In the end, I think one should approach life as one would approach listening: paying attention to, appreciating, and treasuring what and who is already there. The extraordinary is often disguised as ordinary. Perhaps it is all a matter of framing.
Read MoreWhat I want is to be a magician... to transmute sound into connection for anyone who dares to listen; to take those sound waves—the very fabric of the universe and of music itself—and shape them into the simplest, yet most powerful mechanism we have for tuning into ourselves: our emotions.
Read Morewritten by Keith Donaghue
I write this atop a snow-capped mountain in Vermont. Its quiet, except for the birds, and there are few manmade structures in sight, aside from a hand-built teahut. In that hut my friends and I will sit, as we have for years, drinking tea, sharing, listening, building… that intangible network of shared meaning we call community. Though this specific trip was prompted by 2 close friends being told they must leave the country soon (collateral of despotism), we build towards that same meaning: gathered, not hesitating to cherish our time together.
written by Harry González
I, from 2016, would be shocked by the music I am doing now, and hopefully, I would be shocked by the music I write in 10 years from now. We are humans, we are constantly evolving organic matter. We change, and our ideas change with us. Maybe tomorrow I will write about the sun rising in the morning, an opera about the Sancocho, or another Dreammares.Who knows. Just like recipes, our music identity, or the so-called “own voice,” is not a static expression, and it constantly evolves as we interact with the outer world while figuring out our inner selves. Instead of “finding your own voice,” maybe start thinking about finding your own path.
written by Marina López
We composers are a sensitive guild. We pour ourselves into our work, navigating an environment set as a zero sum game, of oversupply of dreamers ripe for professional abuse. All in the hopes that our voice will somehow, somewhere make an impact.
There is something defiant, revolutionary, even, about putting one’s nose to the grindstone in the midst of troubled times; about asserting our right as a community of curious souls, to explore the nitty gritty world of sounds.
written by Aaron Israel Levin
I had, more often than not, operated from the standpoint that composition needed to be strictly serious. A vessel for humanity’s deepest torments and spiritual profundity. If my music was funny, was I somehow doing it wrong? My initial reaction was confusion, followed quickly by embarrassment. Gabriela doubled down. “This is a special ‘Aaron ’ quality,” she said. “You should embrace it.” I sat with that for a while.
written by Sam Wu
As a child, I loved creating with legos. Instead of following an instruction manual, I’d try to design my own bridges and skyscrapers. The moment I realized music composition was my calling was when I felt that same warm, fuzzy feeling as I had building with legos––the joy of having created something from scratch.
written by Iván Enrique Rodríguez
So, a Composer… today? I might be biased, but I believe it is not only a useful contributing career; it is also a necessary one that, if pursued with the right ideals, is life-changing, enriching, and unifying, even in the face of violence, cruelty, or an uncertain and changing world. So, if there was a time to create music, that time is now, and I will continue to—sometimes afraid, and sometimes emboldened, but always committed—seize it with the next pieces I will create, as a work of passion, but also as part of my career.
written by Isaac Santos
“What kind of life do you want to live?” is a question frequently posed by Gabriela during the 2024 residency, and one I now frequently ask myself. Even after prolonged thought, I am not sure; I do not know.
written by Udi Perlman
This idea of a toolkit brings me back to the Hebrew word for workshop, sadná, which comes from sadán (סַדָּן), meaning anvil. This image resonates with me: the musical idea as a bulky piece of metal that you hammer like a blacksmith into shape. It reflects an artisanal approach to composing, one that focuses on craftsmanship over the sanctity of one particular musical idea. It’s as if, through workshopping, you’re saying, “Don’t be so precious about your ideas; it’s just a chunk of metal—hit it hard enough in the right way, and something good will come out.”
written by Carolina Calvache
In front of my parents’ home stands a beautiful, towering tree. As I raked the fallen leaves, I picked one up and examined it as if it were something mysterious and precious. I reflected on its life cycle—starting vibrant and green, then turning golden before fading into brown. I began asking myself: why do we admire trees when they bear fruit and bloom but often overlook them when their leaves no longer flourish? I imagined trees as silent witnesses to human creation and destruction, holding whispered echoes of past seasons—stories of love, joy, and injustice. That day was a revelation. I started thinking metaphorically, and suddenly, I had my concept. The image of fallen leaves and their cycle of life became the foundation for my composition.
