written by Nick Benavides
2018 GLFCAM Arnold and Babette Salamon Fellow, Cycle 6
When I saw photos of friends of mine smiling and hanging out with Gabriela Lena Frank (and perhaps a few chickens), I knew I had to join them. I’ve long been a fan of Gabriela, but I had a problem: I had never met her, and I was certain I was never meant to.
Read Morewritten by Bonnie McLarty
2018 GLFCAM Marion Terwilliger Webster Fellow, Cycle 4
Though writing is a solitary activity, the hum and gurgle of the dishwasher, the buzz of the fat fly on the window, the deep sigh of my dog Jemma under the table as she shifts position, the voices of my sister-in-law and her children in the next room — These sounds keep me company, the vibrations of the other lives and processes around me. I am not alone. I am here. I am part of the larger world. And for me, the sensory connection to others provided by sound is beautiful thing.
Read Morewritten by Akshaya Avril Tucker
GLFCAM 2018 Cynthia Jackson Ford Fellow, Cycle 6
Before I joined Cycle Two in 2017 to work with violinist Johnny Gandelsman and cellist Joshua Roman, I met Gabriela Lena Frank over Skype. It only took her an hour to understand pretty much everything about me — Who I am, what’s important to me, how I write music. We chatted while I was staying at my grandfather’s house in Glassboro, NJ, and Gabriela was wearing her ultimate composer-at-work red hoodie.
written by Stanton Nelson
2018 GLFCAM Dave and Gunda Hiebert Fellow, Cycle 6
Snippets of music and theology have always rummaged through my heart and mind - most of the time subtly, but on occasion loudly and intensely. For example, I will find myself singing the Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 for weeks or that I dream about justification and sanctification for a while.
Read Morewritten by Erika Oba
2018 GLFCAM Gerald Fischer Fellow, Cycle 5
My sister (Hitomi Oba, Cycle 1) called me last year after her week in Boonville, excitedly recounting her week full of creative stimulation, good food, a beautiful environment, and new colleagues and friends. Her account of her residency was like no other residency I’d heard of before.
Read Morewritten by Steve Juliani
2018 GLFCAM Carleen Hutchins Fellow, Special Guest Auditor
I started writing music in 2016 at age 55 - after spending 25 years first as a professional horn player and then as a music copyist in the motion picture industry. In order to make the time to write, I also set aside a budding criminal defense law practice and changed how I managed my 15-year old music preparation business. But neither the added time nor the changed focus has made me a composer.
Read Morewritten by Adeliia Faizullina
2018 GLFCAM Cynthia Jackson Ford Fellow, Cycle 6
Gabriela, my new family fellow composers and Boonville gave me a second birth and opened my eyes again.
I started my trip to Boonville with my great wonderful friend Akshaya flying together from Austin, Texas to San Francisco California. Akshaya is extremely talented young composer, who creates one of my favorite music. We were studying musical composition in the same program at the University of Texas at Austin. Our friendship is very very important and dear to me!
Read Morewritten by Aeryn Santillan
2018 GLFCAM Kelly Livingston and Ron Samuels Fellow, Cycle 5
“The world doesn't owe you shit
The universe doesn't know you exist
Stop waiting for things to happen
Only you can make a change”
— Punch, “Do It Yourself” – Nothing Lasts E.P.
Read Morewritten by Danny Gouker
2018 GLFCAM John and Marie LaBarbera Fellow, Cycle 6
I went for a walk with my wife the other day. It was one of the first nice Sundays of the spring in New York and we wandered around Prospect Park for an hour or so. After chatting for a while about a few trivial things and commenting to each other about some of the people and activities inhabiting the park, we walked in silence for a while. As we continued walking, our pace slowed as I got a little deeper in thought. Finally, I broke the silence.
Read Morewritten by Antonio Celaya
2018 GLFCAM Chabuca Granda Fellow, Cycle 5
Wherein the author, an aging composer-of- sort, and not very successful 195-pound Mexican-American lawyer, recounts his insecurities, experienced while listening to talented young composers’ works-in-progress.
