For the upcoming Imagine US: Celebrating America at 250, IPR has appointed two Interlochen Arts Academy student tour ambassadors to keep us informed about how tour preparations are going.
This week, we get the latest from Ryan Crawford, a sophomore studying bassoon at Interlochen.
Listen to Ryan's latest dispatch on demand, or read an edited transcript below.
On preparing for the world premiere of the Cello Concerto by Wynton Marsalis
It's not terribly different than other music while we're all rehearsing it as the whole orchestra. One aspect that is different is each person's personal preparation.
I think a big part of preparation for any music is listening to the piece, but for a piece that no one's ever played, there's obviously no recording of it.
One thing that's helpful is to listen to other works by the same composer, so I'm listening to other works by Wynton Marsalis. With a lot of composers, their music is similar, so it gives me an idea of how to play a lot of the things.
I particularly like Marsalis's Concerto for Orchestra, which our orchestra at Interlochen read through this past November. It was a lot of fun.
On rehearsing with the woodwinds and the whole orchestra
The sectional we had recently went well. At that point, we had all learned our own parts, so the sectional was really just to learn other people's parts in the woodwind section. Once you know everyone else in the woodwind sections parts and how all of those fit in, you start to see more broadly how the woodwind section fits into the whole orchestra.
I've been sitting next to the clarinets in the pieces for the tour and looking at their music. I think they might have the most difficult parts, but they're doing a really good job.
On preparing to rehearse with two simultaneous conductors
In the Symphony no. 4 by Charles Ives, there are some parts with different groups. There are two groups at a time going at different tempos or having different time signatures.
Sometimes one is speeding up, sometimes one is slowing down, and any combination of all of those. It would be incredibly hard for one person to do with both hands.
One conductor is on the podium, and the other is kind of right in front of the podium. The solo piano is right in the middle of the orchestra, directly in front of the podium. So the second conductor kind of sits in the hook of the piano and will just kind of stand up whenever they need.
About the tour
This March, Interlochen Arts Academy students are hitting the road and going on tour.
After a kickoff performance in Interlochen, they’ll then travel to Detroit, Philadelphia, and Boston.
The tour is called Imagine US: Celebrating America at 250.
The tour program includes the premiere of a new cello concerto, composed by Wynton Marsalis and featuring Yo-Yo Ma as the soloist. The students are also performing the Symphony no. 4 by Charles Ives and RE|Member, a work by Reena Esmail.
In each city, Arts Academy Orchestra members will play alongside professional musicians from the host cities' orchestras: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
All of these orchestra pieces are woven together with multidisciplinary elements.
Classical IPR has invited two Interlochen Arts Academy students to serve as tour ambassadors, giving us regular dispatches as they prepare for the tour. They’ll send updates from the road once they’re on tour, and then we’ll talk with them after they return to find out how it all went.
Get the latest from IPR's tour ambassadors every Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. on Classical IPR or on demand online.
