Nell Shaw Cohen – Page 12 – Composer | Librettist

May 25, 2012

My Dream Scholarship… is a Reality.

I learned this week that I’ve been chosen to receive the nation’s most generous independent scholarship for graduate studies in the arts. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private foundation established in 2000 by Jack Kent Cooke to help exceptionally promising students with financial need reach their full potential through education. The Foundation has taken an amazing vote of confidence in my future by selecting me to be one of this year’s 15 recipients of the Graduate Arts Award.

The Award covers cost of attendance in a graduate degree program for up to $50,000 per year for three years (extending to multiple degrees as needed). It’s given to college students or recent graduates with significant financial need who will pursue a graduate or professional degree in the visual arts, performing arts, or creative writing.

Candidates for the scholarship must be nominated by a faculty representative at their undergraduate institution. Each college or university may nominate up to two candidates. I was nominated by NEC’s Provost and Dean, Thomas Novak, and recommended by Chair of Composition, Michael Gandolfi, and Chair of Liberal Arts, Patrick Keppel. A review panel of distinguished artists, arts faculty, and university administrators selected the recipients using criteria including artistic or creative merit, academic achievement, financial need, will to succeed, and a breadth of interests and activities.

May 25, 2012

I’ve Graduated from NEC… with the Chadwick Medal in Tow!

Nell Receives NEC's Chadwick Medal. Photo by Jeff Thiebauth.

NEC's President Tony Woodcock Presents Nell with Her Diploma. Photo by Jeff Thiebauth.

At Commencement, I was thrilled to be presented with the George Whitefield Chadwick Medal: the highest honor bestowed upon an undergraduate at NEC. The Chadwick Medal recipient is selected by members of NEC’s faculty and administration and is presented “to a graduating senior whose entire record of achievement has been most distinguished in the candidates major field, supplementary studies, extracurricular activities, and good citizenship” (according to the Commencement program).

The Chadwick medal is one of several honors that the Conservatory has presented me with–including the Presser Scholar Award, which was announced at the Convocation ceremony last fall and was accompanied by a $4,800 prize.

April 29, 2012May 18, 2012

Reading of “Symphony No. 1” (excerpt)

On April 27th, the New England Conservatory Philharmonia recorded a reading of the first movement from my in-progress Symphony No. 1 as part of NEC’s composers’ orchestral readings program. The recording is now available online.

This recording represents the best take from about 30 minutes of rehearsal and is not intended to be considered a polished performance, but it’s an excellent account of the piece. Following the reading session, I revised some of the orchestration and I’m in the process of completing the other four movements of the symphony. Stay tuned!

Did you know this is my third orchestral composition that’s been read and recorded by the NEC Philharmonia? Check out From the Faraway Nearby (2009) and The Sphinx and the Milk Way (2011).

April 2, 2012April 9, 2012

Premiere of “Sextet” in Jordan Hall – my last Tuesday Night New Music concert!

Monday, April 23, 8:00pm
Sextet *PREMIERE*
Performed by Zachary Boeding, oboe, Andrew Thompson, bassoon, Gregor Kaelin, trumpet, Amy Kao, harpsichord, Lisa Goddard, violin, and Elizabeth Oka, viola.
Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston MA. Free admission.

Sextet for oboe, bassoon, trumpet, harpsichord, violin, and viola is a love letter to the textures and sound world of Baroque music (a subject I explored in a very different way with my recent piece for trumpet and electronics, San Marco). Although references to historical style are not continuous throughout this piece, Baroque music influenced my choice of instrumentation and certain compositional devices I utilized: hence the movement titles Canon, Ritornello, and Passacaglia.

This piece is also infused with a feeling for syncopation, groove, melody, harmony, and soloistic playing—as well as the sense of being taken on a journey through music—inherited from my favorite 1970s progressive rock bands such as Yes and Gentle Giant and contemporary indie band The Flaming Lips: hence the movement title Groove.

For this performance, Sextet is also a fond goodbye to my time as an undergraduate at New England Conservatory: this marks the 20th and final performance of my music on a Tuesday Night New Music concert, and the 28th performance of my music in Boston and at NEC since arriving here in the fall of 2008.

