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In January, the Kansas City Symphony announced that Adam Schoenberg will serve as Composer-in-Residence for its upcoming sophomore season at the Kauffman Center—the first composer chosen to fill this role at the Symphony in more than a decade. This week, Lee Hartman spoke with Schoenberg about his process, his influences, and the musical journey that has ultimately brought him to Kansas City.
LEE HARTMAN: Congratulations on being named the Kansas City Symphony’s next composer-in-residence. What are your thoughts on what the position will entail, given that the symphony hasn’t had one since 1999? Why now? Why you?
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Yes, not since James Mobberley. I think [it made sense] given that Michael [Stern] has been in the community now for several years and with the new hall and the fact that they commissioned me to write a new piece. I have an older piece called Finding Rothko—which is based on four Mark Rothko paintings—and, given this next season’s theme of “art” or visual art in music, they decided they were going to open the season with that piece in addition to commissioning the new piece. I’d be coming [to Kansas City] a couple of times and had been there before, [so] I think they thought it would be a good time to begin a new composer-in-residence. Hopefully, they’ll continue this program, because obviously it’s a great opportunity for any composer to get. Right now we’re in the middle of planning an itinerary to see exactly what the residency will entail. I feel the main element should be more visibility within the city, like going to more high schools and different colleges, speaking to students and offering lessons and master classes. There are some other ideas that I can’t quite share yet.
I’ve been composer-in-residence at the Aspen Music Festival for three winters and we’re starting a little composers’ institute. I’d like to start something similar in Kansas City where you can have a select group of composers, maybe under age 18, come in throughout the year and hopefully have a recital of their works at the end of the season to be performed by members of the symphony. […]
LH: What do you see as the new music scene in Kansas City?
AS: I don’t know that much about it. I see new stuff happening on Facebook that I think some UMKC composers probably started. […] I know for me Kansas City is such an awesome city and [just because] it’s in the Midwest, there is this stigma that you can’t have this Mecca… But UMKC [in particular] is such a great music conservatory, and in the composition department you have some renowned composers who are world famous. That’s going to attract a high level of young musicians and composers to come. I think groups that come together to perform either in bars or clubs or in more solidified venues like museums or a hall—getting public performances is a good thing.
LH: In your notes for the American Symphony, which the KCS premiered, you mentioned your influences in Bernstein and Copland. Who are you currently listening to and who are current influences?
AS: I’ve been listening to a lot of Marc-André Dalbavie. His piece Color, I really like. I also listen to a lot of popular music [like] Radiohead and Pat Metheny. [Henri] Dutilleux has always been huge, although recently I think there is less of his influence. But I love his orchestrations and his meticulous attention to detail. Michael Gandolfi’s Garden of Cosmic Speculation has some of the best music written in recent years, with a great sense of rhythm. I’ve been interested in exploring groove-oriented music. I think that goes back to me listening to a lot of Tribe Called Quest and OutKast growing up.
LH: So would you say you’re inline with the works of Mason Bates?
AS: Mason uses actual electronics in his orchestral works with samples and I haven’t done that yet. I’ve been trying to evoke this beat-oriented music through just the orchestra. There’s a whole movement of composers our age who are tapping into music that has popular elements. I always find it difficult trying to describe what we’re doing. For me, the music I write comes from the subconscious, initially. I can never tell you how I came up with an idea, but if you wanted to investigate it more deeply, you can find the influences. Everything we write is based on what we hear. Whether we want to acknowledge that or not is another thing. I do believe we write our own music with our own voice, but within that originality there will be a historical lineage. It’s just like learning English; you learn it because your parents are talking to you. Some of what we like sticks with us and some goes in one ear and out the other.
LH: When did you start composing?
AS: I didn’t start composing until my sophomore year of college. More than anything else I was an athlete growing up. I played all sports and I went to Oberlin and played on the men’s soccer team all four years. After my first year in the college, I decided I wanted to try something new and enrolled in the conservatory. Now, granted, I grew up playing and improvising at the piano since I was 3. My father is a composer and big time improviser. In the early ’80s, Keith Jarrett’s manager tried signing my dad. My mom writes children’s books and my sister is an actress, so an artistic lifestyle was certainly present. I went to a very good prep school that prepared me well for a liberal arts college. […] So my sophomore year, I entered the conservatory, but started out in a program called TIMARA [Technology in Music and Related Arts]; it’s essentially an electronic music program. […] I had always been interested in film scoring, so I thought that could be an interesting route. After the first semester I realized I wanted to compose, and so I dropped the TIMARA program and became a composition major.
LH: Any relation to Arnold?
AS: [Laughs.] No. Everyone always asks that. I teach orchestration at UCLA, and the music building there is called Schoenberg Music Building. So that’s a little daunting.
LH: Who gave you your first big commission?
AS: My first big commission was from Michael for Finding Rothko for the IRIS Orchestra. He commissioned that piece in January or February of ’06, and it was premiered a year later in January ’07.
LH: Had you met at Aspen?
AS: Yeah. We met at Aspen. I play a lot of tennis, and so we first got to know each other on the tennis court. That’s always been my M.O. in terms of meeting conductors. Try to get to know the person first, and if the opportunity comes to give them some music, then so be it. Don’t try to force it on anyone. So we got to know each other, and then at the end of the summer, he said, “So, where are you off to for the fall?” I said I was off to Juilliard for my masters. So that led to further conversation when I gave him some music and then the commission came. […] There’s always a lot of pressure with a commission, and I haven’t quite figured out how to manage it. You’re just so lucky and so excited and blessed to have this opportunity. And then you spend a year writing it only to show up the week of the performance hoping everything is okay.
LH: Do you compose at the computer? On paper? At the piano? What’s your process?
AS: I have three methods. I always improvise first at the piano, because that’s where I get my material. I’ll sit at the piano for hours and record my improvisations. Eventually, I come up with something I like and I call this the gem or the kernel or germ. Once I get that idea in my head and fingers, I then sketch it. From there, I leave the piano and go to a table to think about it or right to the computer. For the most recent piece for the Atlanta Symphony, the whole first half was entirely by hand, even orchestrated by hand. I always do short score first, though. The second half, which I also used in American Symphony, I’ll record myself into Logic, improvising each line. I’ll then map out the entire section, quantize everything with time signatures, and then print it out. Of course, it’s a mess, but it’s enough to go off of to input into Finale. I always try to have at least some portion composed by hand, as I think that’s the most thoughtful way to compose. It’s slower, and you have to want to put something on paper.
LH: When you’re writing for orchestra, do you have a favorite section or instrument to write for?
AS: I genuinely like every instrument and how their roles can fit into a context in an infinite number of ways. For me, writing for orchestra is daunting, but I love it. What I aim to do most today is to give everyone a decent part. You hope the audience will enjoy the piece, but you also want the orchestra to like it. I’ve found that when an orchestra member says they really like your piece, it’s usually because they have a good part and it engages them. I want to write something that is rewarding to play.
Lee Hartman, KC Metropolis
Published: March 20, 2012