World-renowned performer, composer named fall artist in residence

The Arts Institute welcomes world-renowned performer, composer, conductor, educator, music producer, and publisher Gunther Schuller as its Fall 2005 Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence.

Schuller will teach university courses and participate in public forums and performances from September through December 2005 (see complete list below). Schuller’s residency is sponsored by the School of Music and co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Performing professionally since the age of 16, Schuller played with the New York Philharmonic and was principal horn in the Cincinnati Symphony. He was also active in the New York bebop scene and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Ornette Coleman, among others.

At the age of 25, he started teaching at the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to become a professor of composition at Yale University’s School of Music, president of the New England Conservatory of Music, and artistic director of the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center. Schuller has written more than 160 original compositions in virtually every musical genre, authored five books, and started his own recording company, GM Recordings, in 1980. He has also won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur “Genius” Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Music, the BMI Lifetime Achievement Award and Columbia University’s William Schuman Award.

While in Madison, Schuller will teach two courses and participate in several public events. Extending the concept of score fidelity that he advocated in his book “The Compleat Conductor”

(1997), he will work with students to analyze the Richard Strauss’s “Till Eulenspiegel,” culminating in a lecture/demonstration by Schuller and the University Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 1.

In his lecture course, “The Creative Process,” Schuller will consider the nature of creativity by highlighting the experiences that defined and shaped his own creative process and career. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Lori Skelton will conduct “A Conversation with Gunther Schuller” on Sept. 14, interviewing Schuller about his life, music, and current activities. On Oct. 15, The Center for the Humanities will host “The History of Histories of Jazz: From Primitivism to Formalism to New Criticism.” Schuller’s work as a composer will be honored on Oct. 27 at a special School of Music Faculty Chamber Concert performance.

Schuller will be in residence at the UW–Madison under the auspices of the university’s Arts Institute Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program, in which world-class artists teach inter-departmental, for-credit courses during semester long residencies, and perform or exhibit work for campus and community audiences. Governed by arts faculty and staff, the Arts Institute represents all the arts on campus and works to make the arts more visible and effective at UW–Madison. The Arts Institute funds and supports projects with university- and community-wide impact, including artists residencies, awards and fellowships, public programs, and arts marketing and outreach.

Schuller Residency Public Events:

• “A Conversation with Gunther Schuller:” A free public forum presented by the Arts Institute in partnership with Wisconsin Public Radio, hosted by Lori Skelton. Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005, 7 p.m., Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street. For more information: Kate Hewson, Arts Institute, (608) 263-9290, kahewson@wisc.edu.
• “The History of Histories of Jazz: From Primitivism to Formalism to New Criticism.” A free public forum presented by the Center for the Humanities in partnership with the Wisconsin Book Festival and the Overture Center for the Arts. Saturday, Oct. 15, 3 p.m., Wisconsin Studio, Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street. For more information: Grant Samuelsen, (608) 263-3409, gesamuelsen@wisc.edu.
• “The Music of Gunther Schuller:” A Faculty Concert Series performance featuring classical works and jazz arrangements by Gunther Schuller. Thursday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street. Tickets: $9 general, $7 senior/non-UW-Madison student, UW–Madison students free with valid ID. Tickets available at Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office (inside Park Street entrance to Memorial Union), (608) 262-2201. For more information: School of Music, (608) 263-1900, music@music.wisc.edu.
• “Revisiting Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel:” A free lecture-demonstration on score interpretation by Gunther Schuller and the UW Symphony Orchestra. Tuesday, Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m., Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street. For more information: School of Music, (608) 263-1900, music@music.wisc.edu.