A young Mozart in the making?
MIFrost
JUDITH WHITE , For The Saratogian 03/19/2004
GREENWICH -- While some composers spend a lifetime waiting for someone
to perform their music in public, a local high school junior will have two
of his works premiered at Carnegie Hall this weekend.
Kevin Warren, a junior at Greenwich Central High School, was already
bitten by the composing bug when a chance encounter prompted him to begin
work on an opera.
The prologue to that opera, 'Lily Among the Goddesses,' with libretto
by Annie Finch, premieres at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Weill Recital Hall in
Carnegie Hall in New York City. Also being premiered in that program will be
Warren's musical setting for renaissance poet Louise Labe's 'Sonnet XIII,'
as translated by Finch.
A Yale graduate with a Ph.D. from Stanford, Finch is a published poet
and author, and an associate professor and member of the graduate faculty of
the creative writing program at Miami University of Ohio. She belongs to one
of the online music discussion groups frequented by Warren. The two
discussed his composing.
It was her influence that prompted Warren to try writing opera, and
her affiliation with the organization 'Lyric Recovery' that landed his music
on the program of that group's annual festival at Carnegie Hall.
The writing professor and high school student exchanged e-mail
messages about Kevin's earlier compositions.
'When Kevin sent me a sample of his music, I was impressed with the
emotional directness and freshness of his work,' Finch says. 'As he has been
setting my libretto, he has been extremely attentive to the nuances of the
text.'
Kevin explains the opera 'Lily Among the Goddesses' as a story of a
woman, Lily, who becomes influenced by a variety of historic Goddesses.
'This is definitely contemporary, but with an ancient flavor,' says
the young composer.
Later in the story line, Lily is raped and becomes pregnant. She
subsequently struggles with whether or not to undergo an abortion. The drama
takes no stand, he said, but deals with the emotions of the conflict.
Written for chamber orchestra, the piece will be performed at the
premiere in piano reduction with baritone and mezzo soprano soloists.
Warren says he's been influenced musically by both classical styles
and by jazz and popular music genres, and describes himself as having
'eclectic tastes.'
'I've especially tried to incorporate aspects of Debussy's
impressionism, the quirkiness of a lot of Stravinsky's works, and the
lyricism of Barber's vocal works -- especially 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915,'
one of my favorite works,' he says.
Warren fully intends to complete music for the whole opera, and hopes
it will be performed someday in its entirety.
A member of several musical ensembles at his school, Warren studied
saxophone and jazz with Mark Vinci at Skidmore College and theory with
Timothy Patrick.
His setting of one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Sonnets from the
Portuguese' will be performed this spring by the Washington County Chorale,
directed by Doug Bischoff. Also, his work 'Addiction' was premiered recently
at the Adirondack School in Greenwich.
College is still more than a year away for this student, but Warren
knows he wants to major in composition, and right now he thinks he'd like to
attend the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
His father, local guitarist and songwriter Bob Warren, says he may
have introduced his son to music, but he himself has been influenced by his
son's progress in composition.
'He has a very professional approach, and he does the sketches and
planning. And here I am, for the first time in my life I've had to write out
musical parts myself,' says the father, who has been completing music for
'Greenwich: The Musical,' which will be presented in late May.
Is he surprised that his son's music will be played at Carnegie Hall?
'Kevin was struck by the muse,' his dad says. 'But he was kind of an
old soul from the beginning.'
For admission prices and more information about the upcoming
performance, visit www.lyricrecovery.org.
©The Saratogian 2004
Porky Pig Jr
mmmmm... sweat dreams ...
Matthew B. Tepper
> If I only had a dollar for each pre-teen 'Mozart in the making' ...
> mmmmm... sweat dreams ...
Tepper will pay a lot more than a dollar for a "pre-teen".
Matthew B. Tepper
letters to be typed in news:56cfb0e3.04031...@posting.google.com:
> If I only had a dollar for each pre-teen 'Mozart in the making' ...
> mmmmm... sweat dreams ...
And if you had a dollar for each of those who actually made it, you *might*
be able to buy a cup of coffee, that is, with the addition of a small loan.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
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