2 Composition Masterclasses with Eric Nathan

Examining Communication, Development And Creating A Career In Composition

Eric Nathan gives advice and feedback on the music of three selected composers in interactive 30-minute composition lessons, followed by a Q&A session with all participants on the practice, study and career aspects of music composition.

Masterclass Details

Host: Eric Nathan
Class Dates
Session 1: Thursday, July 28, 2022 | 7:00 PM - 9:00pm EST
Session 2: Tuesday, December 6, 2022 | 1:00pm - 3:00pm EST
Registration Fees
$100 For Those Participants Whose Scores Are Being Review
$30 For Other Participants
Number of Participants
33

Sign Up To Be A Part Of This Masterclass
Sign up for Session 2: Tuesday, December 6, 2022 | 1:00pm - 3:00pm EST

What The Workshop Will Include: 

• Eric will give advice and feedback to the 3 composer’s works who signed up to have their works reviewed publicly. The first three composers to sign up for these unique spots will be given that opportunity. So, if that’s you, sign up quickly!

• Selected composers will present and share a 5-10 minute selection of a piece. The selection may be for any combination of instruments/media within any musical practice, genre, style or aesthetic.

• Eric will answer questions from all registered participants on all topics related to the study, practice and business of music composition.

• A Q & A with all attendees will conclude the session.

Key Questions/Topics Addressed During Workshop:

• How do you communicate meaning in music?

• How can you create a convincing form / structure in a composition? 

• How do the various elements of timbre / harmony / melody / motive / texture / form work together to create powerful personal expression?

• How do you build a career in music composition? 

• How can one grow as a composer and develop a personal voice?

Signing Up For The Workshop

• The first three composers to sign up for the 30 minute slots with Eric will be asked a few days prior to the masterclass to upload/share PDF’s of the score to be reviewed along with any recordings (encouraged) or MIDI mockups. If you are one of the first composers to sign up for this opportunity, please choose “Sign up for a 30 minute score review” at the time of registration. Fee $100

• Composers who wish to be an active participant in the class to ask questions, but do not wish to have their scores publicly reviewed should choose “Sign up to be a general participant” at the time of registration. Fee $30

More About Eric Nathan

Eric Nathan’s (b. 1983) music has been called “as diverse as it is arresting” with a “constant vein of ingenuity and expressive depth” (San Francisco Chronicle), “thoughtful and inventive” (The New Yorker), and as “a marvel of musical logic” (Boston Classical Review).

Nathan, a 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, has garnered acclaim internationally through performances by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, International Contemporary Ensemble, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Boston Musica Viva,  JACK Quartet, American Brass Quintet, Ensemble Dal Niente, A Far Cry, Momenta Quartet and performers including vocalists Dawn Upshaw, Lucy Shelton, Tony Arnold, Jessica Rivera and William Sharp, violinists Jennifer Koh and Stefan Jackiw, trombonist Joseph Alessi, pianists Gloria Cheng and Gilbert Kalish, and violist Samuel Rhodes. His music has additionally been featured at the New York Philharmonic’s 2014 and 2016 Biennials, Carnegie Hall, Aldeburgh Music Festival, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Aspen Music Festival, MATA Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, Yellow Barn, Music Academy of the West, 2012 and 2013 World Music Days, and Louvre Museum.

Recent projects include three commissions from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including a chamber work, “Why Old Places Matter” (2014) for the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and two orchestral works, “the space of a door” (2016), that Andris Nelsons and the BSO premiered in November 2016 and commercially released on the Naxos label in 2019, and “Concerto for Orchestra” (2019) which Nelsons premiered on the 2019-20 season-opening concerts.

Nathan has received additional commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Milwaukee Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress, Barlow Endowment, Fromm Music Foundation, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Boston Musica Viva, Collage New Music, Chelsea Music Festival, New York Virtuoso Singers and violinist Jennifer Koh. Nathan has been honored with awards including a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship and Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Copland House residency, Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship, ASCAP’s Rudolf Nissim Prize, four ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, BMI’s William Schuman Prize, Aspen Music Festival’s Jacob Druckman Prize, and Leonard Bernstein Fellowship from the Tanlgewood Music Center.

In 2015, Albany Records released a debut CD of Nathan’s solo and chamber music, “Multitude, Solitude: Eric Nathan,” produced by Grammy-winning producer Judith Sherman. Poisson Rouge presented a CD release concert of Nathan's music in October 2015. In 2020, Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project released a portrait album of Nathan’s orchestral and large ensemble music on the BMOP Sound label.

Nathan is currently Composer-in-Residence with the New England Philharmonic. He previously served as Composer-in-Residence at the 2013 Chelsea Music Festival (New York) and 2013 Chamber Music Campania (Italy). He received his doctorate from Cornell and holds degrees from Yale (B.A.) and Indiana University (M.M.). Nathan served as Visiting Assistant Professor at Williams College in 2014-15, and is currently Associate Professor of Music in Composition-Theory at the Brown University Department of Music.

Visit Eric’s Website

Sign Up To Be A Part Of This Masterclass
Sign up for Session 1: Thursday, July 28, 2022 | 7:00 PM - 9:00pm EST
Sign up for Session 2: Tuesday, August 23, 2022 | 1:00pm - 3:00pm EST