Musical America features Gabriela Lena Frank in Professionals of the Year 2018 for her Creative Academy of Music

Brian Wise, Musical America Special Reports, Professionals of the Year, p. 11

When Gabriela Lena Frank in 2017 launched a nonprofit teaching institute for composers, it differed from the typical artist colony where residents retreat to their cabins, rarely to be seen or heard by others. Frank instead put civic engagement front and center, building the program around performances and outreach activities in Boonville, CA, a small, ethnically diverse town roughly 120 miles north of San Francisco.

The Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music takes place on two farms that Frank and her husband own. Once accepted, composers are placed in one of three or four annual classes, which unfold in multiple stages: They begin with Skype consultations with Frank about the projected piece, followed by a four-day workshop session in Boonville with Frank and faculty. Six months later, the piece is performed in public by a guest ensemble—the Del Sol and Chiara String Quartets in 2018—as part of a three-day residency. Performances take place in two small community arts spaces; the aim is to present low-cost concerts for locals.

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