JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
MICHAEL SCHELLE, founder / director / web design
COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA was founded in 1982 by MICHAEL SCHELLE
The heart, the soul and the lungs of new music at Butler University is the notorious JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA, the I-70 post-modern new music superhighway. The group is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of music by 'not dead yet' (or recently dead) composers and also serves as a performance ensemble / improvisation ensemble / breeding ground for the university student composers. The versatile, energetic, action-packed JCFACO programs (over 250 concerts on and off campus since 1982) consist of new compositions by Butler student composers, 20th Century avant garde / experimental 'classics' and new music by contemporary composers from across the US and abroad such as :
Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, Bruno Maderna, Meredith Monk, Louis Andriessen, David Tudor, Harold Budd, Charlemagne Palestine, Cornelius Cardew, Prince, Alvin Curran, Robert Ashley, Barney Childs, David Bedford, Dan Lentz, Laurie Anderson, Pauline Oliveros, Luigi Nono, Conlon Nancarrrow, Terry Riley, Christian Wolff, Phil Winsor, Yoko Ono, Eve Beglarian, Olivier Messiaen, Ornette Coleman, Murray Schafer, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Toru Takemitsu, Krzysztof Penderecki, Frederic Rzewski, Jacob Druckman, Akira Ifukube, James Tenney, Cecil Taylor, Elliott Schwartz, Elliot Carter, Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, Franz Waxman . . .
George Crumb, Aaron Copland, John Adams, John Corigliano, film composer Christopher Young (1998, 2010, 2012), Chinary Ung, Sven-David Sandstrom, Elliott Schwartz, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, William Albright, Stephen Gryc, Giya Kancheli, Paul Chihara, Arnold Franchetti, Henry Gwiazda, Dinos Constantinides, Karel Husa, Zae Munn, James Mobberley, Rocky Reuter, Andrew Simpson, Phillip Schroeder, Jim Fox, Nat Evans, Janos Kokonnen (Helsinki), Maseo Homna (Tokyo), Aleksander Vujic (Prague), Lai Sheung Ping (Hong Kong), Hifumi Shimoyama (Tokyo), Akira Kobayashi (Nagoya, Japan)
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FOR JCFACO GUEST COMPOSER RESIDENCIES SINCE THE 1990'S
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JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA presents:
FIRE OF DESIRE symposium : November 2011
Michael Schelle, director
FIVE Japanese guest "Artists in Residence" for a week of concerts, lectures, panels, presentations, etc.
Akira Kobayashi (composer)
Tagiru Fujii (avant garde music scholar)
Satsuki Inoue (musicologist)
Hideki Kobayashi (painter and Van Gogh scholar)
Kazuaki Shiota (composer / sound design artist)
New Music panel with (L to R): Prof. Rusty Jones, Kazuaki Shiota, Dr. Elizabeth Mix, Tagiru Fujii,
Akira Kobayashi, Prof. Satsuki Inoue, Shane Monds (Butler grad composer), Zane Merritt (SUNY Buffalo)
Kobayashi (L) and Fujii backstage before the performance of Kobayashi's
ASTREA FOR ORCHESTRA (2011) premiered by the Butler University Symphony Orchestra
Michael Schelle and Akira Kobayashi, in the audience for the premiere
Akira Kobayashi presentation : Butler composition students
Kobayashi working with Butler grad composer Shane Monds (from Baton Rouge, LA)
Following the JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA concert of Kobayashi's chamber music :
a few of the Kobayashi performers: (L to R) Michael Schelle, Amanda Seyler (flute),
Akira Kobayashi, Shane Monds (piano), Lauren Finn (harp).
KOBAYASHI and FUJII also gave new music presentations at the Indiana University School of Music
L to R, with IU faculty composers:
Tagiru Fujii, David Dzubay (IU), P. Q. Phan (IU), Don Freund (IU), ???, Kobayashi, Schelle
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GALA POST-SYMPOSIUM RECEPTION @ Clowes Memorial Hall for the Performing Arts, Butler University
(L to R) JCFA Dean Ron Caltibiano, Prof. Inoue, Kobayashi, Butler University President James Danko,
and symposium director Michael Schelle (trying valiantly to describe something . . . . . )
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CHRISTOPHER YOUNG, Guest Composer October 2010
The BSO concert on 10/31/2010 included extended suites from Chris' terrorific scores for Hellbound / Hellraiser (1988), Spiderman 3 (2007) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). During his five-day residency, Chris worked (often) with the Butler composition students, gave lecture demonstrations in composition/composing for film, and worked with the Butler Symphony Orchestra in preparation for the Halloween concert . . .
