 Growing up, Ryan Brown spent a lot of time in hospitals. Both his parents worked in one. "I was always struck by the mood, quiet and cold with these beeping humming hissing machines all around. I drew on that a little for this piece." Perhaps it's not a coincidence Brown chose to re-visit the liminal space of the operating room in his Hoefer Prize commission. The premiere comes at a transitional time for the composer as he welcomes new influences, courts new muses and returns to the Bay Area after a few years on the East Coast.
The Exact Location of the Soul is Brown's second piece inspired by the writings of Richard Selzer, a surgeon whose essays poetically dissect the mysteries of the body and spirit. He wrote the first for the Grammy Award-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth. Until now, Brown has tended to compose in the manner you'd expect of a rock guitarist. "It's always been something very practical and concrete. It's been sometimes a chord, or a rhythm or a riff... It's only recently that I've tried to expand my palette and look for other sources of inspiration. Working with singers recently has forced me to do that more." Selzer's texts have led Brown down a more philosophical path. With three male vocalists, two keyboard players and four percussionists, The Exact Location of the Soul aims for a mood that unites hospital and cathedral. "Ryan's piece is very imaginative," says BluePrint New Music Series Artistic Director Nicole Paiement. "With simple means, borrowed from a popular genre, he creates textures and colors that are truly unique and innovative."
Brown credits his conservatory graduate training and specifically faculty member and composition department chair Dan Becker '89 for the breakthroughs that helped define his voice for the past decade. That voice has resonated in works for electric guitar, percussion and orchestral instruments written for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, JACK Quartet and the Paul Dresher Ensemble, among others. This June, the New York Philharmonic features Brown's solo pieces for piano on its CONTACT! Series. He broke into the New York scene during the past few years while pursuing a PhD at Princeton University. But with the Hoefer Prize, the Conservatory is once again helping Brown find his next step. He moved back to the Bay Area last summer to compose and teach part time. He'll also continue running San Francisco's annual Switchboard Music Festival which, on April 12, will feature a new piece he's writing for Kronos Quartet. Despite this workload, Brown suggests his move back west will allow him breathing room to experiment. "San Francisco and the Bay area to me still seems like such a place of opportunity that's not over-saturated. There's not so many people fighting to do the same thing."
The Hoefer Prize has undoubtedly eased Brown's return. Stemming from a bequest by arts patron and former Conservatory trustee Jacqueline Stanhope Hoefer, the $15,000 prize is awarded each year to a Conservatory graduate. In addition to the commission itself, Brown will work with Paiement and the New Music Ensemble during a week-long residency, participate in public forums and oversee a recording of his composition. Admitting to harboring a "soft spot" for the Conservatory since he first came here in 2003, Brown says, "It meant a lot to me to be honored and respected this way by the establishment... It was such a nice way to transition coming back."
The BluePrint New Music Series concert takes place Sunday, March 16 at 8 p.m. Brown will hold an informal pre-concert talk at 7:20 p.m. and also participate in a free "Composers Talk Shop" seminar on Friday, March 14 at 3 p.m. Hoefer Prize winners scheduled for future premieres include Robin Estrada '05 (2015) and Jeffrey Parola '05 (2016). More information.
For Take Note: Conservatory News and Events, March 5, 2014 |
