Suncoast Composer Festival 2024: Seminars at Selby Library

Presented in partnership with the Sarasota Music Archive, two seminars will be presented by artistic director Max Tan and composer mentor-in-residence Marc Migó. Audiences will get a special peek into how classical musicians deal with important and somewhat existential questions of our time. The seminar presentations will also preview concert programming during the festival, featuring the 12 remarkable resident artists of international acclaim associated with such esteemed institutions such as The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Opera Philadelphia, Staatskapelle Dresden, San Francisco Classical Voice, and more.

An intermission with refreshments will be provided between both talks.

Program:

11 AM: How Recordings Redefined Music: From Brahms to Today, presented by Max Tan. Since their invention, recordings fossilize performances that were once ephemeral phenomena, holding performers accountable to high standards of fidelity to a composer’s intentions. This talk bridges the gap between performers today and composers from the era before recordings existed, specifically focusing on recordings of performances and interviews by colleagues, peers, and students from Brahms’ social circle. Featuring Johannes Brahms’ “Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115,” with Sam Boutris, clarinet; Max Tan, Christina Nam, violins; Luther Warren, viola; and Rainer Crosett, cello.

11:45 AM: Music Behind Bars: 100 Years of Struggle for the Validation of the Catalan Symphonic Repertoire, presented by Marc Migó. This talk will provide an answer for why, despite its obvious value, Catalan symphonic music is not sufficiently known within Catalan borders or abroad. Because the Catalan national identity was formed at around the beginning of the 20th century, this presentation will explore, from a sociocultural viewpoint, the symphonic repertoire written by Catalan composers from 1920 to 2020. Musical examples will accompany this discussion. Featuring Myroslav Skoryk’s “Melody in A minor for violin and piano.” With Gabrielle Chou, piano; and Max Tan, violin. Also featuring Marc Migó Cortes’ “Three Romances for violin and piano.” With TianYi Li, piano; and Lukas Stepp, violin.

About the Suncoast Composer Festival (SCF) and the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program (SCFP):

Soundbox Ventures's inaugural Suncoast Composer Festival (SCF) includes events open to the Sarasota public on October 4th, 5th, and 7th. The Suncoast Composer Festival is the latest component of Soundbox’s Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program (SCFP), established in 2022 as a private residency for early-career composers to work with world-class mentors and performers/recording artists. This year’s festival will be the Fellowship’s first public showcase after two closed sessions in September 2023 and 2024.

The Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program brings the work of important early-career composers to Sarasota. Through SCFP, the city serves both as an exciting early staging ground for new musical work that will go on to national and international acclaim as well as a meeting place in which composers and preeminent performers can form important working relationships. By opening the residency to public performances and seminars this year, audiences will have a special opportunity to see how performers and composers think and address important and sometimes existential questions facing classical music today.

Host or Publisher Soundbox Ventures