Zachary Detrick is an eleven-year-old with some really big ideas. His "Fanfare from Symphony No. 7" premiered at Kaufman Center in New York City when he was only four (arranged for trumpet ensemble and chimes by his father). Since then, he taught himself music notation software and began composing prodigiously on the computer. He won the citywide Music Memory Competition in 2009, studies piano with Andrea Hough, and plans to attend the Special Music School, PS 859, in the fall.

For two years, Zachary has also participated in Youth Works, our after-school program at Public School 11 in Manhattan. Through this program, he had the opportunity to work with Metropolis composer fellows Ryan Francis, Cristina Spinei, and Ray Lustig. Now Zachary is collaborating with our newest fellow, Brad Balliett, and they've become quite the pair:

"Zachary and I have been working together for about two months now, and I'm constantly surprised by his imagination and facility. We discovered that we had a lot in common. For one, a love of Stockhausen, which is so rare that I often find our lessons veering off into conversations about Samstag or Tierkreis. There aren't many with whom I can discuss these great pieces!

Brad is part of The Academy (or Ensemble ACJW), a unique fellowship program at Carnegie Hall that works in NYC schools and performs around the city. As head of the programming committee, Brad suggested young Zachary's work as an example of a new generation of composers.

As a result, Ensemble ACJW will present a special live performance on April 26 (7pm) at the Upper West Side Apple Store (Broadway at West 68th Street), part of the store's ongoing artistic partnership with Juilliard. The performance will feature the world premiere of Zachary's "Five Duets for Flute and Bassoon" (with flautist Julietta Curenton and bassoonist Brad Balliett) alongside some stalwarts of the classical world, including Stravinsky, Ligeti, Wolf, and Shoenfeld. RSVP here...

"Five Duets for Flute and Bassoon" gives a nod to Bartok and Stravinsky and tackles some compositional problems posed by Zachary's teacher, Daniel Ott, with some compelling results. For example, in the first piece, the flute plays only "white key notes" and the bassoon only the "black key notes" leading to a surprising sound. Other contrasts - such as staccato (short) and legato (smooth) playing - and clever solutions - including a scale of Zachary's own devising - abound in each duet.

Here's a short excerpt from the fourth duet:


But it doesn't stop there. Elementary students at Zachary's school, PS 11, will be in for a treat on June 8 when Metropolis Ensemble presents the annual end-of-year Youth Works concert that showcases students' work in collaboration with Brad. One of those pieces will be a new work from Zachary inspired by Alice in Wonderland, specifically the Mad Tea-Party scene.

Originally, Zachary was working on a full opera of the famous Lewis Carroll story, but he's put that project on hold to focus on the Metropolis project. Brad and Zachary are meeting regularly to prepare the final piece for the concert: "Each week I visit, he's added a new and delightfully unique piece of the total picture," says Brad. "I, for one, can't wait to hear the final product when we perform it at his school."

As Brad can attest, we are looking forward to more of Zachary's big ideas: "I'm proud to be among the first to present music by our next emerging American composer!"

Labels: bradballiett, composerseries, youthworks, zacharydetrick

Metropolis Ensemble welcomes its 2009-10 Youth Works fellow, Brad Balliett. Over the next year, Brad will work with elementary students at PS11 in Manhattan to teach them about composition and music appreciation... which culminates in a concert featuring the students' work. Brad is an accomplished composer, avid bassonnist, and active teaching artist. In addition to his work at PS11, he is part of Carnegie Hall's The Academy, in residency at PS315 in Brooklyn.

Youth Works is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the van Otterloo Foundation.

Labels: bradballiett, ensemblenews, youthworks

Metropolis Ensemble welcomes its 2008-09 Youth Works composer, Ray Lustig. Over the next year, Ray will work with elementary students at PS11 in Manhattan to teach them about composition and music appreciation... which culminates in a concert featuring the students' work. Ray is a doctoral student at Julliard; his orchestral composition Unstuck won last year's prestigious Rudolf Nissim Prize from the ASCAP Foundation. Here are a few samples of his recent work:



Youth Works is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the van Otterloo Foundation.

Labels: education, ensemblenews, raylustig, youthworks

During the second semester of Youth Works, Metropolis Ensemble's 40-week education program teaching music composition and creativity to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at PS 11 School, Cristina Spinei has been concentrating our weekly lessons on rhythm. After learning about different rhythms and making our own percussion instruments, she thought it would be fun for the class to have a recording session.

Students performed rhythms that they composed and notated on instruments which they built themselves the week before. They constructed drums, shakers, and mallets out of everyday objects to better understand the various performance possibilities with percussion. One student even turned an ordinary drum into a maraca and added rubber bands to make it a "guitar." Everyone loved hearing their own music and performance on CD. At the end of the percussion solos, you will hear excerpts of The Sound Recyclers performing at their first "recording session."



Stay tuned for news about our year-end concert project this June at Youth Works, where Cristina will create an arrangement of the students' compositions to be premiered in a concert by the Metropolis Ensemble and offered to the entire PS 11 school community.

The Metropolis Ensemble would like to thank the van Otterloo Foundation for generously supporting our education initiatives, Youth Works and Wet Ink.

Labels: cristinaspinei, education, ensemblenews, youthworks

To say that Cristina Spinei's experience teaching for Metropolis Ensemble's Youth Works has been successful would be an understatement. Now halfway through this year's program at Public School 11 in Manhattan, Cristina wrote a report to capture some of the amazing progress her students are making.

Teaching at P.S. 11 for one semester has been exciting, challenging, and extremely rewarding. My students are imaginative and open to learning about music that they have had little exposure to. On the first day of class, I asked everyone to name a few composers. The responses I got were "Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, 50 Cent, and Mozart." There was a lot of concern among the students that the music we were learning about would be written by "old dead guys" and would sound "old-fashioned." After the first month of lessons, the students were able to identify the music of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Wynton Marsalis.

From Brazilian percussion to Disney's Fantasia, Cristina has found some inventive and exciting ways to bring music and those "old dead guys" to life! At the end of the school year, Metropolis Ensemble will present a concert showcasing the students' work with Cristina. Read the full report (PDF)...

Labels: cristinaspinei, education, ensemblenews, youthworks

Metropolis Ensemble welcomes its 2007-08 Youth Works composer, Cristina Spinei. A Julliard masters student, Cristina will guide students at Manhattan's PS11 in our exciting composition class, culminating in a concert that showcases the students' work. Meet Cristina...

Labels: cristinaspinei, education, ensemblenews, youthworks