April 23, 2009

Three RI-based music composers awarded prestigious MacColl Johnson Fellowships

Erik Carlson, Evan Johnson, and Dan Moretti each will receive $25,000 to further their work; among the largest grants in the nation for artists

Three Rhode Island-based music composers – recently-named recipients of prestigious MacColl Johnson Fellowships from The Rhode Island Foundation – are reflective of the role music has played in their lives, while also anticipating their futures in the music world with the $25,000 fellowships in hand.

Fellowship recipient and Cranston resident Erik Carlson notes, “My first awareness of the rhythm and cyclical nature of sound occurred on the school bus on a rainy morning…What captivated me was the subtle, ever-shifting rhythm that the two (windshield) wipers created and how these complicated cycles caused a shift in my perception of sounds around them – rain, voices, and tires on wet pavement.”

MacColl Johnson fellowship recipient and East Providence resident Dan Moretti also shares memories of the impact of music in his younger years. “I began playing saxophone at age 12 and was drawn to jazz from the start. My first jazz performing experience was at the age of 14 as a member of the Rhode Island Youth Stage Band…we were the opening act at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966,” he explains.

The third fellowship recipient, Providence resident Evan Johnson, referring to himself as “an emerging composer building a professional career,” relates how his international profile has grown in the past five years with presentations of his work not only throughout the US, but also in Scotland, England, Austria, Germany, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand.

The fellowships are intended “to fund an artist’s vision or voice.” They are awarded on a three-year cycle to composers, writers, and visual artists. In addition to the three fellows, three individuals also were named as finalists in recognition of the artistic merit and strong showing of their work.

The fellowships’ namesakes, Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson, both were dedicated to the arts all their lives. Mrs. Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College when she was 70. Mr. Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry-making and then retired to become a fulltime painter.

Before he passed away in 1999, Johnson began discussions with The Rhode Island Foundation to design what has become a $1.2 million artist fellowship program in music composition, literature, and visual arts, offering among the highest no-strings awards in the nation, for Rhode Island-based artists.

Guidelines and applications for the 2009 fellowships, which will be awarded to writers, will be available on the Foundation’s website after June 1. Application deadline is September 1.

Fellowships will enable recipients “to further their work”

“The Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowships are among the largest offered in the United States and provide significant financial support that enables artists to further their work,” states Daniel Kertzner, grant programs officer at the Foundation who, with Wanda Miglus, grant programs associate, administered the selection of MacColl Johnson Fellows. “The artists selected this year submitted work of the highest quality, and the fellowships will offer them a significant opportunity to further their artistic development. They echo the value the MacColl Johnsons placed on the role of artists in the community,” Kertzner notes.

The fellows and finalists were chosen from 41 applicants by a panel of four out-of-state jurors who are either recognized practicing composers or distinguished academics in the field. Applications were reviewed based on artistic vision and creative excellence, as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance the career of emerging to mid-career artists. Music composers with original compositions in chamber, choral, jazz, electronic, experimental, symphonic, opera, contemporary, nontraditional, world music genres, and musical theater were eligible for the fellowships.

Erik Carlson focuses on the relationship between rhythm, pitch, and timbre

“As a composer and musician, my work has always been concerned with the cyclical and malleable relationships of rhythm, pitch, and timbre…an essential factor in all of my work is that quality of continual recall, where changeable elements realign and pull things into focus,” Carlson shares.

Working simultaneously in the fields of music and architecture for the past 15 years, Carlson creates compositions for particular spaces that result in new ways of composing and presenting work. The fellowship will provide him with an opportunity to expand his site-specific work of composing for unique physical spaces. He also will broaden his knowledge of audio processing equipment, with the goal of  implementing it for music composition, performances, and installations, and will pursue larger public art opportunities.

The Foundation’s Kertzner explains, “The panel noted that Carlson’s installation work is very interesting, effective and simple…and that he creates really fine, careful, and thoughtful work.”

Carlson has recorded and performed under the name AREA C since 2000 where he is primary writer. He also is a principal of AREA Design where he does architectural and installation design work. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Virginia in 1992.

Evan Johnson explores the physical circumstances of musical performance

“My compositional work is driven by an interest in the physical circumstances of musical performance – both the muscular contortions and artificial breathing patterns of performers and the bodily auditory experience of the audience,” Johnson states, explaining how in a solo he composed for bass clarinet “the physical and virtuosic capabilities of the performer are tested to and beyond accepted limits.”

The fellowship will allow Johnson to travel internationally to be present at rehearsals and performances of his work, to create commercial-quality promotional recordings, and to pursue new commissions and other compositional projects. Among his plans for this year is a major project with Britain’s EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble and flutist Richard Craig which, he explains “will require yet new solutions, new ways of approaching the problems and potentials of the physicality of acoustic instrumental sound.”

“The panel referred to Johnson’s submitted work as ‘out of the park.’ They were impressed by his excellent track record of performance and found his work very effective,” Kertzner remarks.

Johnson currently is a postdoctoral teaching associate in music theory and composition at Northeastern University, Boston. He earned an undergraduate degree in music from Yale University in 2002 and a Ph.D. in music composition from State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006.

Dan Moretti will collaborate with Italian orchestra

“My plan with this project is to musically demonstrate how the African rhythmic and melodic influence can be used consciously to compose music what will move this traditionally influenced Italian concertina folk music to a non-traditional and innovative musical result determined by the organic nature of the compositional process,” Moretti explains. His plan will be carried out in collaboration with La Piccola Orchestra La Viola, which consists of 12 concertinas, an Italian percussion section, drums, bass, and vocals.

The fellowship will provide him with necessary resources to research, write, produce, record, edit, and promote the collaborative project, including a two-week trip to Italy for rehearsals and recording.

“The panel felt that Moretti – whom they described as ‘quite wonderful’ – distinguished himself from other applicants through his unique experimentation and playfulness in his works,” Kertzner explains.

Currently a professor in the contemporary writing and production department at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, Moretti earlier worked for the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music, Rhode Island School of Music, and the Providence School Department. In 1977, he earned an undergraduate degree in music education, arranging and composition from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH.

Panel names three finalists

Three applicants also were named MacColl Johnson finalists. Although they are not receiving cash awards, they are being recognized for their works’ artistic merit and strong showing in the jury process. Finalists are:

Johnston resident Michael DeQuattro, adjunct professor of percussion at Rhode Island College, has earned a reputation composing music for choreographers. He also serves as the accompanist for the dance department at Roger Williams University.

Providence resident Bevin Kelley, a graduate of Oberlin College/Conservatory, combines her training as a classical violinist with her interest in electronic music. A 2001 winner of an Award of Distinction for digital music at the Prix Ars Electroica, she also has released several CDs of solo music.

West Warwick resident Nicholas Sadler, a guitar player and composer, seeks to use his instrument as a means to create new sounds and song structures. His world-performing rock band, Daughters, attempts to take music apart and put it back together in abstract ways.