Composers’ Symposium
Congratulations to Composers’ Symposium student, Elaina Stuppler, for receiving the 2024 YoungArts award in Classical Music/Composition! YoungArts—the national foundation for the advancement of artists—was established in Florida in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify exceptional young artists, amplify their potential, and invest in their lifelong creative freedom. See samples of her work from last year’s Symposium below. Elaina Stuppler – YoungArts Press Release!
The Composers’ Symposium, initiated in September 2019, is one of the activities of the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival. The Festival’s Composers’ Symposium is conducted in collaboration with the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA). The Symposium is a unique opportunity for high school students to submit an original composition, refine his/her work, receive instruction from professional composers and have the work performed.
The aim of the Composers’ Symposium is to provide educational opportunities for talented music students by serving as a resource for networking, professional development, and collaboration. There are no similar opportunities in Oregon and only a handful of opportunities for instruction in music composition in Oregon high schools. Composition submissions emphasize themes associated with Newport and the Oregon coastal environment.
Small group and individual instructional seminars are held once a month. During each session students examine areas of process, craft, orchestration (midi/acoustic) and analysis to augment their understanding and continue their development as an emerging composer. More specifically, the goals of the sessions are to:
- Introduce students to a variety of compositional styles, and frameworks to advance their stylistic approach and skill level.
- Develop analytical skills to improve ability to understand and reconstruct building blocks of particular genres and styles.
- Apply and practice music creation skills in order to expand and develop original music. This includes harmony, melody, rhythmic balance, form and function in music (from a range of styles as applicable to each student).
The Composers’ Symposium is sponsored by the BMI Foundation and the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center.
Clinicians
Dr. Dana Reason is the Symposium’s clinician. She is founder and director of popular music studies at Oregon State University. She is currently the coordinator of contemporary music and research at Oregon State University.
Dr. Reason holds a bachelor’s degree in music from McGill University; a master’s degree in composition from Mills College and a doctoral degree in critical studies/experimental practices (now called integrative studies) from the University of California San Diego. She was the founder and director of popular music studies at Oregon State University (OSU) from 2011 to 2015 and is currently the coordinator of contemporary music and research at OSU.
A composer, improviser, keyboardist, sound artist, producer and researcher working at the intersections of 20th- and 21st-century music genres and intermedia practices, Dr. Reason’s album Angle of Vision was long-listed for Grammy Awards in three separate categories including best instrumental composition, best arrangement and best jazz instrumental album. Additionally, her wind symphony “Currents” was long-listed for best contemporary classical composition. Dr. Reason is a performing artist and composer that moves easily between genres encompassing a dynamic stylistic range and repertoire.
Ethan Gans-Morse is best known for his opera The Canticle of the Black Madonna, which The Oregonian called “A huge achievement… generous, carefully crafted and supremely compassionate” and Oregon ArtsWatch hailed as “One of the most exciting developments of the arts season.” He focuses on collaborative, socially relevant projects that foster greater human connection.
Recent commissions include projects based on real-life Oregonians’ stories, such as the chamber opera Dreams Have No Borders, the oratorio Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, and the program symphony How Can You Own The Sky? He’s also enjoying a three-year collaboration with the Rogue Valley Symphony called Composers in the Classroom, for which he’s composing for high school orchestras and the Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon.
His works have been performed around the US and abroad—including at the Seattle Opera Center, the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy, the Instrumenta Oaxaca Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the University of Wyoming New Music Festival—and around Oregon at the Music Today Festival, the Vanguard Concert Series, the Oregon Composers Forum, the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and the Ashland Winter Fine Arts Festival.
He holds a Bachelors in Music and Linguistics from Macalester College and a Masters in Music Composition from the University of Oregon.
Alex Hastings discovered an interest in music as a young violin student, creating multiple-layered violin arrangements of pop songs and recording them together. She dove into composing music during her university studies at George Fox University under the teaching of Dr. Brent Weaver. There, she explored composing chamber music and solo works, as well as multimedia pieces. Her most notable work, Spectrum, juxtaposes a traditional string quartet with computer tracks, recorded voices, and film. This multimedia composition was featured in the 2020 “A Show A Change Film Festival” and the 2021 “Conquering Disabilities with Film Festival.” She has since brought composition into her violin studio– composing melodies and accompaniments for her students.
