Henry Dorn Selected For 2022 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute
Composers will travel to Minneapolis for Orchestra’s professional training program, directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and co-presented with the American Composers Orchestra;
Institute runs from May 2-6, 2022, culminating in a Minnesota Orchestra MusicMakers concert conducted by Osmo Vänskä, the final such concert under Vänskä’s baton as music director;
YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio will offer a live broadcast of the MusicMakers performance;
New this season: MusicMakers concert will also be shared live via online streaming.
Seven emerging composers have been selected as participants for the Minnesota Orchestra’s 18th annual Composer Institute, the Orchestra announced today. The selected composers, whose works encompass a wide variety of musical styles, were chosen from a pool of about 300 applicants and will be part of a deeply immersive experience in Minneapolis from May 2-6, 2022, as they participate in rehearsals, seminars and mentoring sessions. For the first time ever, the culminating “MusicMakers” performance of their works will be shared live on the Orchestra’s website and social media channels on Friday, May 6, 2022. The performance also marks an ending: it will be the final MusicMakers concert under Music Director Osmo Vänskä’s baton before he steps down from his leadership role at the end of the 2021-22 season.
The 18th annual Composer Institute participants are Henry L. Dorn of Little Rock, Arkansas; Adeliia Faizullina of Providence, Rhode Island; Bobby Ge of Shanghai, China; Ryan Lindveit of Lake Jackson, Texas; Molly Joyce of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Nina Shekhar of Detroit, Michigan; and Sam Wu of Melbourne, Australia.
“This is a landmark year for the Composer Institute,” said composer Kevin Puts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who serves as its director. “In addition to presenting these exciting new works—and their creators!— in a live concert and live radio broadcast, we are now also able to reach new audiences through a livestream shared on the Orchestra’s website and social channels which will broaden the exposure for these talented composers at a crucial period in their careers. We’ll be paying tribute to Osmo with these concerts, too. He has been a great champion of this project and the dozens of composers who have participated in it since 2001, always treating their work with the utmost respect and commitment, and we are honored he will conduct the May 6 MusicMakers performance.”
Puts chaired the Institute’s selection committee, which included Composer Institute alumni Katherine Balch and Viet Cuong, as well as composer Roberto Sierra.