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Christopher Young working with a few of the Butler composition majors
Christopher Young working with freshman composition major KEVIN VOGEL (Cleveland, OH) :
CHRISTOPHER YOUNG with pianist / composer MIHO SASAKI
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The Butler Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Richard
Auldon Clark, and BSO concertmaster / Bride of Frankenstein Tricia Frasure,
in the Main Title from Christopher Young's DRAG ME TO HELL (2009)
Stunning, extraordinary BSO performances of Christopher Young's HELLRAISER, SPIDERMAN 3
and DRAG ME TO HELL prompted a spontaneous standing ovation from the sold-out house (2,300)
Chris Young backstage, with The Bride of Frankenstein . . .
BACKSTAGE with BSO Music Director and Conductor, Richard Auldon Clark
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MICHAEL SCHELLE backstage :
- always "The Mysterious Lady in Red" for Halloween
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BELOW: a New York City style meal at Shapiro's Delicatessen downtown
before heading off to a Haunted House on the south side of Indy (which
is already a pretty scary neighborhood)
Chris' passion is Halloween, and he has visited over 100 haunted houses
in the USA. He ranked Indy's HAUNTED ASYLUM in the top 20% of those
he's visited over the years . . .
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L. A. bar, gathering material for the extended Christopher Young interview in
Michael Schelle's 440 page film music book, THE SCORE (1999 - Silman-James Press)
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OCTOBER 2009 JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA presents:
Guest Composer from Tokyo:
we can't share clothing
NY / Butler grad composer SCOTT COMANZO and MRS. YOKO SHIMOYAMA :
All Hell breaks loose in Schelle's studio as a few Grad Composers react to
REHEARSALS and CONCERT: SHIMOYAMAFEST 2009 . . .
after a breathtaking performance of Shimoyama's 1972 masterpiece, WAVE
Pianist Eugenio Urrutia-Borlando, Hifumi Shimoyama, cellist Bill Grubb
SCHELLE, SHIMOYAMA, and about 1/2 of our composition majors . . .
JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA presents: guest artist HIROKO SENOO (Japan)
World Premiere of IKI by Miho Sasaki, written for Ms. Senoo
(at one point she plays the flute with chopsticks)
L to R : Zane Merritt, Miho Sasaki and Hiroko Senoo rehearse a
new piece by composer / guitarist (and Butler alum), Zane Merritt
JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA CONCERTS
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 ....
BELOW : SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE (2010) by Michael Schelle
THE JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA at BUTLER UNIVERSITY
BUSES LEAVE AT 7:15 pm
So are we - best audience ever :)
Megan Drevits, Sammy Johnson, Miho Sasaki, Daisy Chew
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BELOW: vintage COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA publicity shot from the 1990's
JCFACO GUEST COMPOSERS
JCFACO CHIHARAFEST 2006
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with Guest Composer ELVIS COSTELLO
(2006)
Back: Frank
Felice, Michael Schelle
Front: Miho Sasaki, Elvis Costello, Biljana Bozinovska
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with Guest Composer JIM FOX (Los Angeles)
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A friend - and frequent guest - of the JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA, Rocky J. Reuter (Capital University, OH) has been JCFACO guest composer many times over the years
2011 : Guest Composer Rocky Reuter works with the Butler University Symphonic Band, directed by Robert Grechesky, for a performance of his emotionally-charged TRUMPETS ETERNALLY SOUNDING (2006)
Rocky Reuter explains his unorthodox percussion
with silver Maine Coon cat Mary Claire
ENSEMBLE 48 : GUERRILLA NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE WITHIN JCFACO, FOUNDED BY 2007/09 JCFA GRADUATE COMPOSERS
L TO R: MEGAN POKORNEY, BRIAN GRIMM, COL. JOSHUA MORRIS, MATTHEW SMART, SCOTT COMANZO, ZANE MERRITT, ADAM COHEN-LEADHOLM
ENSEMBLE 48 Grad Composers ZANE MERRITT & ADAM COHEN-LEADHOLM perform PAN-OCEANIC
.
