In February, three students in Professor Zhou Tian’s composition class had a rare opportunity — a reading and performance of their works by a renowned professional ensemble.
Zhou had invited the Dover Quartet — currently the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Rice University — to campus for a four-day residency, sponsored by the IJʿ Arts Council. Their visit included a public performance in the chapel, a reading and open rehearsal of the students’ works, and a Q&A session. Called “Bright lights in the city” by The Strad, the quartet was the 2010 Fischoff Competition Grand Prize winner.
His reasoning behind the idea, Zhou said, was this: “For a composer, the most exciting experience and the best lessons come from hearing his or her work played for the first time. It is especially gratifying when the music is played by professionals, because the composer will know immediately what worked and what didn’t. And better yet, the students would get to direct and shape the performance.”
The quartet ran through each piece — “Molly’s Asylum” by Corin Kinkhabwala ’13, String Quartet No. 1 by Xavia Publius ’13 (Palmyra, Pa.), and “Psyche and the Seeds” by Clare Pellerin (Hamilton, N.Y.) — in front of the composers, then rehearsed them in detail, incorporating suggestions and changes. In short order, they performed the pieces, which were recorded for posterity.
Kinkhabwala, a music major from Pelham, N.Y., who plays piano, double bass, and guitar, said his piece is programmatic. “Molly’s not her name, but I had a friend with schizophrenia, so it tells the story of realizing you’re schizophrenic, and then trying to come to terms with it,” he said. “When I heard them play it the first time, it was amazing — like painting a picture without being able to see color, and then having the magnificent colors revealed to you.”
In describing the process of refining his composition with the musicians, Kinkhabwala said, for example, he hadn’t provided bowings or slur marks, which would indicate how smoothly or roughly to play specific notes or passages. “I left it up to the performers. Their second time through, I suggested they play everything legato [smoothly] except for the middle section.”
Asked what kind of feedback the quartet gave, Kinkhabwala exclaimed, “They thought it was really cool, which made me so happy! In the animato section, the cello has a certain melody. The cellist said, ‘Is that Molly’s asylum?’ He was singing it in rhythm, as if it were a theme, but I hadn’t even noticed that! That was really interesting.”
The icing on the cake came a few weeks later when Kinkhabwala learned the music department had awarded him IJʿ’s Lorey Family Senior Prize, established in memory of Wilhelmine and Frederick Lorey, which came with a $500 award. Zhou said they found “Molly’s Asylum” to be “a sophisticated and original piece, far above average for undergraduate compositions, and hope that this success will encourage Corin to continue as a composer.”
Listen to the Dover Quartet’s performances at IJʿ at