Student composers to play their music

Even though they're still expected to hand in their notes, members of the Penn Composers Guild have found the Music Department a great place to sing their own tunes. And Saturday night one undergraduate and four graduate student composers will have the chance to hear their own works performed. In conjunction with Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, Penn Composers Guild -- which is made up of composition graduate students -- will hold the second of three yearly performances of student-written work. The program will include a diverse selection of compositions, ranging from a trio for piano, clarinet and cello to a horn solo. "Each one of the composers has a different way of looking at music," said Andrew Bleckner, a graduate student in the Music Department. In his piece "Sustaining Voices," Bleckner said he chose to fuse folk melodies with blues to create a piece which is both rhythmic and romantic. "It's contemporary music which uses some folk sources," said Bleckner. "But it's closer in spirit to something more romantic." The Guild's Chairperson Robert Patterson will perform his own work, a piece written as part of a series of compositions and inspired by the paintings of the pre-expressionist Odilon Redon. He plans to project the painting on a screen during the performance. Most of the pieces being performed were composed as independent projects under the direction of the composition faculty. "The composers take private lessons each semester so each semester you're expected to write an original piece," Bleckner said. While the graduate music department is small -- averaging only about four new composition students each year -- students say they have found the perfect outlet for their works. "There's a tremendous amount of support," Bleckner said. "The graduate fellowships are generous and we're allowed to teach courses in the music department. We're like professors -- we're in charge of our own classes." Students say another advantage to the graduate music program is the exchange between the University and the Curtis Institute. The Curtis Institute allows members of the Guild to use their concert halls free of charge and to employ Curtis' orchestra players to perform their music at less than union scale wage. In return, the University allows Curtis students to take University classes without paying tuition. When they work with Curtis musicians, student composers are "guaranteed extremely fine performances," Patterson said, adding that "Curtis is probably the premiere conservatory in the country." Saturday night's show will be performed at the Curtis Institute, 1726 Locust Street, at 8 p.m.