 An Introduction
The Orchestra
The Chamber Ensemble
Board of Directors
Administration
Acclaim for St. Luke's
News from St. Luke's
Special Projects
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NEW YORK TIMES PRAISES ST. LUKE'S YOUNG COMPOSERS PROGRAM
Critic Allan Kozinn of The New York Times attended St. Luke’s Young Composers Concert on August 23rd at the Studio Museum in Harlem and praised the leader of this special initiative: “The dreadlocked hip-hop-embracing assistant composer in residence at the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Daniel Bernard Roumain, is creating a miracle with the orchestra's Young Composers Program. With few signs that classical music can reach beyond its niche audience - not least because the elimination of music programs in public schools has put musical study beyond most students' means - Mr. Roumain has taken a handful of teenagers (and two people in their 20's), got them fired up about the possibilities of classical composition and inspired them to write short but probing, vital concert pieces.” (The New York Times, 8/25/04)
Read more about this extraordinary evening:
A COMPOSER'S PLACE by Dr. Daniel Bernard Roumain, Assistant Composer-in-Residence
Monday, August 23, 2004, was a very special evening for six talented young composers, four members of the Orchestra of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, two Composers-in-Residence, and a large, dedicated audience. The second-annual Young Composers Concert drew a capacity crowd of over one-hundred friends and family to the Studio Museum in Harlem on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, just steps away from the Apollo theater and deep in the center of Harlem's glorious musical legacy.
Wynne Bennett (20), Melanie Charles (17), Dave Harrington (17), Kasaun Henry (26), Nate Sloan (18), and Whitney Williams (17) each presented new works for violin, viola, and cello, composing music that was well-written for the instruments, concise, and inventive. We were fortunate this year to have four brilliant musicians and collaborators in Eriko Sato (violin), Robin Bushman (violin), Richard Brice (viola), and Maxine Neuman (cello).
As the founder and teacher of the program, I wanted these composer's works to be played by professional musicians and I thought it was important that the OSL's Young Composers Development Program conclude each year with a concert that reflects all that we do over the nine-month period of study: attending concerts by the OSL as a group; going "behind-the-scenes" and seeing how a professional orchestra works; meeting with staff and Executive Director Marianne Lockwood; meeting with musicians, conductors, and composers including Donald Runnicles, Aaron Jay Kernis, Philip Glass, and the OSL's own Composer-in-Residence, Joan Tower.
After a rigorous application process, Joan and I hand-picked the composers for the program, looking for that rare combination of talent, self-motivation, and self-awareness---I wanted to work with young artists who were not only interested in themselves, but had a larger sense of their community. I insisted that each composer speak before their pieces were played, taking this cue from Joan's own format for the Second Helpings series at the Chelsea Art Museum. It worked extremely well, allowing these young artists to speak directly with the audience about their fears, triumphs, and gratitude.
Of special pride and place this year was a New York Times review of the concert by Allan Kozinn. Describing the program as a "miracle...and what can be accomplished when the chemistry between teachers and students is just right", Kozinn went on to describe each composer and review each work, giving them, the OSL, and our program, a deep sense of accomplishment and place of purpose:
"Wynne Bennett [20]...was represented by "Insomnia," a quartet in which moments of intense emotionalism are offset by amusing touches and daring scoring effects. [She] used the available string textures and techniques with striking fluency, and her piece was by far the most polished on the program...the music Ms. Charles [16] wove around [Lost and Found, a string trio] had a bittersweet quality that recalled late Beethoven...Harrington, a 17-year-old jazz bassist, contributed two works. The first, "Leave Your Mind Alone," for violin and cello, is a study in simplicity, or at least, in simple-sounding surfaces. His "Eightfold" is more complex, with spiky metrical shifts and more adventurously chromatic harmonies. Kasaun Henry [27]...produced a more fragmentary work, "Hidden," for quartet. A series of brief movements, the piece seemed, at first hearing, like a sequence of film cues. One had the tension and drive of a Bernard Herrmann score for Hitchcock. A second included deft string effects and an attractive solo cello. And a third tempered a Shostakovich-like iciness with a current of neo-Romantic warmth...Nate Sloan, 18 and also a jazz musician, offered "Ofnayim" ("Bicycle" in Hebrew) a bright, brisk piece for violin and cello...Whitney Williams, 17, used a Glassian ostinato as an accompanying figure in her "Nightmare" for violin and cello, but the music she set against it was more freely expansive and attractively fresh, and at times seemed to pay homage to Samuel Barber's lush, dark-hued neo-Romanticism as well."
About Daniel Bernard Roumain
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is one of the few composers to have danced alongside Bill T. Jones, played with Philip Glass, and jammed with Cassandra Wilson. DBR's hip-hop/classical style of music has been embraced by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and mainstream pop, rock, and jazz musicians worldwide; he is quickly developing a new, diverse audience for his music. DBR recently composed and performed orchestral arrangements with Grammy-Award winning vocalist Cassandra Wilson and her band, while conducting the Seattle Symphony Orchestra to a sold out house. In February 2004, more than 2000 people attended the premiere of Rockestra: A Hip-Hop Music and Dance Party, at Arizona State University's Gammage Auditorium, featuring DJ Radar and sponsored by the American Express Beyond Broadway Series. During the 2003-04 season, both the Dallas and Memphis Symphony Orchestras performed DBR's Hip-Hop Essay for Orchestra, while the Saint Louis Symphony performed his Haitian Essay for Orchestra. The San Antonio Symphony kicked off its 2002-03 season with Human Songs and Stories For Orchestra, Narrator, and the People, commissioned by Texas Public Radio, and featuring basketball star David Robinson as narrator.
As Assistant Composer-in-Residence of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, DBR composed two commissioned works for the chamber ensemble, Fast-Black-Dance-Machine and String Quartet No. 3, Powell for Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Additionally, DBR serves as the Director/Founder of its Young Composers Development Program. As the first Music Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, DBR composed works for and was a featured performer during the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) performances with Susan Sarandon, Cassandra Wilson, Vernon Reid, and DJ Spooky. DBR has performed in New York City at Carnegie Hall, Weil Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Summer Festival, Merkin Hall, Aaron Davis Hall, Joe's Pub, Symphony Space, Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Cafe, Miller Theatre, Sugar Shack, Exit Art, Roulette, The Kitchen, St. Mark's Church, Music at the Anthology, and the Cornelia Street Cafe. Roumain's ensemble, DBR"s Mission, regularly performs in the legendary East Village downtown district at the Bowery Poetry Club, steps away from CBGB's. DBR's performance at Merkin Hall was rated as one of the Best Classical Moments of 2003 by the New York Times and DBR was voted one of the Top 100 New Yorkers by NYC Resident Magazine that same year.
For more information about Daniel Bernard Roumain, visit www.dbrmusic.com.
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