Artist diploma program in violin student Margarita Krein performs outside the International Center on Tuesday afternoon. Originally from Latvia, Krein will be performing the piece “Caprices” from the film “The Red Violin” this weekend at Wharton Center as a part of An Evening with John Corigliano.
Night after night as a child, John Corigliano watched his father, the concertmaster for the New York Philharmonic for 23 years, perform.
He loved the music, but he got so nervous watching his father’s bow fly across the strings, he knew he never could be a performer.
“I would watch my father perform as a little boy and get very nervous for him,” Corigliano said. “I got to the point where I knew the pieces so well I went through hell. And so the idea of my standing on a stage and performing is impossible.”
In fact, Corigliano never learned how to play an instrument.
His mother tried to teach him piano, but he only had “two lessons and a fight.” Instead, Corigliano decided to become a composer. He studied composition at Columbia University and then the Manhattan School of Music.
Getting past the nerves
Since then, Corigliano has built a huge repertoire of music — three symphonies, an opera, a smattering of smaller vocal works, numerous concertos and three movie scores.
“Mr. Corigliano is one of the most famous American composers alive,” said Kevin Sedatole, professor of music and director of bands, in an e-mail.
“His compositional output crosses through all forms of concert music. He writes for large ensemble, choral, chamber, unaccompanied solo voices, piano, etc. His musical presence has been felt around the world.”
This week, Corigliano served a residency at the College of Music. Throughout the week, he held many rehearsals open to the public with the MSU Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra and University Chorale. Sedatole said bringing Corigliano in to work with music students was important to their education.
“It’s always a wonderful musical experience to have the composer of the music you are performing present,” he said. “It allows you to get the music just as the composer wants it. The composer also can give the answers to why and how a piece was written or constructed. Having the composer present gives the performers and audience a chance to peek inside of their musical mind and soul.”
Throughout the week, Corigliano also spoke at several events outside the College of Music, including a discussion with middle and high school students and a workshop in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building about writing musical scores for movies.
To wrap up the week’s activities, Corigliano will hold a seminar about composing from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday in Room 120 of the Music Building.
At 8 p.m. Saturday in Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall, many university musical groups along with a few distinguished soloists will come together under Corigliano’s direction to perform An Evening with John Corigliano.
The concert will include Corigliano’s 2004 Symphony No. 3: “Circus Maximus”.
“(‘Circus Maximus’ is) surround sound,” said James Forger, dean of the College of Music. “It’s an extravaganza of sound. It’s one of the most interesting and loudest pieces you’ll ever hear in your life.”
In addition to “Circus Maximus,” the concert will include 1982’s “Pied Piper Fantasy,” 1960’s “Fern Hill,” 2001’s “DC Fanfare” and 1998’s “The Red Violin Caprices.”
Becoming Inspirational
Margarita Krein, part of the artist diploma program through the College of Music, is performing “The Red Violin Caprices” for solo violin. Originally from Latvia, she has performed “The Red Violin Caprices” several times already, including placing first at two competitions in Carneige Hall this spring.
She said Corigliano is her favorite living composer. When she was 8 years old, she saw the movie “The Red Violin” and was so touched by the story that she began to seriously study violin.
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“(Corigliano is) not like any other composer,” she said. “His music is very touching. He uses so many different styles — he’s not going in one direction. He hears his music before he writes it down and that’s what makes it work. His music — it’s difficult to perform but interesting to listen to.”
Corigliano said he began to design his own musical structures, which he calls architectures around 1975 that make him so different from any other composer.
Drawn on giant sheets of paper, his architectures look nothing like traditional sheet music, but more like a blueprint, diagramming the rising curves and swooping valleys of the melody.
“If you give up the traditional form … you have the choice of having no form or building a form, which is an architecture,” he said.
“Why would you write a few notes down and not know the shape? If you write a few notes down without knowing where you’re going, how’re you supposed to lead the audience? You fill the white spaces with music that is prescribed in a sense, and you see a dramatic scene. It helps you compose the piece, whereas having a blank page is difficult.”
Hitting the big screen
“The Red Violin Caprices” that Krein will perform at Saturday’s concert originally are from the movie “The Red Violin.”
The movie was Corigliano’s third movie score. He said working with a director is a different experience than composing for yourself or a musical group.
“Directors are very nervous,” he said. “(The score) is the last thing they put on the page. They’re paranoid and they’re crazy. They’ll ask the people delivering the coffee what they think.”
Even outside of the movies, many of Corigliano’s pieces have a dramatic flair.
“The Pied Piper Fantasies,” a concerto for solo flute and orchestra, contains many theatrical elements, including using young children to tell the classic story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
“This piece is like no other in the flute repertoire,” said Richard Sherman, professor of music and the solo flutist for Saturday’s performance.
“It’s a concerto … and it really tells the fairytale of the Pied Piper in the music and it has very strong theatrical
elements … I think he has a very high sense of drama and a high sense of craftsmanship. He also understands the whole theatrical element without it going over the top. I think he’s quite a remarkable composer all the way around.”
A preview lecture with Corigliano will be held at 7:15 p.m. for anyone with a concert ticket who wants to attend before the performance.
Tickets for Saturday’s seminar with Corigliano are $10 and available at the door. Tickets for the concert are $17.50 for students anywhere in the auditorium and range from $15 to $25 for general admission based on seating.
For more information, go to the Wharton Center website at whartoncenter.com or call (517) 432-2000.
