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sandiegoopera OP t1_it7rhsp wrote

Reply to comment by DeadHeadSticker in Hi Reddit! I'm a Grammy winning classical composer, composer-in-residence for the Philadelphia Orchestra and I also founded a music academy. In two weeks, the San Diego Opera will premiere my first ever opera, El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego. AMA by sandiegoopera

That's a great question. I likely have to mull on this for a bit to parse out all the ways it's different and similar. But, off the top of my head, the specificity of the words is paradoxically both defining (sometimes even confining) and liberating. On the one hand, the very shape of the lyricism has to wrap around the syllabic shape of the words, unless you're thwarting that for a meaningful expressive reason. On the other, my librettist Nilo Cruz has an unbelievable imagination that takes me into worlds I could never originate myself. So, I come up with music I never would have come up with otherwise, and that's liberating for me. It leaves me a better composer... So, that's one important thing that vocal music can do for me as opposed to instrumental music without another writer's words.

Great question.

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DeadHeadSticker t1_it827ac wrote

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your response and it made me think of two things

One is that sometimes working with limitations can lead to really creative solutions.

The other is working with other creative people. I remember hearing someone play my music for the first time, and thinking no, that wasn't what I wanted, but then thinking what they did was better and incorporating it.

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sandiegoopera OP t1_it8304d wrote

Yeah, the shock of hearing something coming to life can feel very similar to the shock of your music being played incorrectly. When I mentor aspiring composers, I tell them it's important for them to take a breath when hearing something for the first time in real life, not just on the computer or in their head. After a little while, your memory of its first life might fade for what is actually real.

Then, if you get multiple performances of your music, you'll begin to see how rich different interpretations are. This is the greatest compliment a performer can give a composer, to teach us everything that our ideas promise. We may originate the ideas but we don't fully know everything they are capable of. Kind of like having kids who grow up and form their own opinions. :)

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