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CYSO Announces Joel Puckett as Composer-in-Residence for Three Year Residency
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras Announces Joel Puckett as Composer-in-Residence for Three Year Residency
It is with great pride that Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) announces a multi-year partnership with composer Joel Puckett. Starting in spring 2010, CYSO ensembles will premiere two new pieces by Mr. Puckett, both written specifically for CYSO’s younger orchestras, the Debut Orchestra and Preparatory Strings.
For the 2010-2011 Season, Mr. Puckett will write a substantial work for CYSO’s Concert Orchestra, a more advanced ensemble. He will then conclude his residency with a piece written for CYSO’s top-tiered Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere of this piece will be held at Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall in the spring of 2012.
In addition to composing pieces for CYSO’s ensembles, Mr. Puckett will work with CYSO’s young composers in creating new works of music during the three year residency. He will also engage with CYSO’s youngest students about composition during Music Theory classes.
CYSO’s relationship with Mr. Puckett continues the organization’s focus on promoting contemporary composers and orchestral works. In June 2008, CYSO was awarded its eighth ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in recognition of its commitment to promoting the commissioning, performing and recording of new works.
About Joel Puckett:
Joel Puckett is a composer who is dedicated to the belief that music can bring consolation, hope, and joy to all who need it. The Washington Post has hailed him as both "visionary" and "gifted", and the head critic for the Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith, hailed his piece This Mourning as "being of comparable expressive weight" to John Adams' Pulitzer Prize winning work On the Transmigration of Souls.
Born on the south side of Atlanta, Joel is the son of a Dixieland jazz musician and a classical tubist. He spent his childhood improvising with his father and learning the fundamentals of both concert and popular music. He has held fellowships and scholarships at the Aspen Music Festival and at the University of Michigan, where he received a D.M.A. in composition studying with Pulitzer-Prize Winner William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, and MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient Bright Sheng.
The Washington Chorus, recipient of the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance, commissioned and premiered Joel's work This Mourning, for chorus, orchestra, 40 wine glasses and tenor soloist, to rave reviews at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Of the third movement, Baltimore Sun critic Tim Smith said, "The final movement reaches profound heights. As the chorus intones Dickinson's lines, 'There must be guests in Eden, All the rooms are full,' a cathartic, almost ecstatic rise of melody and emotion unfolds."
He has received numerous national awards including a B.M.I. Student Composer award and the first American Bandmasters Association/University of Florida Commission.
In the summer of 2008, Puckett joined composers Zhou Long, James Matheson, Mason Bates and Kevin Puts as the featured composers at the Westport Arts/ South Shore Music chamber music series entitled, "The Composer Project" where Antares premiered Colloquial Stanzas.
Joel has served as an adjudicator for national competitions for young composers, such as the SCI/ASCAP competition. He also frequently gives guest lectures and master classes. He most recently has lectured at City College in Harlem, NY; Indiana University in Bloomington; The University of Texas-Austin; Michigan State University, Western Washington University and the Crane School of Music.
This fall Joel joined the full time faculty of Peabody Conservatory after previously having served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at his alma mater Shenandoah Conservatory.
For more information, please visit: www.joelpuckett.com.
About Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO):
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) is internationally recognized as one of the premier youth orchestras in the United States. For over 60 years, its programs have provided music education and instrumental training of the highest quality to Chicago metropolitan area youth. CYSO is the place where inspired youth begin their journey to become outstanding musicians and leaders of tomorrow.
CYSO provides five training orchestras, chamber music instruction and music theory to more than 400 gifted musicians ages 7 to 18. The organization also serves 5,000 Chicago Public School students through classroom visits and educational concerts through its Music Pathways program and over 30,000 audience members each season.
Written By: Amanda Goedde
Date Posted: 1/11/2010
Number of Views: 589
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