It’s been a busy season for Music Alive, the composer residency program jointly run by the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA. Three-year principal composer residencies are just wrapping up at the Albany Symphony (N.Y.), Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (Ohio), Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony (Calif.), and Seattle Symphony. Highlights include the composer collective Sleeping Giant’s program with the Albany Symphony on March 19, pairing works by each of the collective’s six composers with masterpieces from which they drew inspiration. At the Detroit Symphony, Gabriela Lena Frank’s collaborative community work American Anthem with Detroit-based American House Senior Center received its world premiere on April 27. The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance premiered Stella Sung’s opera The Book Collector in May with the Dayton Opera, Dayton Philharmonic, and Dayton Ballet. Narong Prangcharoen continues his work with the youth ensembles of the Pacific Symphony, and Trimpin’s three-year residency with the Seattle Symphony concluded in December following an eight-week workshop with Path with Art, which uses art to help those recovering from homelessness, addiction, and other trauma. Then there are Music Alive’s one-week residencies known as New Partnerships. Missy Mazzoli, Carl Schimmel, Laura Schwendinger, and Jingjing Luo enjoyed successful residencies at the Boulder Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, and Princeton Symphony, respectively. In July, Annie Gosfield’s New Partnerships residency with the Chautauqua Symphony (N.Y.) will include the presentation of her Almost Truths and Open Deceptions for the Chautauqua Symphony and a new orchestral work for the Music School Festival Orchestra.
