The Omaha Symphony New Music Symposium (Fresh Ink) is designed to provide vital enrichment experiences for young composers. The Symposium will consist of reading sessions by a professional orchestra - a rare opportunity for young composers to test their skills in a real-life laboratory setting - and the opportunity to work directly with master composer John Corigliano, Omaha Symphony Music Director Thomas Wilkins, and teams of musicians from the Omaha Symphony. The event will culminate in a formal public performance. DATES: May 14 – 16, 2015

LOCATIONS: The New Music Symposium will be held at KANEKO, in Omaha, Nebraska. GOALS

• Identify the next generation of talented composers and invest in their growth and development. • Provide a unique learning environment for young composers to study their craft. • Facilitate mentoring relationships between next generation composers, established

conductors, and high-profile composers.

• Create opportunities for young composers to interact with and receive feedback directly from professional orchestra musicians.

• Expand the variety of repertoire available to the chamber orchestra.

AWARD Each winner will be awarded a $500 cash prize and the opportunity to participate in the Symposium, which includes a public performance. TRAVEL AND LODGING The Omaha Symphony Guild will provide lodging for each participant during the symposium. Winners are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Please note: a score and one set of parts for each winning composition will remain property of the Omaha Symphony and may be programmed on future Omaha Symphony concerts without further royalty payments to the composer.

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TIMELINE/SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (Subject to Change): Thursday, May 14, 2015 Day #1 of New Music Symposium/Fresh Ink

9:30am Welcome Breakfast

10:30am – 1:00pm Orchestra Reading #1 (recorded)

1:00 – 2:30pm Group meeting with John Corigliano, Thomas Wilkins and Ernest Richardson.

2:30 – 5:00pm Composer Work Time 7:00 – 9:30pm Orchestra Reading #2 (recorded) - Open to the public

Friday, May 15, 2015 Day #2 of New Music Symposium/Fresh Ink

9:00am – 3:00pm Private meetings for each composer with symposium faculty 3:00 – 5:00pm Composer Work Time

7:00 – 9:30pm Orchestra Reading #3 (recorded) - Open to the public Saturday, May 16, 2015 Day #3 of New Music Symposium/Fresh Ink

2:30 - 5:00pm Dress rehearsal 7:00pm New Music Symposium Public Concert (recorded)

8:30pm Post-concert Question and Answer 9:00pm Reception sponsored by the Omaha Symphony Guild. Composers accepted to the New Music Symposium may be asked to participate in media interviews, pre-concert events, and other events designed to keep the public up to speed on the progress of the Symposium.

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FACULTY: John Corigliano, Composer The American composer John Corigliano continues to add to one of the richest, most unusual, and most widely celebrated bodies of work created over the last forty years. Corigliano's numerous scores—including three symphonies and eight concerti among over one hundred chamber, vocal, choral, and orchestral works—have been performed and recorded by many of the most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world. Recent scores include Conjurer (2008), for percussion and string orchestra, commissioned for and introduced by Dame Evelyn Glennie; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: The Red Violin (2005), developed from the themes of the score to the François Girard’s film of the same name, which won Corigliano the Oscar in 1999; Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000) for orchestra and amplified soprano, the recording which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition in 2008; Symphony No. 3: Circus Maximus (2004), scored simultaneously for wind orchestra and a multitude of wind ensembles; and Symphony No. 2 (2001: Pulitzer Prize in Music.) Other important scores include String Quartet (1995: Grammy Award, Best Contemporary Composition); Symphony No. 1 (1991: Grawemeyer and Grammy Awards); the opera The Ghosts of Versailles (Metropolitan Opera commission, 1991, International Classical Music Award 1992); and the Clarinet Concerto (1977). One of the few living composers to have a string quartet named for him, Corigliano serves on the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music and holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York, which has established a scholarship in his name; for the past fourteen years he and his partner, the composer-librettist Mark Adamo, have divided their time between Manhattan and Kent Cliffs, New York. More information is available at www.johncorigliano.com. THOMAS WILKINS, Music Director Thomas Wilkins is music director of the Omaha Symphony, a position he has held since 2005. Additionally he is principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and holds the Germeshausen Family and Youth Concert Conductor chair with the Boston Symphony. Past positions have included resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony as well as the Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay), and associate conductor of the Richmond Virginia Symphony. He has also served on the music faculties of North Park University (Chicago), the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Devoted to promoting a life-long enthusiasm for music, Thomas Wilkins brings energy and commitment to audiences of all ages. He is hailed as a master at communicating and connecting with audiences. Following his highly successful first season with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Globe named him among the “Best People and Ideas of 2011.” During his conducting career, Thomas has led orchestras throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the Utah Symphony and the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., to name a few. A native of Norfolk, Va., Thomas Wilkins is a graduate of the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He resides with his wife, Sheri-Lee, in Omaha. They are the proud parents of twin daughters, Erica and Nicole.

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ERNEST RICHARDSON, Resident Conductor Resident Conductor Ernest Richardson enters his 21st year with the Omaha Symphony in the 2014/15 season. In addition to conducting the successful Symphony Pops, Symphony Rocks, and Movie Music series, he is the chief architect of the Omaha Symphony’s outreach and education programs. Richardson was recently appointed as music director and principal conductor for the Santa Barbara Music and Arts Conservatory in Santa Barbara, California. He is also music director of the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. His summers are spent in Steamboat Springs, where he is artistic director and CEO of the innovative Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory. An accomplished composer and arranger, Richardson recently composed the symphonic work Three Scenes for Chamber Orchestra, which was debuted by the Omaha Symphony in 2011. His compositions and arrangements for orchestra are featured largely in the Omaha Symphony’s Christmas productions and on many education and outreach programs, and have been performed throughout the United States. He has also guest conducted with the Nashville Symphony, Opera Omaha, Fort Collins Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and the Cheyenne Symphony. OMAHA SYMPHONY MUSICIAN TEAMS A team of two Omaha Symphony musicians will be assigned to each symposium participant. The musician team will gather feedback from the orchestra and share this information with the composer at individual sessions held on day two of the symposium. OMAHA SYMPHONY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, symposium ensemble The Omaha Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in the area. Serving as a cultural pillar in our community since 1921, the Omaha Symphony celebrated its 90th anniversary in March 2011, and the 2013/14 season marks 93 years of community engagement. Under the leadership of Music Director Thomas Wilkins, the Omaha Symphony is Nebraska’s only full-time professional orchestra and is rated among the top 40 orchestras in the country by the League of American Orchestras. The Omaha Symphony strives to make orchestral music accessible to everyone through our regular concert series, comprehensive education programs and community partnerships. Annually, the Omaha Symphony serves over 120,000 individuals. The symphony season runs September through June and provides more than 100 culturally enriching and entertaining opportunities for live orchestral performances. The mainstage performance series includes: MasterWorks, Symphony Pops, Symphony Rocks, Movie Music, Family, and Symphony Joslyn. We are dedicated to innovative programming and remain abreast of the most talented and relevant artists and orchestral pieces, while embracing the history of the art, and present this to enhance the cultural life of Omaha

Assistance provided by EarShot, the National Orchestral Composition Discovery Network, a program of American Composers Orchestra in collaboration with the American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. Info at www.EarShotnetwork.org.