Wildflower Composer Festival Faculty Concert

The Wildflower Composers Festival and Arcana New Music Ensemble are pleased to announce their annual concert featuring new works by Wildflower faculty. The July 10, 2024, performance will take place at 6pm at Rock Hall at Temple University, 1715 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA. The suggested donation is $10–20.

The program will feature five compositions by Wildflower faculty composers Melissa Dunphy, Cerulean Payne-Passmore, Sepehr Pirasteh, Cece Olszewski, and Erin Busch. The performers from Arcana will be Chelsea Meynig (flute), Jonathan Leeds (clarinet), Angelique Montes (cello), Aaron Stewart (saxophone), and Melinda Rice (violin). A Q & A with the composers will follow the program.

Works on the program include Sepehr Pirasteh’s Narrative for solo cello scordatura, which reflects the idea of presenting a new perspective on the performance tradition of Iranian classical music; Erin Busch’s inhabit, a trio for flute, clarinet, and cello that explores the complications and freedom that can come with living into a personal truth; Cece Olszewski’s bonedog, a composition for alto saxophone and tape that was inspired by the intense devotion of dogs; Melissa Dunphy’s Scallops and Bollocks for solo violin and pre-recorded tape; and a premiere by Cerulean Payne-Passmore for flute and piano, featuring the composer on piano.

The Wildflower Composers Festival is a 12-day program for young female, transgender, nonbinary, and/or genderqueer composers between the ages of 13 and 19. This is the second year that Wildflower Composers and Arcana New Music Ensemble have partnered to highlight faculty works.

“Our partnership with the Arcana New Music Ensemble allows our students to witness the creative collaboration process between Wildflower faculty and Arcana performers, and also provides our faculty with an opportunity to showcase their creative work," says Wildflower founder and executive director Erin Busch.

Wildflower Composers was founded by Dr. Erin Busch in 2018 as Young Women Composers Camp (YWCC) as a way to address the gender disparity in contemporary classical music. The organization brings together young, gender-marginalized composers for composition mentorship, coursework, and community-building.

The Arcana New Music Ensemble is built on a flexible roster of 25 Philadelphia-based musicians dedicated to presenting a broad range of repertoire in numerous configurations.

For more information about Wildflower Composers, visit https://wildflowercomposers.org.

For more information about Arcana New Music Ensemble, visit https://www.arcananewmusic.org/.

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