ESYO CHIME Embark on a Reflective Composition Project with Local Composer

Challenges and adversity are parts of everyday life, and our experiences shape us as individuals and as a community.  How we bounce back and overcome day-to-day struggles changes us and defines who we are. ESYO's Reflections of Resilience Project explores the stories of our community's resilience and interconnectedness through music.  

Funded by Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute's PlayUSA initiative, the project brings together ESYO CHIME members and their families from Schenectady and Troy Using personal stories and expression as an inspiration for  improvisation and composition, ESYO CHIME musicians will translate their thoughts and feelings into music and stitch together a colorful new work to share with the world.  

“It's really exciting to see all the creativity coming from these young musicians," said David Bebe ESYO's Director of Education. "Expressing one's own unique ideas and connecting them to a concept of internal strength and community deepens the entire musical experience. The goal is to develop a foundation inclusive of lifelong tools of self-expression and how to thrive amidst all the various challenges we face in life," he continued.

Helping guide the project is ESYO CHIME Administrator Zoë Auerbach and Teaching Artist and ESYO Alum, Jessica Bowen. RPI Professor of Music and composer Chris Fisher-Lochhead will bring the musician's compositional ideas, improvisations, and stories to life as a multi-movement work for a combined orchestra.  As a composer, Chris Fisher-Lochhead's music reflects an interest in cultivating adventurous and inclusive environments for music-making.  Collaborators include notable ensembles like the Arditti Quartet, Dropshift Dance, the Spektral Quartet, Houston Grand Opera, the Contemporary Music Ensemble, to name a few.

Want to hear it? Stay tuned to esyo.org and the Downbeat for information about the world premiere.