YACR PROGRAM

Current Young American Composers-In-Residence

D. J. Sparr
California Symphony Young American
Composer-in-Residence
Download Press Release HERE
Read his BLOG HERE
Listen to Sparr's piece from this year HERE
Listen to Sparr's piece from last year "OPTIMA VOTA: OVERTURE-FANTASIA"

D. J. Sparr is the new Young American Composer-in-Residence of the California Symphony. The critically acclaimed California Symphony's YACR program will give this young American composer an opportunity to work with a professional orchestra in a two-year residency during which the Symphony commissions and performs one of his works each season, preceded by multiple reading rehearsals which are recorded, and direct feedback from the Music Director, the California Symphony musicians and music librarian. Said BMI Foundation President Ralph Jackson, "We know of no other orchestra anywhere in the world doing this type of groundbreaking work with young composers." The composer will also be involved in educational programs in the schools and community at large, visiting local schools to discuss the ideas and changes surrounding the commission and to work with composition students. Students and teachers will be invited to attend three reading rehearsals and the world premiere. Of the six composers who have participated in the California Symphony's YACR Program since its inception, five have won the prestigious Rome Prize for Composition, and two went on to win the BBC International Masterprize competition (one with a work commissioned and premiered by the California Symphony). The '96-99 resident composer, Kevin Puts, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his first full-length opera "Silent Night" commissioned by the Minnesota Opera, and the '07-10 resident composer Mason Bates recently won a $250,000 Heinz Award. Former YACRs have held prestigious positions as composition professors and composers-in-residence at institutions such the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Chicago Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Music from Angel Fire, Peabody Conservatory of Music, Pittsburgh Symphony , Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, and the Yale School of Music.

Said California Symphony Executive Director Walter Collins, "We are delighted to announce the selection of D.J. Sparr as our latest Young American Composer in Residence. His work is refreshing, alternative, and exciting. We know our audiences will be intrigued to follow along as he creates new works and unveils them for us. D. J. represents the ideal choice for this program he is an emerging American composer who is already garnering top international awards. Additionally, his experience working with young people in composition and improvisation will further expand the reach of this program into our schools." D. J. Sparr is a prolific American composer and guitarist trained in a striking variety of musical styles, including both the classical and the vernacular. He has performed electric guitar concertos with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Italy, the Alabama Symphony, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Cabrillo Festival of New Music, and the Fort Collins Symphony.

The Washington National Opera has commissioned an hour-long chamber opera to be unveiled at the Kennedy Center in June 2013. "Approaching Ali"- with libretto by Mark Campbell and Davis Miller, based on Mr. Miller's memoir, "The Tao of Muhammad Ali." Mr. Sparr's music has been performed, premiered, and commissioned by various ensembles including the Dayton Philharmonic, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Williamsburg Symphonia, Eighth Blackbird, and the Amsterdam-based Hexnut Ensemble. He received the $10,000 Grand Prize in the orchestra category for the BMG/Williams College National Young Composers Competition, was an alternate for the 1998-9 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and has won two BMI Student Composer Awards.

The California Symphony's Young Artist-in-Residence Program application process is extremely competitive and rewards selected composers with the exceptional opportunity to prepare and premiere an original composition during each year of an intensive residency, all while receiving multiple recorded rehearsals and pivotal feedback from the Symphony's musicians and conductor - a significant asset, given that composers rarely have the chance to hear and accordingly revise their works in progress. This highly sought-after program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund, the BMI Foundation, and many others.

Past Young American Composers-In-Residence


Mason Bates 2007-2010	Kevin Beavers 2002-2005	Pierre Jalbert 1999-2002	Kevin Puts 1996-1999	Chris Theofanidis 1994-1996	Kamran Ince 1992-1994

The Young American Composer-in-Residence (YACR) Program is a feature totally unique to the California Symphony. It has garnered international attention for its one-of-a-kind "orchestra-as-laboratory" residency approach, and helped to catapult all previous participants to international success.

The highly sought-after program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund, the BMI Foundation, and others.

Launched in 1991, the program offers emerging composers the coveted opportunity to develop, refine and premiere a new work during each year of an in-depth three-year residency. No other symphony orchestra gives its composers in residence an opportunity to hone their craft in this unique way.

The California Symphony facilitates the composition process by providing several recordings from the in-depth reading rehearsals of the commissioned work, along with feedback from the musicians and conductor. This process is a tremendous benefit, since composers rarely have the opportunity to hear their new works in progress, and far enough in advance to make meaningful revisions prior to a public premiere.

As a result of the Symphony's approach, young composers are able to refine their pieces and create fully realized scores many months before their works are introduced to the public and critical scrutiny.

"My involvement with the California Symphony was literally the defining opportunity in my career," said Chris Theofanidis, the Symphony's second YACR (1994-96). Theofanidis won the 2003 International Masterprize Competition. "This (the YACR Program) is a program with very long-range goals, and will cultivate a generation of composers."

Mason Bates is the sixth American composer to participate in the Symphony's YACR program (2007-2010). In addition to Bates, other young American composers that have held residencies include Kevin Beavers, Kamran Ince; Kevin Puts; and Pierre Jalbert, who during his residency won the coveted Masterprize in 2001 with In Aeternam, a piece of music commissioned and premiered by the California Symphony. Most of the YACR alumni have received the prestigious Rome Prize in Composition either during their residency or shortly thereafter.

To date, the Symphony has commissioned and premiered thirty original pieces of music.