Divergent Studio

Angélica Negrón

Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican composer and performer who writes music for voices, orchestras, ensembles and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. At the intersection of classical and electronic music, she blends unusual instruments, and acoustic, electronic and found sounds “to underscore the inventive sound world that she brings to her music…” (San Francisco Chronicle). Rooted in her experience as a Puerto Rican artist living in the diaspora, her work explores migration, absence, and belonging, evident in upcoming premieres including a cello concerto commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and The Puerto Rico Experiment, a song cycle for Roomful of Teeth and Balún commissioned by PAC NYC that examines Puerto Rico’s history as a site of political, scientific, and economic experimentation. Angélica has composed for Opera Philadelphia (a drag opera film with Mathew Placek and Sasha Velour), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, and for Sō Percussion who commissioned and performed her Carnegie Hall debut. A recent work for Trés Chamber Music Trio and saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán, honors stories of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the Twin Cities.. Learn more…

Reiko Fueting  

Reiko Fueting was born in 1970 in Königs Wusterhausen of the German Democratic Republic. He studied composition and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden, at Rice University in Houston, at Manhattan School of Music in New York, and at Seoul National University. Some of his most influential teachers have been the composers Jörg Herchet and Nils Vigeland, and the pianist Winfried Apel.Reiko Fueting joined the theory faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in 2000; five years later, he became a member of the composition faculty and was appointed department chair of theory. He has also taught vocal accompanying at the Conservatory of Music and Theater in Rostock, Germany, and appeared as guest faculty and lecturer at universities and conservatories in China, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. As a composer, Reiko Fueting has received numerous prizes, awards, scholarships, grants, and commissions. His music has been performed by renowned musicians and ensembles in several countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, broadcast on radio and television, and released on CDs. His publications include compositions, arrangements, and analytical articles.. Learn more…

loadbang

New York City-based new music chamber group loadbang is building a new kind of music for mixed ensemble of trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet, and baritone voice. Since their founding in 2008, they have been praised as ‘cultivated’ by The New Yorker, ‘an extra-cool new music group’ and ‘exhilarating’ by the Baltimore Sun, ‘inventive’ by the New York Times and called a ‘formidable new-music force’ by TimeOutNY. Creating ‘a sonic world unlike any other’ (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), their unique lung-powered instrumentation has provoked diverse responses from composers, resulting in a repertoire comprising an inclusive picture of composition today. In New York City, they have been recently presented by and performed at Miller Theater, Symphony Space, MATA, and by the Look and Listen Festival; on American tours at Da Camera of Houston, Rothko Chapel, and the Festival of New American Music at Sacramento State University; and internationally at Ostrava Days (Czech Republic), China-ASEAN Music Week (China), the Xinghai Conservatory of Music (China), Shanghai Symphony Hall (China), Visiones Sonoras Festival (Morelia, Mexico), and the Musikverein (Vienna, Austria). loadbang has premiered more than 550 works, written by members of the ensemble, emerging artists, and today’s leading composers. Their repertoire includes works by Pulitzer Prize winners Raven Chacon, David Lang, and Charles Wuorinen; Rome Prize winners Andy Akiho and Paula Matthusen; and Guggenheim Fellows Chaya Czernowin, George Lewis, and Alex Mincek. They were the ensemble-in-residence at Cornell University through the Steven Stucky Memorial Residency for New Music, and through a partnership with the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston, they are the ensemble-in-residence at Divergent Studio, a contemporary music festival for young performers and composers held each summer.  Learn more…

Divergent Trio

Divergent Trio is comprised of three leaders in the international contemporary music community who offer extensive experience bringing new works to life.  Soprano Corrine Byrne is a member of Lorelie Ensemble, violinist Sarah Whitney is a speaker, teacher, and Career & Leadership Coach for High-Achieving Musicians, and pianist Donald Berman is a soloist and President of the Charles Ives Society.

Led by members of one of the country’s most active new music ensembles, loadbang, and the virtuosic pianist Donald Berman, you will plunge into an intensive 12 days of studying and performing works by some of the most exciting composers of our time!  With daily coaching by the members of loadbang and pianist Donald Berman, performers at Divergent Studio will be featured in composer portrait concerts for Angélica Negrón and Reiko Füting, be partnered with Divergent Studio composers to bring brand new works into the world and perform in a final marathon concert, featuring pieces by many of the most influential composers of our time. Join us and make connections, make discoveries, and make new music together! 

With guest composers Angélica Negrón and Reiko Füting alongside Longy’s own composition faculty Alexandra du Bois, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Pablo Santiago Chin, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and John Morrison, Divergent Studio’s composition program provides the freedom to develop your own individual voice in a collaborative and community-driven setting. Divergent Studio Composers will have the opportunity to write for one of out two ensembles of new music specialists. This includes loadbang, and Divergent Trio (Donald Berman (soloist), Corrine Byrne (Lorelei Ensemble), and Sarah Whitney).