I met pianist Robert Fleitz through our work as teaching artists for the New York Philharmonic. Once the pandemic hit, Robert and I were placed in a team to work as collaborators for a large-scale and intense online project teaching the basics of music and composition to children. Magic started on day 1.
A week at the 2018 Decolonial Aesthesis Creative Lab in South Africa organized by the amazing Dr. Sharlene F. Khan has proven to be an immersive learning experience. Meeting every day from 9 in the morning until sometimes 10 at night, we had a chance to discuss the importance of a decolonizing aesthetic in the art praxis.
Next stop, South Africa! Looking forward to be part of the 2018 Decolonial AestheSis Creative Lab at Rhodes University together with esteemed colleagues: Sharlene Khan (South African visual artist and scholar), Jon Alpert (American journalist and documentary filmmaker), Fouad Asfour (art writer and editor), Vibha Galhotra (Indian visual artist), Bhekizizwe Peterson (South African literature scholar and screen writer), and myself as the Argentine composer and educator.
What is the Sound of the World Today? This question was asked to composers Jordan Millar (10), Mondriana Villegas (13), and Mia Micic (14) before getting to compose their commissioned works for the Young People’s Concert to premiere at the New York Philharmonic on March 11, 2017. The last of the “Ages of Music” concert series featured the “Modern Age of Music”, which featured American composer John Adams as well as these very new young generation of women composers.
The New York Philharmonic offers very young composers an opportunity to compose their own music! Students with or without musical background create, notate, and hear their very own music performed by Philharmonic musicians —often the full Orchestra— with the help of Philharmonic Teaching Artists serving as mentors and scribes. I am honored to be working as one of the Teaching Artists for the Composer’s Bridge program at Lincoln Center.
