions. EarShot helps orchestras by organizing and collecting materials in calls for scores, setting up balanced and impartial score adjudication panels to select works, and offering mentor composers as well as administrative staff to work with prospective orchestras during the process. The network also offers the production and financial support that enables such events to occur. Most importantly, EarShot incentivizes the creation of tomorrow’s orchestral repertoire. And while it’s too early to know if the works that have been read as part of the year-old program will enter the repertoire, the composers who have participated have continued to write for orchestra and have honed their craft with the skill set they’ve developed from this process. “Participating in the EarShot Readings with the Nashville Symphony was truly one of the most important musical experiences of my life,” says composer Daniel Temkin. “It not only gave me experience hearing my music in rehearsal with a professional ensemble of tremendous caliber, it also gave me insights into the way modern orchestras operate. My hands-on work with Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, the orchestra’s players, the librarians, and the orchestra management shed light on the expectations and demands that modern orchestral composers face. And it helped all of the participants to better understand the most
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