February 26, 2012April 9, 2012

Premiere of “San Marco” for trumpet and electronics

San Marco *PREMIERE*
Sunday, April 1, 8:00pm
Performed by Ezra Weller, trumpet and electronics
Pierce Hall at New England Conservatory
241 St. Botolph St, Boston MA.
Free admission.

Renoir, Piazza San Marco Venice — A painting of San Marco by Auguste Renoir

This piece combines live trumpet with digital processing and playback of pre-recorded samples controlled by the performer. This premiere performance is being featured on a recital of electro-acoustic music by students of composer John Mallia.

My goal with San Marco is to create a fluid, ambient atmosphere evoking the sound-world and spirit of the sacred instrumental music of the late Renaissance/early Baroque, especially Monteverdi (who I sample in the piece). The famous cathedral in Venice, Basilica of St. Mark’s (Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), was a center for this music and the inspiration for my title, San Marco.

The piece features truncated, looped, and processed samples of late Renaissance music for voice and cornetto, a wind instrument with a sound not unlike a trumpet (although its construction is very different). The cornetto was highly regarded in the 16th and early 17th centuries for its similarity to the human voice, and has a delicate sound I find incredibly beautiful. The modern trumpet plays along with and around the samples, alternately imitating, dominating, and being dominated by the sound of the cornetto.

February 26, 2012February 26, 2012

Proclaiming Pan concert to feature “Nine Muses”

Nine Muses
Sunday, March 25, 2:30pm
Hunneman Hall
Brookline Public Library
361 Washington Street
Brookline, MA
Free admission with a suggested $10 donation.

My set of nine miniature movements for solo flute, harp, and violin referencing the muses of Greek mythology will be performed by Elizabeth Erenberg, flute, Maria Parker, harp, Ryan Shannon, violin, and Oriana Dunlop, narrator, at the Brookline Public Library.

This performance is part of Proclaiming Pan, a musical and literary experience with Greek Mythology curated and produced by flutist Elizabeth Erenberg (a fellow Entrepreneurial Grant recipient). The program also features music by Debussy, Schubert, and Purcell, and literary quotations from Isadora Duncan, John Lyly, Goethe, and ancient texts.

February 25, 2012February 26, 2012

Premiere of “Places in the Bay Area” for flute/piccolo and piano

Places in the Bay Area *Premiere*
Tuesday, March 6, 8:00pm
Tuesday Night New Music
Pierce Hall at New England Conservatory
241 St. Botolph St, Boston MA. Free admission.

Performed by Sarah Sullivan, flute and piccolo, and Kristina Nyberg, piano.

With this piece, I sought to capture feelings I have about places in and around my former hometown of San Francisco, CA.

The first movement, San Francisco Streets – Home, features a lively, rhythmically-driven ritornello section alluding to the sunny energy of the city. The first instance of the ritornello is followed by a more reflective mood—perhaps a gray day out in the Richmond District. After a truncated ritornello, the music shifts character again to evoke some of the nostalgia I feel for my childhood home, an Edwardian apartment near the Presidio where my family lived for about 16 years.

The second movement, The Marin Headlands in Fog, features piccolo in place of flute. It depicts the mysterious atmosphere of the foggy coastal scenery of the Marin Headlands national park across the bay from the city.

I hope you can join me for Tuesday Night New Music!

October 7, 2011October 7, 2011

New Beyond the Notes website launched

Beyond the Notes is live! Visit www.beyondthenotes.org now on your browser or mobile phone.

The online multimedia educational guide includes numerous videos, interviews with art curators, audio excerpts, and program notes. The site contains:

24 pages
47 audio clips
33 videos
29 images

“Far more extensive than the usual site devoted to an event or artwork, [Beyond the Notes] contains…loads of information connecting the music and art.”

David Weininger, The Boston Globe (read full article)

After browsing the website, come check out the concert on November 2!

Beyond the Notes: Music Inspired by Art
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
6:00pm-7:30pm
Free admission. Reception to follow.
Pierce Hall at New England Conservatory
241 St. Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115

September 23, 2011September 24, 2011

Beyond the Notes: Music Inspired by Art

I’m very excited to announce my upcoming recital, Beyond the Notes: Music Inspired by Art. The concert will be a multisensory, multimedia experience featuring live chamber music performed by wonderful NEC student musicians coordinated with video and slide projections of the art that inspired it.

