Contemporary Music  Workshop*
July 26 - August 4, 2008
Location: Berlin, Germany
with the Kammersymphonie Berlin

Artistic Director/Faculty: Dr. Paolo Bellomia

For Conductors, Composers and Performers

This workshop is offered to Composers who wish to develop their conducting skills in order to conduct their own works and Conductors of traditional repertoire who want to increase their abilities and experience in conducting contemporary works and performers who wish to gain experience performing  today's complex music. 

Core Objectives:

This workshop aims to develop highly sophisticated skills for the modern conductor-composer through study of works from the contemporary period. Conductors-composers will learn about the challenges encountered in conducting works of today's composers and develop techniques for resolving these challenges.  This workshop will help conductors-composers to develop professional skills and techniques related to the conducting of contemporary works. 

Program Outline

• Daily detailed analysis with the objective of developing an in-depth understanding of musical texts. 
• Daily work on technique inherent to the approaches of twentieth century works 
• Daily rehearsals with an ensemble 
• Daily reading with an ensemble of a chosen work by a participant composer. 
• Final concert shared by the participants

Repertoire  (updated 05.03.08)

• Stockhausen: Zeitmasze 
• Stockhausen: Kreuzspiel 
• Schönberg: Pierrot Lunaire featuring guest soloist Jimmy Briere 
• Webern: Konzert op.24 
• Stravinsky: Octet
• Boulez: Dérive I
  
  
  
  

Faculty: Dr. Paolo Bellomia

Dr Paolo Bellomia is Professor of Orchestral Conducting (master's & doctoral levels) at the Université de Montréal and head of the conducting program.  His broad repertoire stretches from Mozart symphonies to Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître.  His role at the Université de Montréal has led him to conduct various ensembles, be they symphony orchestras, contemporary ensembles or opera productions.  Outside of the Université de Montréal, he is regularly invited to give master classes at such institutions as Hartford University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Born in Rome, Italy, Bellomia and his family moved to Canada during his childhood.  Musical studies at the Université de Montréal led him to obtain a double master's degree in theory with Massimo Rossi and in composition in André Prévost's class, which he completed with a doctorate in conducting under the direction of Lorraine Vaillancourt.  Prior to these studies, Bellomia followed Pierre Boulez's classes at the Collège de France and observed his work with the Ensemble Intercontemporain during a six-month apprenticeship, which led to Boulez becoming a personal mentor for him.

The recipient of several grants from organizations such as the FCAR (Québec excellence grants), the Canada Arts Council, The Arts Council of Ontario and Le Conseil des Arts & Lettres du Québec, Bellomia was awarded a two-year post-doctoral internship under the direction of Michael Charry (New York).  He has participated in several internships and master classes throughout Europe and the US, including classes led by Harold Farberman at the Conductors Institute (CT), Jiri Belolaveck (Czech Republic), and both Carlo Maria Giulini and Kirk Trevor (USA).

From 1996 to1997 he worked as Peter Eötvös' assistant.  Since 1997 he has frequently been invited to conduct orchestras and contemporary ensembles in Brazil, Canada, the US (Long Beach, CA, New York, Pittsburgh, Providence) and in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, and Netherlands), in Mexico and Russia.  Since 1991, Bellomia has premiered countless contemporary works written by young composers as founder, artistic director and conductor of the Ensemble du Jeu Présent in Ottawa.  In 2003, he became artistic director of the Fusions Ensemble in Ottawa and, more recently, has become the artistic director of the Orchestre Synfonique Leonardo Da Vinci, in Montréal.

Maestro Bellomia's current projects include the elaboration of a treatise on orchestral conducting (video 3D based on Pierre Boulez' approach, which will cover works from the Post-Romantic and Twentieth-Century repertoire. For this project he has obtained two importants grants from the Fonds d'Innovation Canadienne and Fonds québécois de la culture et société.

Conductor/Composers: The fee for the Contemporary Music Workshop is 1800EU and includes podium time, tuition. A deposit of 900EU is due upon your acceptance to the workshop. You will be invoiced. Your deposit guarantees your place in the workshop, places in the workshop will not be held without a deposit.  The balance of fees is due June 1, 2008.

Performers: