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 The RealNewMusic Festival is an annual event that is held each June at Whittier
College’s Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts.
This festival
features local “art music” that has been created by
composer/performers within the past decade. The event includes new music
ensembles, as well as a song set of sorts.
Each year, three or four composers set the same text to music and perform
their songs as a set, with each composer playing his/her own piece
and soprano Melody Versoza singing. For the first three years of the festival,
a poem was selected and then the composers were invited to participate.
Starting with the 2008 event, a contest is held to select the poem, and then
a contest is held to select the compositions.
After RealNewMusic 2008 was over, the winning poet, Sean Gunning, was asked to submit
a short "blurb" on winning the contest and being a part of the RealNewMusic experience.
Here's what he wrote:
Sometimes, I look in the mirror and see wasted time, like a graveyard mist,
softly enveloping the disappearing potential of a romantic fool. So, when
"Waiting For Snow to Fall" was selected as the winning entry in the RealNewMusic
Poetry Contest earlier this year, I was quite thrilled. Three composers set music
to my poem and my words were sung by a soprano in front of a theatre audience.
When Shane Cadman softly and slowly caressed the first notes of his opening
composition from the piano, I felt the first flakes of a gentle snowfall land and
melt on my ear; I felt lighter in my seat: like I might float out of myself. I tried
not to grin too stupidly.
The RealNewMusic Festival primarily showcases unique musical performances, each
with it's own vitality and vibrancy. Naturally, my friends and familial entourage
(yes, I had an entourage for one night) enjoyed the part that featured my poem.
However, I was pretty surprised when my sixty-something mother-in-law said she dug
the L.A. County murder-stats maps (each with a plethora of pins) and the accompanying
Dracula music. Personally, I really dug the closing act, The Liquid Skin Ensemble,
with their YMOish, Kraftwerkesque, English seaside holiday camp from the early
seventies sound. "Totally my cup of tea that."
I want all my poet friends to enter this contest next year. Winning this contest
was way better than winning fifty bucks, or five hundred ... no wait, five hundred's
quite a lot of money.
If you are interested in submitting a poem for the contest, click on the
Guidelines link above for more information. If you are interested
in learning more about the RealNewMusic Festival,
click on the RealNewMusic link above.
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