APPLETON, WIS. — Aspiring student composer Paul Feyertag will have a unique opportunity to hone his craft this summer as a participant in the Akademie Schloss Solitude’s master class for young composers in Stuttgart, Germany.
The Lawrence University senior from New Berlin was one of 16 composers from around the world selected for the biannual program. Established in 2003, this year’s summer academy will be held August 3-19.
During his two-week residency, Feyertag will work individually with an academy faculty that features some of the most prominent composers of contemporary music, meet other visiting composers to discuss their work and participate in daily presentations in which each composer will introduce and discusses his or her work with the entire group.
Headlining the list of faculty with whom Feyertag will work is Chaya Czernowin, one of the most successful and influential composers of today’s new music scene. A permanent composition instructor at the summer program, Czernowin teaches composition at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Barely beating the program’s application deadline, Feyertag submitted three compositions he had written in the past year. The pieces ranged in length from 90 seconds to 15 minutes. Several weeks later he found out he was among the select few who had been extended an invititation to attend the academy. His participation in the program will be supported by a scholarship from President Jill Beck.
The internationally acclaimed Ensemble SurPlus will be in residence during the second half of the summer academy and will perform two public concerts of the participants’ compositions. Feyertag has already submitted a work entitled “Hammerspace (shh)” for Ensemble SurPlus to perform as part of the academy’s concert series. Written earlier this spring, the six-minute piece is based on a poem written by 2006 Lawrence graduate Melanie Farley.
“Ensemble SurPlus specializes in contemporary repertoire, so I tried to take advantage of their talents,” said Feyertag, a music theory-composition major, of the work he wrote for the group to perform.
Feyertag, who hopes to pursue a career as a professional composer after he graduates in 2008, wrote his first composition at the age of 14 — a jazz lead sheet — but says it wasn’t until his sophomore year at Lawrence that he truly got serious about composing as a craft. He’s looking forward to spending part of his summer working with the academy’s talented faculty and interacting with composers from around the world who are also at the beginning stages of their careers.
“To have a chance to go to another country and be immersed in something like this is going to be a wonderful opportunity,” said Feyertag.
Founded in 1990, the Akademie Schloss Solitude combines scientific and artistic exchange in a retreat-like setting. It places particular value on providing “quality” of time that is better than participants would otherwise experience in their daily lives. It offers fellowships in architecture, visual arts, performing arts, design, literature, music/sound and video/film/new media.
