Solar Flare: World Premieres from Luna Composition Lab

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 7 PM EDT

 

About the Program

Solar Flare features world premieres by the 2020–2021 Luna Composition Lab Fellows Vera Gjaja, Alisha Heng, Jordan Millar, Zola Saadi-Klein, Azalea Twining, and Marina Zurita McKinnon. A national mentorship program founded by 2018 Grammy nominee Missy Mazzoli and 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Reid with Kaufman Music Center in 2016, Luna Lab is “changing the playing field by providing mentorship and exposure to teen-age female, non-binary, and gender nonconforming composers” (The New Yorker). The event includes performances and interviews with the Fellows and mentors. The performers include young musicians from Kaufman Music Center’s Face the Music program, Special Music School High School, Manhattan School of Music Precollege, and The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. Solar Flare is generously underwritten by The Augustine Foundation.

 

PROGRAM

  • VERA GJAJA  –  Quadricycle
  • JORDAN MILLAR  –  Masquerade
  • AZALEA TWINING  –  Under Her Voices
  • ALISHA HENG  –  Cogito
  • MARINA ZURITA MCKINNON  –  Two Way Radio
  • ZOLA SAADI-KLEIN  –  Zafaran va Anar

 

About Luna Composition Lab

Luna Composition Lab, founded in 2016 by Ellen Reid and Missy Mazzoli with the Kaufman Music Center, provides year-round mentorship, performances and networking opportunities to female, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers ages 12-18. Each year, Fellows are selected from across the country and paired with acclaimed female, non-binary, and gender nonconforming composers who act as individual Mentors. Throughout the season, Fellows work with Mentors via biweekly lessons on online platforms to create a new work that will premiere in New York City. The season culminates in a festival of activities including master classes and conversations with prominent composers, instrumentalists, vocalists, creators, curators, and leaders in the arts. Thanks to their participation in our program, Luna Lab alums have attended prestigious composition programs and conservatories, and received commissions from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Louisville Symphony, Opera Omaha, and more. Learn more about Luna Composition Lab.

 

About Kaufman Music Center

Kaufman Music Center transforms lives through music education and performance. Founded in 1952 as a community music school, today’s Kaufman Music Center is leveling the playing field for kids all over NYC and beyond with innovative programs making music education accessible for 4,000 students of all ages and backgrounds each year at Special Music School; Lucy Moses School, a community arts school for all ages; and groundbreaking teen new music programs like Face the Music and Luna Composition Lab. At Merkin Hall, more than 50,000 audience members each year connect with music at performances ranging from classical to cutting-edge. Learn more about Kaufman Music Center.

 

Luna Composition Lab is made possible, in part, by the Augustine Foundation, Janet Bragg, Cheswatyr Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, Dinah Jacobs, The William D. and Dr. Sally C. Johnson Family Foundation, The Patrina Foundation, James R. Rosenfield, the Susan and Conrad De Jong Fund of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Bradley A. Vernatter, and The Wise Family Charitable Foundation. Donate to Luna Composition Lab and Kaufman Music Center

 

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“Solar Flare” – Luna Composition Lab