Vintage JCFACO 1990's : CUT PIECE by Yoko Ono
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SCHELLEFEST 2010
22 JANUARY 2010: AN AMAZING SURPRIZE
60th BIRTHDAY CONCERT and PARTY
for MICHAEL SCHELLE
Featuring JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA and GUESTS
EIGHTEEN (18) brand new pieces written for the program !!
(composed by current students, past students and composers friends from across the U.S.
All the brainchild of Mrs. Schelle (pianist/composer Miho Sasaki) below :
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
PROGRAM, CONCERT, RECEPTION : all organized by Miho Sasaki
A few pix from the MADNESS that was SCHELLEFEST 2010
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VIDEO
A FEW OF THE 18 CRAZY PIECES WRITTEN FOR SCHELLEFEST 2010 :
MICHAEL SCHELLE: EIN PORTRAIT by Frank Felice
O' VICTORY by Brooks Frederickson
POSTCARDS FROM HELL by Rocky Reuter
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One of Schelle's very best friends, composer/trombonist Rocky J. Reuter (Dean of the Capital University Conservatory of Music, Columbus, OH) wrote a new piece for the entire ensemble: NO STAMPS NEEDED: POSTCARDS FROM HELL
BELOW : Miho Sasaki & Nana Omori : the quintessential URTEXT performance of Miho's iconic TOKYO XTREME: THE DESECRATION OF THE SUZUKI METHOD (2009)
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"GODZILLA MARCH" (arr. by Miho Sasaki) and "Happy Birthday"
simultaneously in about nineteen different keys
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SCHELLE vs. Grad Composer SCOTT "The Big Show" PFITZINGER
BELOW: All of my 2009/2010 terrorific Grad Composers came for the adventure, wrote new pieces, and contributed a great deal of help and coordination for SCHELLEFEST 2010 (altho a couple of the composers didn't make it into these photographs)
THE END
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The next day, when the dust had settled, I took my kids (who had surprized me coming from NYC and New Haven for the SCHELLEFEST 2010 weekend) to our favorite Mom 'n Pop Chinese restaurant, at the corner of Keystone and E. 72nd St. in Indianapois, House of Cheung
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RECENT JCFACO PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
JCFA Composers Orchestra, the Butler Symphony Orchestra with Hollywood film composer Christopher Young ... 1999, 2010
1999: JCFA Composers Orchestra on tour: Capital University (Columbus, OH) - February
1999: JCFACO performs for the Morgan Swift Arts and Culture Mayoral Candidacy fundraiser:
Susurrus Space, 429 E. Vermont, Indianapolis, IN - 20 February 1999 JCFA Composers Orchestra was the invited ensemble (and paid) to perform an entire program at the state convention of the National Innovative Change Network Society - 4/99
2002: members of JCFACO perform in the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia . . March 2002
2004: JCFACO - Terry Riley's In C, Clowes Hall, MidWinter Dance Festival: Feb 19-21, 2004
2004: JCFACO performs concert: Clowes Hall - for Freshman Orientation! August 2004
2004: JCFACO performs full-length concert at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN: September
2007: JCFACO performs full-length concert at Anderson University, IN: November 2007
2009: JCFACO performs concert @ The Wood Room, Circle Theatre, Indianapolis: 3 March 2009 Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra hosts, the monthly First Monday concert series
2009: JCFACO guest ensemble for Society of Composers, Inc. Region V Conference, Iowa, 10/09
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2008: JCFA Composition major, KYLE WERNKE, directs select members of JCFACO in a performance of JUMPING MUSIC (by Laura Dean) in the streets of PRAGUE, VIENNA and AMSTERDAM, March 2008 . . .
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ANNUAL JCFA COMPOSER / CHOREOGRAPHER PROJECT:
Since 2000, annual pairing of 10 - 12 JCFA student composers with 10 - 12 JCFA Dance
Department choreography students for original collaborative presentations / performances.
