By Nancy Plum
If it is July, it is time for New Jersey Symphony to showcase the future of classical music through the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, held each year at Princeton University. Named for the noted Princeton composer and philanthropist, the Institute enabled four emerging composers to bring an orchestral work to performance under the tutelage of Institute Director Steven Mackey and conductor Christopher Rountree. The week-long series of rehearsals, coaching and professional development culminated Saturday night in a public concert at Richardson Auditorium to allow the four individuals to show what their pieces are made of and introduce their style to a new audience.
Selected from 200 applicants, the four composers brought a wide range of backgrounds and inspirations to creating their works. Baltimore-based Max Eidinoff has long maintained a fascination with electronic music, which was evident in his one-movement Kairosclerosis. In Kairosclerosis, Eidinoff has woven together elements of the electronic genre to create what he called an “attractive sound world.” Conducted by Rountree, the New Jersey Symphony began the piece with heavily accented passages, aided by a full and active percussion section. Variety in the instrumental palette came through subtle orchestration and shifts in dynamics, as motives emerged from different sections of the ensemble. A quartet of winds and a single harp added nuance to the sustained lines and harmonies.
Princeton composer, sound artist and Ph.D. candidate Hannah Ishizaki created a work inspired by glass blowing, with its process of converting hot molten material to fragile and breakable glass. In Fractured Transformations, the evolution of a glass object was depicted by quick dynamic swells, contrasted by delicacy from the piano, harp and light percussion. Buoyant flute scoring and Juan Esteban Martinez’s clarinet solo illustrated the glass taking shape, complemented by shimmering high strings. Ishizakiís orchestration became more crystalized toward the end, almost like a sunrise, as a glass form emerged.
Claire Cope is an award-winning British composer, pianist and bandleader whose music is marked by narrative and a sense of journey. Agita, with its implications of forward motion and energy, was intense in rhythm and ferocious in character. The opening strings were immediately powerful, aided by marimba, woodblock and xylophone. Melodic fragments traveled around the orchestra, with a rhythmic base set by the double basses. Derek Fenstermacher provided the occasional yet important tuba punctuation to emphasize the rhythmic drive of Cope’s appealing work.
Michigan composer and interdisciplinary artist Nicole Knorr seeks to investigate “transformation, change and growthóoften through the lens of the natural world.” Her brief but intriguing as the garden bows opened with Martinez’s refined clarinet solo, answered by a rich cello melody played by Philo Lee. Throughout, the brass sections and percussion were perfectly in time, with especially crisp trumpets. The instrumentation was quite cinematic at times, with the New Jersey Symphony reaching their fullest sound before gently ending the piece.
As with previous Cone Institute performances, Saturday night’s concert ended with a composition by Institute Director Steven Mackey. Written in 2011, Tonic explored the concept of “shadow harmonies,” contrasted by a strong melody and infused with a syncopated “Scotch snap”rhythm. The work began with bagpipe-like open chords, with precise horns and trumpets playing short phrases. An agitated violin solo from concertmaster Eric Wyrick returned periodically, and quick repeated wind motives were cleanly played. Mackey’s polished orchestration featured trumpets and violas exactly together, and clarinetist Martinez played a fluid solo line. The word ended with an unassuming tune sweetly played by the New Jersey Symphony players, ending a week connecting experienced mentors with up-and-coming artists sure to find their places in the classical music world.
New Jersey Symphony has announced its 2025-26 Princeton classical series, which will include appearances by pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Joshua Bell. Information about the Symphonyís upcoming season can be found at www.njsymphony.org/.