written by Oswald Huỳnh
To be Vietnamese American is to be a contradiction; a life and identity born from war. Part of the diasporic experience is to exist between disparate cultures. Constantly in a state of translation, many speak a language of the colonizers and a language of the colonized.
written by Ivette Herryman Rodríguez
The Bahlest Eeble Readings were my third program with GLFCAM. As a composer, it was a luxury to have performers read my music with intention, ask questions to understand what I was trying to convey, and offer alternatives to show me a more idiomatic way to execute an idea for their instruments.
written by Liza Sobel Crane
I first met Gabriela at the Aspen Music Festival when she came for a performance of her piece, La Centinela y la Paloma, in the summer of 2018. When Gabriela spoke at the Composers’ Seminar, the session completely flew by. I hoped I would have the opportunity to work with her one day.
written by Erin Busch
In my opinion, one of the great failures of a formal composition education is the narrow perspective that students are provided regarding the variety of career paths available to composers. At this point in my life, I’ve earned a bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD in composition, and while I have learned so much about my own creative practice and craft in that time, I also feel like there was little to no formal advice given about the practical application of my skills. How might I go about making a living as a composer?
written by Shane Cook
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have spent a large percentage of my twenties worrying. The worries come in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes, and my mind sometimes fixates on one like it is selecting a pastry from a dessert case: which will it be today?
Read Morewritten by Meilina Tsui
It was August 2021 when I received the wonderful news that I’d been accepted into Gabriela’s Academy to participate in the Bahlest Eeble Readings Program. I was so thrilled. It was hard to believe I was finally getting to meet with and receive mentorship from the legendary composer guru, Gabriela Lena Frank. I had been eagerly waiting for this opportunity since 2018, when I came to the US as a foreign student and heard about the GLFCAM for the first time…
Read Morewritten by Che Buford
When I tell people that I am a violinist and composer…
When I tell people that I am a violinist and composer, I find that many have trouble grappling with the fact that I do both as part of my practice. People either ask me to choose one or assume I'm far more proficient at one or the other. As a composer-performer, I continually question how my practices interact with one another. By exploring the mediums of electronic music and improvisation, I've found that they can inform each other while expanding new areas within each.
Having trained as a classical musician for 14 years, it is no secret that musical approaches and career paths are extremely narrow and limited. As violinists, we are trained to play and follow a repertoire sequence of canonical repertoire in the hope of obtaining an orchestral, chamber, or solo job. With composers, the training is centered around being a composer with a capital ‘’C’’ – which means your skill is judged on the number of works you’ve written for orchestras, choirs, and other traditional configurations. Fitting into these boxes never felt right for me. When the parameters of what a performer and composer should do are so constrained, it is hard to imagine how they could work together. I’ve thankfully found myself in spaces and have been inspired by today’s artists in the field who continually challenge these parameters. To name a few, Angelica Negron, Nathalie Joachim, Pamela Z, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Charmaine Lee.
Read Morewritten by Gala Flagello
You are stuck. Beating your head against the wall; throwing things at the wall to see what sticks; interestingly, a lot of wall metaphors in this kind of scenario. Perhaps let’s make this a literal, unscalable wall: You’ve been trying to climb for hours—days? Weeks? Months?—but your shoelace came untied and your foothold isn’t secure and your hands are aching and you’re sweating. And once you reach the top, you’ll still have to fight a giant roaring monster named Editing or Approval or good old Doubt, and it happens to take the form of that one teacher/colleague/family member who made you feel like you can’t do this.
Read Morewritten by Anya Yermakova
Bodies. My encounters with trained, virtuosic, sensitive musicking bodies leave me again and again with: what can I do as a composer to give them permission to really play? As in, be playful, play around, center the interpretation on jugar más que tocar. Center the interpretación – performance – in the interpretation, even in a reading. Notation so boring that they might have to invent ways to entertain themselves? Indications filled with absurdities or paradoxes so they find joy in the impossibility of their execution? Scores with color? Scores that ask for interactivity? Scores that ask the players to listen with touch, or with smell, or…?
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