Composition Academy
A Very Selective Program
Download the 2012 WSMA Composer Application Form
With the arrival of composer Larry Alan Smith as the Artistic and Executive Director of Wintergreen Performing Arts, it was natural that the Wintergreen Summer Music Academy would expand to include composition. The program is under Dr. Smith’s direction, and it will include intensive private and group study during the course of the four weeks. In addition to Larry Alan Smith, the composers-in-residence and visiting composers for the 2012 Composition Academy will be as follows:
2012 Composers-in-Residence
Douglas Boyce
Guest artists and the musicians of the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra will meet with the student composers for informal discussions about composition and career-related topics.
The Composition Academy will begin on Monday, July 9th, and it will end on Sunday, August 5th. Academy members will be expected to arrive in Wintergreen on Sunday, July 8th.
The purpose of the Composition Academy is to expose a very limited number of extremely talented young composers to a wide variety of experiences. It is expected that the composers will be undergraduate or graduate students. Recent graduates are welcome to submit an application, and this is also true of advanced high school juniors and seniors. The composers will also have many opportunities to observe rehearsals and attend the performances of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival.
Each student will receive five private lessons during the course of the four weeks (one lesson with Dr. Smith and four lessons with the composers-in-residence).
Each Composition Academy student will have a 10-minute work publicly performed by a string or wind ensemble of the Academy at one of the five scheduled Academy Concerts. The date of the concert involving the music of the student composers has not yet been announced. These are concerts that are a part of the festival, and they are open to the public.
When submitting scores as part of the application process, it would be helpful if applicants could submit at least one work that uses some combination of the following instruments: 1 or 2 violins, viola, cello and bass OR flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. Please note: A hard copy of the application form must be sent to Wintergreen Performing Arts. However, composers are strongly encouraged to submit their scores as PDF files via e-mail to larryalansmith@wintergreenperformingarts.org. Recordings of the works can also be sent as audio file attachments.
Everyone accepted into the Academy will be expected to write a new work using an approved instrumentation. The parts and scores for all of the programmed works will be due no later than June 15th.
The work will be professionally recorded, and each composer will receive a CD of the work. A CD of the Academy Concert featuring the new works will be available for purchase.
There will be several group masterclasses/seminars per week that will be taught by Dr. Smith or other members of the faculty.
There will be rhythm classes that will be taught by Dr. Smith. The focus of these classes will be advanced rhythmic dictation and notation. There will be an emphasis on a system that was developed by the late Renee Longy during her many years of teaching.
When possible, the masterclasses/seminars and the rhythm classes will be taught in the great outdoors on the mountain or in the Rockfish Valley.
A typical day:
Mornings – Time to write music and/or attend orchestra rehearsals
Afternoons – Lessons, masterclasses/seminars and rhythm classes (Free time should be used for composition)
Evenings – Attend performances and late-night composition
All composers will be expected to have their own computers (and piano keyboards, if needed). They will also be expected to attend the majority of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival performances.