Now a resident of Boise, Idaho, Alex continues to teach, compose, and play in orchestras around the Northwest. She is the assistant concertmaster of Boise Baroque Orchestra, and she also maintains a full private lesson studio for violin and composition students. Alex is excited to continue growing her music studio to reach students of all needs and abilities, and to share her love of music with everyone she teaches.
2021-2022 Composers’ Symposium Students and Compositions
2022-23 Composers’ Symposium
Listen here to excerpts from the compositions created by the high school students participating in the 2022-23 Composers’ Symposium. Each excerpt is accompanied by a short program note and a short bio statement from each student.
Kate Andrews and “The Pirates Life for Me”
Bio
Kate Andrews is an eleventh grader at Mountainside High School in Beaverton, Oregon. She plays the clarinet, tenor saxophone, piano, and harp, and is involved in her school wind ensemble as well as marching band and Jazz band. She has been a member of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony for four years. Kate got started composing through the Young Composer’s Project and has completed multiple pieces for both small ensembles and full orchestra, all of which have been performed live.
Program Note
“The Pirates Life for Me”, written for a string ensemble, is a dive into the way that sea shanties pass the melody between each singer, echoed in the passing of the melody between each instrument. The modulations of the melody follow the way that a vocalist would move between keys, and the underlying rhythmic pulse helps to drive the song forward. It is meant to evoke the joys of sailing over the sea, carefree and exciting.
Mason Givens and “String Quartet No. 2”
Bio
I began my musical journey playing the violin. As I became more immersed in music, I found myself drawn to the darker and richer sound of the viola. I continued playing the viola in various ensembles and as I played more music, I felt inspired to create my own. After years of interest in composition, I finally started taking composition lessons. With a basic understanding of composition, I began writing pieces and over time studied and listened to pieces using elements of these pieces to develop my own music. My first string quartet was written over a year ago when my experience started to really develop.
Program note
A year later, I took a class for composing string quartets and wrote “String Quartet No. 2”. This piece reflects where I have come as a composer and aims to connect with musicians and listeners alike. I look forward to writing more pieces that can inspire others to start exploring music and composition.
Joseph Koenig and “Morning Shore”.
Bio
I am currently a Junior at North Eugene High School. I’m enrolled in my school’s wind ensemble and I also play for the Eugene-Springfield youth orchestra in which I play French horn for both. I’ve been playing horn since I was a freshman in high school and originally started on flute back in 8th grade. I first started composing music back in 7th grade with these mediocre pieces but after years of experience and studying I am very proud of where I have got to and the pieces I am writing. Music means a lot to me as I love playing pieces for others and hopefully inspire them to pick up an instrument or to get into composing themselves!”
Program Notes
“Morning Shore” is a fairly short piece for a string orchestra that is taken from a larger piece of work that I have made called “Mount Teide”. Mount Teide is a volcano in the Canary Islands and with that piece I attempted to picture the luscious Spanish mountains and landscape through the music. The part I took has a more somber feel to it and the way I describe it is like walking through the beaches of the Canary Islands’ which hold a gorgeous sight to behold. I knew this piece would be played by students around my age so I wanted to create something quite beautiful to perhaps get more students into composing and expressing themselves through music. Some inspirations from this piece have been a little from Canary Island folk music which I took one song I heard online and transformed it into what was heard by the musicians!”
Skye Neal and “Discoveries: Inspired by the beauty of the Oregon outback”
Bio
Skye Neal is a 13-year-old composer and musician from Portland, Oregon. She has studied composition with Mátti Kovler since 2017 and participated in Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project for the past five years. She also plays violin, piano, and sings with the Pacific Youth Choir. Her pieces have won recognition by Music Teachers National Association, Oregon Music Education Association, National Federation of Music Clubs, and Tribeca New Music contests. In 2020, she was a guest on All Classical Portland’s radio broadcast “On Deck With Young Musicians” and was the youngest composer to be featured on the program. Her pieces have been performed by Fear No Music, Portland Youth String Ensemble, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Tualatin High School string orchestra, Lake Oswego Middle School string orchestra, and Pacific Youth Choir’s middle school girl choir. Outside of music Skye enjoys birding, rowing, and fencing.
