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Nicholas Mariscal, 14, has been participating in the Young Composer Project for four years. Ilona Vukovic-Gay is the program director.
Photos by David Sanders / arizona daily star
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If you go
The Young Composers Project Reading Sessions are at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Tucson Symphony Center, 2175 N. Sixth Ave., off Grant Road. Tickets are $5 through the TSO Box Office, 882-8585.
• Friday night, TSO Chamber Orchestra: "Espejos del Sur" by University High School freshman Nicholas Mariscal; "Mrtve' dusˇe" by Basis Charter School freshman Alexandra Birch; "March" by Adam Coyne, a 12-year-old from Canyon View Elementary School; "City of Gold" by University High freshman Adie Cannon; "Passage of Spring" by Katie Giles, a Queen Creek eighth-grader; "A New Kind of Farewell" by Rincon High School freshman Stan Hall; "Melody On a Gravestone" by Canyon del Oro sophomore Clark Jewett; "Facades Rondo" by University High junior Ian McEwen; and "Her" by Tucson High Magnet School sophomore Charlie Zoll.
• Saturday night, TSO String Quintet: "Let Us Have Peace" by Jessie Boone and "Terror of the Seas" by Mackenzie Skodiak, both eighth-graders at Cross Middle School; "Zweipolig" and "Swing Quintet," both by 12-year-old Max Goldschmid, Esperero Canyon Middle School seventh-grader.
• Mariscal and MasterWorks: The TSO will perform Nicholas Mariscal's 2005-06 composition, "Sic-Transit Gloria Mundi," on its "Americana!" MasterWorks concert Feb. 23 and 24, 2008. For tickets, call 882-8585
Did you know ...
The Tucson Symphony Orchestra Young Composer's Project has been nurturing young composers since 1993.The project, which runs the school year, is open to middle-school and high-school students, who learn the art of composing for orchestra. The TSO then serves as a living laboratory, interacting with the kids and offering input on the compositions from a performance standpoint.
Since its start, the project has produced more than 100 new works by young composers. It is financially supported in part by the Tucson Symphony Women's Association.
TSO Composer-in-Residence Dan Coleman and TSO Music Director George Hanson said they don't know of any other orchestra-sponsored young composers project like this in the United States.
"This is a unique and ambitious program that could serve as a model for orchestras throughout the country," Coleman said in a statement.

Accent

young composers' works showcased

'It's almost like painting with sound'

By Cathalena E. Burch
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.16.2007
At the tender age of 14, Nicholas Mariscal is about to reach a career milestone.
Next February, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra will perform one of his original compositions in a subscription concert.
It's a piece he wrote when he was 13.
"This is a piece that reflects such extraordinary technical ability and artistic talent that we felt it warranted inclusion on a program," TSO Music Director George Hanson said about putting Mariscal's "Sic-Transit Gloria Mundi" on the TSO's Feb. 23-24 MasterWorks concert.
It will be the first time the orchestra has tapped a work composed by a participant of its Young Composers Project for a subscription concert. (In other words, it's so confident in the work that it's charging admission to those who want to hear it.)
"He's really interesting," said TSO assistant principal violist Ilona Vukovic-Gay, who coordinates the project with middle through high school students. "This is his fourth year in the program. His first piece was incredibly charming. His piece last year is an amazing piece. The emotional content — it's done in memory of a family member and it really conveys those emotions."
Mariscal, who is finishing up his freshman year at University High School, described the work as an elegy that is "definitely not happy."
"During the course of the year when I was writing it, one of my relatives who was really, really dear to me passed away. It changed what I was planning to do with my piece," he explained.
It's a far cry from his newest work, the Latin-inspired, upbeat "Espejos del Sur" (Mirrors of the South), which the TSO Chamber Orchestra will "workshop"— perform the piece, offer suggestions, then play it again — on Friday.
"He came up with this fantastic idea," Vukovic-Gay said. "It's reflections of tango and other South American styles of music in little glimpses. I haven't heard it yet so I'm looking forward to this."
On Friday, the TSO Chamber Orchestra will perform the piece for the first time. It is among a dozen works created during this year's Young Composers Project that TSO musicians will "workshop" on Friday and Saturday.
The participants, ranging in age from 11 to 16, worked with Vukovic-Gay from September to May to create original works. All of the kids come to the table with music experience; Mariscal, for example, has studied piano since fourth grade when his father nudged him into music.
Mariscal said he was reluctant at first; he had his heart set on visual arts. "I don't think I picked it up immediately, but it kind of came naturally," Mariscal recalled.
He started playing cello a few years ago. He hopes to major in composition and minor in music performance (cello and piano) in college.
"Espejos del Sur" is inspired by Latin composers like Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos and Argentine tango king Astor Piazzolla, Mariscal said. He described it as upbeat and lively with rich accented melodies.
"I haven't found that I'm very good at writing quick stuff, so this year was a leap for me. I'm hoping that the effect will be a really exciting ending," said Mariscal, a self-described music snob who favors Rachmaninoff to rock music.
"It's almost like painting with sound," Vukovic-Gay added about the young composers' approaches. "They do it without any constraints. . . . They'll try anything. By being in this situation and by having some guidance by the orchestra . . . I think that they just try anything, and the results are amazing."
Mariscal said Vukovic-Gay has encouraged him to compose a string quintet. He's also working this summer on a piece for University High.
"I love writing music because of how well it allows you to express yourself," he said. "Music says so much more than words."
● Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at 573-4642 or cburch@azstarnet.com.
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