Composition Matters

Jun 21 2006
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Barbara Scowcroft
Barbara Scowcroft

[b]Barbara Scowcroft[/b] is currently in her 24th season in the Utah Symphony as a first violinist, where she also served as acting Assistant Concertmaster in the 1998-1999 season.

In 1986, Ms. Scowcroft became Music Director and Conductor of the Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was invited to participate in the Cultural Olympiad for the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt lake City, for which she expanded the orchestra of 135 Utahns into an International orchestra of 170 musicians representing twelve countries and five continents.

Ms. Scowcroft was Music Director and General Manager of the Nova Chamber Music Series from 1986-2004, receiving the Governor's Award in the Arts for that organization in 1999. She was also Music Director and Conductor for the Vivaldi Candlelight concerts from 1997 to 2004. She performs annually in the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and recently conducted works for large ensembles on their chamber music series. Ms. Scowcroft has been a guest conductor at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Texas since 2000, for which she was recently appointed Resident Conductor. In April of 2006, Ms. Scowcroft made her debut as the first woman conductor of the Salt Lake Symphony, receiving positive reviews for her musical interpretation. Ms. Scowcroft is an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Utah.

During her high school years, Ms. Scowcroft was a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Scowcroft received both her Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance and her Masters of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Utah.

In 1992, Ms. Scowcroft received Salt Lake City's first Mayor's Award for the Arts. In 2003, she received O.C. Tanner's "Everyday Hero" award for her contributions to Utah non-profit organizations, and in 2004, was selected by the National Association of Women Business Owners, Utah Business Magazine, and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as one of "Thirty Visionary Women" of Utah.

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Thank you for your responses. I completely agree that audiences should be and are an important element of this discussion. When an audience sees that a new composer will be featured on a program, the general response is fear, and the general interest in the concert diminishes. The gap between romantic music and contemporary music is already wide and continues to widen. The problem is that audiences have not adapted as fast as the music has evolved. Today’s audience does not have the ability to understand, absorb, and appreciate the music to which they are being exposed.

Part of the answer to this problem is to “scroll back” and engage composers who are willing to incorporate a little more of the familiar elements of music into their own cutting edge creativity. People tend to go to concerts to be healed, soothed, and relieved from their work week. Only a small portion of the concert going population is interested in hearing music that has more “shock value” than traditional elements. We need composers to come to the table willing to have a little more patience and who not offended if the conductor wants to be more audience friendly in picking and playing pieces. Perhaps if composers are willing to take time to gradually introduce newer, contemporary elements into their music, the gap between audience taste and composer taste will lessen as audiences will be able to adjust, learn, and appreciate the newer music.

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Barbara Scowcroft
Barbara Scowcroft

[b]Barbara Scowcroft[/b] is currently in her 24th season in the Utah Symphony as a first violinist, where she also served as acting Assistant Concertmaster in the 1998-1999 season.

In 1986, Ms. Scowcroft became Music Director and Conductor of the Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was invited to participate in the Cultural Olympiad for the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt lake City, for which she expanded the orchestra of 135 Utahns into an International orchestra of 170 musicians representing twelve countries and five continents.

Ms. Scowcroft was Music Director and General Manager of the Nova Chamber Music Series from 1986-2004, receiving the Governor's Award in the Arts for that organization in 1999. She was also Music Director and Conductor for the Vivaldi Candlelight concerts from 1997 to 2004. She performs annually in the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and recently conducted works for large ensembles on their chamber music series. Ms. Scowcroft has been a guest conductor at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Texas since 2000, for which she was recently appointed Resident Conductor. In April of 2006, Ms. Scowcroft made her debut as the first woman conductor of the Salt Lake Symphony, receiving positive reviews for her musical interpretation. Ms. Scowcroft is an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Utah.

During her high school years, Ms. Scowcroft was a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Scowcroft received both her Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance and her Masters of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Utah.

In 1992, Ms. Scowcroft received Salt Lake City's first Mayor's Award for the Arts. In 2003, she received O.C. Tanner's "Everyday Hero" award for her contributions to Utah non-profit organizations, and in 2004, was selected by the National Association of Women Business Owners, Utah Business Magazine, and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as one of "Thirty Visionary Women" of Utah.

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