Read Morewritten by Sid Richardson
2018 GLFCAM Dana Lyon Fellow, Cycle 5
What is it about music that invites comparisons and collaborations with other art forms? Today, music is often paired with film, dance, visual art, literature, poetry, and various other media. We may even take for granted these unions as they have become ubiquitous in modern culture.
Read Morewritten by Jessica Hunt
2018 GLFCAM Boontling Community Fellow, Cycle 4
(In which, having recently turned 30, a not-so-young young composer wonders about the difference between Being and Doing, and celebrates the oasis of Boonville.)
Read Morewritten by Iman Habibi
2018 GLFCAM Lucy and Jacob Frank Fellow, Cycle 4
It may have begun as a search, a quest to find or explore a familiar unknown. Unlike most other children who came to know music through nursery rhymes and dance, my childhood was filled with nationalistic music that celebrated the Islamic revolution and glorified the war.
Read Morewritten by Anjna Swaminathan
2018 GLFCAM Lucy and Jacob Frank Fellow, Cycle 5
It was the night before December 1st, 2017 and the deadline for the GLFCAM Bahlest Eeble Readings application loomed over me. I’d made my way through the majority of the application, much of which involved questions about musical/compositional process, training, and who and what I would bring to a proverbial desert island.
Read Morewritten by Christine Delphine Hedden
2017 GLFCAM Béla Bartók Fellow, Cycle 2
Around this time last year, amidst October’s leaves falling into the Charles River, my friend and I were driving back to our apartment. “How are you doing?” had quickly dived into deep musical questions – not unusual conversation between us, a pair of young and freelancing musicians.
Read Morewritten by Ron Blessinger
Guest Faculty Performer, Cycle 1; Artistic Director and violinist, Third Angle Music (2002-2018); Director and violinist, 45th Parallel Universe (2018 –)
Family. Love. Support. Kindness. Talented
These are just the top five words from a long list that describe dear Gabi, who with her work with the Creative Academy of Music shows us all how creating music is our way of making this the kind of world in which we want to live.
Read Morewritten by Noah Luna
2017 GLFCAM Albert Ginastera Fellow, Cycle 2
The spirit of collaboration is rooted in community, so it makes perfect sense that the most rewarding collaboration I have experienced was in Boonville, California. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure, Boonville is a small town in the Anderson Valley - home to wineries, hop gardens, and other quintessential California crops, including a favorite of mine: the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. But more than the commercial crops this sleepy town sows, Boonville is the quintessential western commune.
Read Morewritten by Ann Christen, resident of Philo, CA
My husband and I have always loved music. When we lived in San Francisco, we had season tickets to the symphony and to a baroque orchestra. Those evenings were highlights of our life there. When we moved to the Anderson Valley there were other pleasures, but live music was not one of them! We attempted to compensate by having a wonderful audio system at home...in fact, for his retirement present my husband bought some high end speakers and set up a special listening area in our home.
Read Morewritten by Nina Shekhar
2017 GLFCAM Gerald Fischer Fellow, Cycle 1
Last year, I received an email from Gabriela Lena Frank asking me if I would be interested in participating in her inaugural Creative Academy of Music. The opportunity was so special and the chance to be mentored by someone as truly extraordinary as Gabi was too good to pass up, so of course I had to say yes. When I accepted, she thanked me for taking a chance on her – to which I replied, “I’m not taking a chance on you, your amazingness is guaranteed. I’m honored that you would take a chance on me.”
Read Morewritten by Garrett Schumann
2017 GLFCAM Arnold and Babette Salamon Fellow, Cycle 3
It is hard to believe it has been weeks. It is hard to feel time pass at all, after it seemed to stand still in the mountains of Boonville, California. I felt magic in my time at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music – The magic of hearing the inchoate strands of a fledging composition woven into stunning musical life, and the magic of instant, unwavering trust in my new creative family.
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