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JCFACO HOSTS NEW MUSIC FESTIVALS / CONFERENCES
2005 SCI Region V Festival Conference : Midwest regional conference of Society of Composers, Inc. at Butler University. Nine (9) concerts (chamber, orchestra, band, choir) of members music, lecture series, etc. Four days in November 2005
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REVIEW
(NUVO, Indianapolis' weekly Village Voice-style underground newspaper):
NUVO, October, 2008 - Gary Weir
Ed. note: after two reviews of JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA concert, Mr. Gary Weir was terminated by NUVO. Coincidence ?? .... we don't think so
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Senior composition major KYLE WERNKE (red shirt) conducts 'Orchestra No. 3'
in Music for 4 Orchestras, Audience and Soloist by Elliott Schwartz
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WHAT THE PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT THE
JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA CONCERTS:
I don't like it. It's not real music - anon. JCFA voice major
It's a New World Order ! - Melissa Williams
Do you think this will hurt? - Raymond Leppard
Music started going to shit when the Romantics died. Yeah, every once
in a while they (the Composers Orchestra) will have something decent,
but I swear if they ever do another one of those "IN C" minimalists concerts, I'll fucking kill them all - Cory Ellison
ACK ACK
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SCHOOL OF MUSIC
JORDAN COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
BUTLER UNIVERSITY
4600 SUNSET AVENUE
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46208
MICHAEL SCHELLE, Composer in Residence
Chicago grad composer GREGG MEDLEY vs. MICHAEL SCHELLE
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BUTLER COMPOSITION STUDENTS (majors : BM, MM):
B.M. -
Approx. 3 - 4 freshman are accepted into the competitive B.M. program each
year. I have drawn regularly from the Great Lakes region, both coasts,
(NY, NJ, PA, VA, CA, WA, OR), New England, and have welcomed undergrad
composition majors from many foreign countries including China, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Canada and Thailand
M.M. - Approx. 3 - 4 composers are accepted into the competitive Graduate Composition program each
year. The students in the program usually come from
the "outside" : recent graduate students from Oberlin, Grinnell, Bowdoin College, Pamona College (CA), New York City, University of
Redlands, Long Island, NY, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio, Boston, California,
Minnesota, Florida, Wyoming, Alabama, Iowa, Washington D.C., Washington
State, California, West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Texas, Oregon, Macedonia, Chile, Tokyo and Toronto.
BUTLER COMPOSERS (after Butler University):
Over 250
BM/MM composers have been accepted (most with graduate teaching
fellowships / assistantships) into advanced composition programs (MM, PhD,
DMA) at many prestigious institutions across the U.S. and abroad including
Cornell University, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Michigan, Duke, Indiana University, Boston University, Princeton University, University of Southern California (DMA and the USC Film Scoring Program), University
of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, University of Chicago, NYU (New York
University), SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Stony Brook, UCLA, The Ohio State
University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Hartt
School of Music, Peabody Conservatory of Music, University of Minnesota,
University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland, Northwestern
University, UMASS, UCONN, Florida State University, University of Texas-Austin,
University of Missouri-Kansas City, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Oregon,
Ithaca College, Syracuse, University of Washington-Seattle, University of Iowa, University of North Texas,
Cal Arts & many more.
Many Butler composition students have been involved in the university STUDY ABROAD program, spending a semester - or an entire academic year - away from campus, including recent Butler composers studying in Austria, Germany, Italy, England, Ireland, China, Japan and many other countries. Five (5) of my students have been awarded Fulbright Scholar awards for graduate study abroad, and awarded the prestigious 2-year Davies-Jackson Scholarship (in national competition) for study at the composition program at Oxford - Cambridge, England. Since 1995, 3 composition students have been awarded the prestigious Presser Scholarship. After final degrees, Butler composers enjoy active careers as university teachers and professional composers across the country and abroad.
2006 - 2008 :
"The Estrogen Years" : seven (7) deadly female grad composers :
L
to R: Amy Dolphin (Iowa), Nicholas Liebman (Chicago), Brooks
Frederickson (Ft. Wayne), Miho Sasaki (Tokyo, Japan), Tammy Harding
(Maine), Kristine McKenzie (Los Angeles), Luciana Schulle (Argentina).
Not pictured : Biljana Bozinovska (Eastern Europe), Elizabeth Skriba (Chicago)
