A better definition of obesity
January 14, 2025
Months of hard work and creativity culminated in a rare opportunity for a few music students when the internationally acclaimed Mivos Quartet brought their compositions to life on Feb. 20. The ensemble, renowned for introducing innovative string quartet music to diverse audiences worldwide, performed original works by six student composers from the Bienen School of Music.
The concert showcased compositions by Ph.D. candidates Carlos Bandera and Jaz Thomasian, third-year doctoral student Gen Tanaka, and undergraduate composers Mya Vandegrift, Helen Feng and Jianing Yang. Two of the pieces were written during the COVID-19 quarantine.
In the case of Vandegrift, the piece came from a very personal place.
“In a time where unprecedented events seem to be reoccurring events, a line from a letter my grandmother wrote me in 2005 has been in the back of my head:
Our God even awakes the bugs and grasshoppers...careful crawling.
“I wanted to write a non-denominational prayer based on these words,” said Vandegrift, who is currently pursuing degrees in music composition and film.
“Hymns are an accessible form of communal music making,” she said. “This piece is intended to be sung by a non-classical vocalist, as most people who sing hymns are not vocally trained. There are no vocal directions or dynamics with the vocal line, typical for the vocal lines found in hymnals.”
For all of these emerging young artists, the collaboration offered a professional-level artistic exchange that bridged the gap between academic composition study and the demanding world of contemporary music performance.
Hear clips from the students’ pieces below.