Program Notes
The inspiration for this piece came from a road trip my family took across central and southeastern Oregon last summer. The first movement, written in a traditional sonata allegro form, is about the city of Bend. The quick tempo and fast runs in the first violins convey liveliness, while the sharp changes in dynamics represent a sense of adventure. After a short coda, the second movement describes our arrival at Malheur lake, an oasis in the middle of endless fields of sagebrush. It begins with a pulsing ostinato in the cellos and basses and harmonics in the first violins representing the steady drone of the mosquitoes. The violas join in with a lyrical melody which the violins then build upon. These melodies, representing the pristine waters and serene environment, gradually build to a climactic ending. As the third movement begins, birds start to sing all around, including the sage thrasher – an unassuming small brown bird known for singing very long, complex songs. The music in the third movement mirrors the beauty of the sage thrasher’s song, with the main melody in the first violins and complex arpeggiated harmonies in the second violins.
Elaina Stuppler and “25/8”
Bio
Elaina Stuppler is a composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist who has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall. She studied violin through The Royal Conservatory of Music, classical piano with the Royal Schools of Music, and was in the Jazz Ensemble and Brass Band at the Colburn School. Elaina was selected for the California All-State Honor Band, All-Northwest Honor Band, and is Principal Trombone of the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra. Elaina’s orchestral compositions have been awarded state and international awards. Her pieces were played by the Oregon Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and was recently chosen by the Seattle Symphony’s Dear Humanity Youth Art Festival about climate change. Elaina is a Luna Composition Lab Fellow, created by Pulitzer Prize-Winning composer, Ellen Reid and Grammy-Nominated Missy Mazzoli where her work will premiere in New York City at Mannes School of Music. Elaina received the U.S. Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence and works at All Classical Portland/ICAN Radio Station as a Youth Roving Reporter where she interviewed Itzhak Perlman, Jennifer Higdon, and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Program Notes
My composition, titled “25/8”, explores the deep longing for an additional hour and an extra day every week. This desire stems from a craving to break free from the constraints of the ordinary and immerse ourselves into a world that would expand beyond the boundaries of time. By introducing this longing, the piece creates a juxtaposition against the familiar and predictable routine of our daily lives. “25/8” captures the exhilaration experienced when unwanted plans suddenly get canceled creating joy and relief having extra time. Those moments become truly amazing, freeing us from obligations we didn’t desire. On the flipside, when faced with looming deadlines or upcoming tests, the reality of insufficient time dawns upon us and we feel the weight of stress and tension building within us. “25/8” explores the pressures associated with time management, evoking the yearning for an expanded canvas to stretch out time. Using contrasting musical elements, my composition encapsulates the emotional journey of experiencing both the blissful moments of time and strain when hours become scarce.
Abe Tsai and “Jubilance”
Bio
Once there was a boy who hummed before he spoke. In his head, he could hear countless notes, and through his melodies, he saw the world. This young boy’s name was Abe Tsai. Abe began his formal musical training on the violin with Jessica Lambert at the age of six. He complemented his instrumental knowledge by pursuing the oboe under the instruction of Michael Molk. Abe has performed in both chamber music and solo recitals for the violin and recently competed at the state level for oboe. He was a member of both the NAfME All-Northwest Symphony Orchestra and OMEA All-State Symphony Orchestra as a violinist, and served as the 2021-2022 concertmaster of his high school orchestra. During his tenure as concertmaster, the orchestra performed his first composition, “Luz Sobre el Agua”. His latest piece, “Jubilance”, recently premiered with the Corvallis/Crescent Valley Camerata Orchestra under the direction of Sarah Perkins. When Abe is not playing music, he dedicates much of his time to tennis, recently winning third place for doubles in the 5A state tennis tournament. Currently a sophomore at Crescent Valley High School. Abe also trains in the martial art of aikido, where he is (almost) a black belt.
Program Notes
Jubilance: an expression of great joy. Through this piece I hope to articulate the emotion of “jubilance”. As the piece opens, one can hear the primary melody, carried first by the cello with held chords in the other instruments. As more instruments join in, the piece builds to its first climax, but quickly diminishes. In doing so, I sought to illustrate that true happiness and true joy cannot come without hardship. The second section encompasses these tribulations and comes in a minor key, evoking a morose and pensive tone. As we emerge from this darker, more ominous sensation, we build up to the final zenith of the piece, where the journey reaches its end. The conclusion of Jubilance represents the exhilaration of triumph and completion. Yet jubilance remains calm and steady, like the peaceful, relieved silence after a wild storm.