Get to Know...Till MacIvor MeynThe flute and accompaniment category has traditionally been a category in which there are tons of really strong pieces and 2017 was no exception. We often find ourselves interested in performing all of the finalists works! Forces of Nature for flute and piano was a finalist work in this year’s flute and accompaniment category. Today, we’re featuring the composer, Till MacIvor Meyn! We were pleased to see that Till has more flute pieces available for us to play! Members with flute ensembles will be pleased to see he has three works for flute ensemble (a quartet and two flute choir pieces). There are recordings of Urban Ragas and Preludio Y Tango easily accessible on YouTube. His newest work, Nordic Spirits, which was premiered at NFA this summer is not recorded at this time, but we’re sure it will be recorded and posted soon! He also has a beautiful and accessible solo flute work Big Kahuna, there is a recording available on SoundCloud. We encourage you to check them out! Q&A with Till… What about new music for the flute appeals to you? New music for flute, as with new music in other genres, is really taking off today. By that, I mean that there are so many composers and new pieces out there now than there were a generation ago. Finding new music can be a very rewarding experience: You'll come across compositions that can touch you in a personal way, either through their lyrical qualities, their virtuosic elements, or combinations of those and other aspects. Happy hunting! Who is/are your favorite “new music” composer/s and why? I have many favorite living composers, and a varied musical palette of tastes. I find the music of Eric Ewazen to exhibit well-constructed melodies contained within classical-style forms that help us, as listeners, keep it all together. Frank Ticheli and Jennifer Higdon, though very different in style, are able to create dissonant, virtuosic passages that reside within tonal frameworks, and both composers write beautiful lyricism as well. Magnus Lindberg crafts monumental works with lots of jagged edges, but his music is goal-oriented, and so we have something to keep hanging onto. Describe your musical background and current activities. My own musical background is that of a singer, but as a composer and theory professor, I use the piano quite a bit as well. I grew up listening to classical music that my parents played in the home, and as I became a teen in the 1980s, I had a voracious appetite for rock and pop music. I was introduced to jazz through my choir in high school, especially the arrangements of standard tunes performed and recorded by the Manhatten Transfer. I believe that my exposure to all of these disparate genres made me the composer I am today, which is quite an eclectic mix of primarily tonal materials. What advice can you give to flutists about approaching new music in practice? My advice to flutists when approaching new music is to have an open mind. You never know what the next big thing out there will be (a composer, a style, a certain sound), and so it could be very rewarding to stretch your comfort zone a bit and work on something that you might otherwise not have tried. I also feel that communication between the composer and performer(s) is a very beneficial aspect of understanding the music; I enjoy Skyping with ensembles to work with them in rehearsal, which helps to bring the music to life--it's really fun for me and for the musicians! Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about? I have a new flute choir piece called Nordic Spirits which was recently premiered at the NFA Convention; my flute sonata (flute and piano) is called Force of Nature, and features a very modern sound with virtuosic and lyrical passages; I have a flute quartet called Urban Ragas which flute players tell me they enjoy, and I have a short tango called Preludio Y Tango for flute choir that really spices things up! I'm happy to hear from you about any of these pieces that you'd like to play. More About Till… Till MacIvor Meyn is Professor of Theory and Composition at Texas Christian University. He earned degrees from U.C. San Diego, Indiana University, and USC’s Thornton School of Music. Till’s music has had international performances in France, Italy, Cuba, China, Spain, Ukraine, and Slovenia. Performances of his music in the United States include those at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall); Clarinet Fest in Oklahoma City, MO and in Lincoln, NE; the Biennial Saxophone Congress in South Carolina; the Florida State University Festival of New Music; the SCI/CMS National Convention in San Antonio; the National Flute Association Conventions in Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Diego, and Pittsburgh; at the Manhattan School of Music; and at the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar at Harvard. Till was recently commissioned to compose a work for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Kinderconcerts Series; he was a finalist in the Areon Flutes Commissioning Project for 2016; he was a featured composer at the 2015 Cliburn at the Modern series; he was a finalist in the NFA Newly Published Music Competition for ‘Urban Ragas’ (2013); and he earned first prize in the NACUSA Texas 2011 Composition Contest for Celestial Mechanics. Till’s music is published by Alliance Music Publications, GIA Publications, ECS Publishing, C. Alan Publications, and Alry Publications. He is a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Board since 2015. For further information about Till’s music, please visit tillmeyn.squarespace.com or on Facebook: Composer Till MacIvor Meyn. If you liked Force of Nature… Nordic Spirits—9’15” 2 piccolos, 4 flutes, 2 altos, 2 basses The piece features various folk-like melodies reminiscent of Scandinavian tunes, with counterpoint and some effects. Self-published—please contact the composer at [email protected] Urban Ragas—7’45” 3 flutes, 1 alto (or bass) The work uses modal melodies that were inspired by North Indian ragas, woven contrapuntally. Published by ALRY Publications Force of Nature—14’00” Flute and piano This three-movement flute sonata has virtuosic melodies, as well as lyricism. The piano accompaniment is also very active. Self-published—please contact the composer at [email protected] Preludio Y Tango—4’00” 1 piccolo, 7 flutes, 1 alto, 1 bass This two-movement piece features a short off-kilter prelude, and then a romping tango movement. Published by ALRY Publications Big Kahuna--5’45” Solo flute The composition is reminiscent of Debussy in its use of scales; it tells the story of a wave-rider in high surf. Published by ALRY Publications
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AuthorThe Flute New Music Consortium is an organization dedicated to the creation and support of new music for the flute. Archives
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