Beyond the Notes: Music Inspired by Art will be presented at the New England Conservatory of Music on November 2nd, 2011, 6:00-7:30pm in Pierce Hall (241 St. Botolph St, Boston MA). Reception to follow. The event is free and open to the public.

Beyond the Notes screen capture — Beyond the Notes website as seen on a mobile phone

The concert will be enhanced by an accompanying digital companion, which will be launched within the next couple of weeks. Visitors are invited to browse the website ahead of time, or before and after the concert in the hall or on their phones, and explore video clips, audio excerpts, photographs, and information about the artists and music.

The new website will highlight Watercolors, a wind quintet inspired by the paintings of Charles Burchfield, in addition to the portion of the website featuring the string quartet The Course of Empire, which was posted in July.

The section on Watercolors features video clips from a fascinating interview with Nancy Weekly, Curator at the Burchfield Penney Art Center; Carol Steen, painter and co-founder of the American Synesthesia Assocation; as well as a movement-by-movement analysis of the connection between my music and the paintings, which is interspersed with audio excerpts and relevant images from the paintings.

While The Course of Empire and Watercolors are being highlighted on the website/app, every piece on the program has its own dedicated page and content. Other pieces featured on the program and the accompanying website include:

Setsugekka for violin and piano, inspired by Japanese woodblock prints by Hiroshige. The website will include videos introducing the genre of Japanese woodblock printing, and the traditional theme of setsugekka (snow, moon and flowers). This section features text and narration by independent print scholar John Resig (ukiyo-e.org).
To Create One’s Own World for soprano, flute, bass clarinet, and marimba, and The Faraway Nearby video piece with chamber score, both inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe. The website will include audio clips, song text, and the online video of The Faraway Nearby.
Revealed in Stone, a song cycle for tenor and piano inspired by the sculpture and poetry of Michelangelo. The website will feature an analysis of the English translation of the poetry used in the cycle.
Triptych for solo guitar, inspired by the formal structure of triptychs (especially as seen in Medieval art). The website will include a comparison of different genres of triptychs.

Both the concert and website have received support from the Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department at NEC.

August 1, 2011August 10, 2011

Peabody Essex Museum concert: success!

Rehearsal at PEM with projections of Thomas Cole's paintings

“The Course of Empire” at the Peabody Essex Museum on Saturday, July 30, was a success! The four performers (members of string orchestra A Far Cry), Liza Zurlinden, Ethan Wood, Jason Fisher, and Alexei Gonzales did a beautiful job of interpreting my string quartet. The group performed in Morse Auditorium beneath a large projection of the five paintings (provided by PEM), which were switched in real-time to correspond with each movement.

The music was preceded by a brief introductory video compiled from clips of videos I produced for Beyond the Notes, which provided context for Cole’s paintings and my musical “transmutation” of them (as curator Linda Ferber at the New-York Historical Society put it).

I made video and audio recordings of the performance, and will post clips online in the near future.

We counted roughly 140 people in the audience between the morning and afternoon concerts. That’s a great turnout for an event of this nature, and was bolstered by some remarkable publicity: the concert received a preview in the Boston Globe (read a scan of the article or see it on the Globe’s website) by Classical Notes columnist David Weininger. The article took up a full-page spread on p. 5 of the Arts & Entertainment insert on Friday, July 29. Weininger had the following to say about my companion website, Beyond the Notes:

“Far more extensive than the usual site devoted to an event or artwork, it contains not only reproductions of the Cole paintings and program notes, but a full performance of the piece and loads of information connecting the music and art.”

The concert took place in conjunction with the opening of Painting the American Vision, a special touring exhibit of 45 paintings by 19th century American landscape painters of the Hudson River School. This was the kind of event I’m really passionate about producing–an event that brings together art forms in what is both an artistic expression and an educational experience for audiences. I look forward to developing similar collaborations with art museums in the future.

Nell with the performers. (L-R: Ethan Wood, Alexei Gonzales, Nell, Liza Zurlinden, Jason Fisher)