Stem serves as faculty member at Alba Music Festival

Composer and Associate Professor of Music Dr. Erich Stem recently had the opportunity to serve as one of the faculty of the international Alba Music Festival Composition Program in Alba, Italy, where he mentored 15 fellow composers from across the world who had been selected to participate in a two-week long residency intended for improving their creative output.

The festival hosted 40 concerts ranging from solo performances to full orchestral concerts and attracts over 10,000 visitors each year, along with about 200 musicians from over 20 countries who perform in various historical and cultural sites across Alba, including churches, theaters, and open-air locations.

As a faculty member of the Alba Music Festival, Stem offered lessons that focused on composition techniques and offering insights into shaping one's musical identity. Stem also delivered a lecture on consortium commissions, described as a business model that helps composers be more successful at funding their own work.

Dr. Stem has incorporated ways to showcase the work of living composers into his life's work and efforts at IU Southeast. Stem says there is a similarity between his work at IU Southeast and the Alba festival.

"For years, IU Southeast supported a record label I founded and directed called New Dynamic Records. The purpose of that label is very similar to the Alba festival's mission - that is to say there is great music still being written today by living composers and the music of our time is just as invigorating, if not more relevant to our contemporary culture." he said.

Every day at the festival included workshops and masterclasses held by impressive faculty and visiting artists, discussing topics from fine distinction of the sound and nuances of musical craft to savvy career planning. Stem described his unique experience of working with the fellows.

"What I liked most about working with the fellows was the diversity of experiences each composer brought to the table. Finding one's unique path is something we composers do on both the musical and financial level, and my hope was to share my experience with an idea (consortium commission) that would work for everyone at the conference, regardless of where they sit career-wise." he said.

The structure of the festival was established in 2005 by the late David Froom, launched in partnership with St. Mary's College of Maryland and the Alba Music Festival. Participants in the program today enjoy one-on-one composition lessons with resident faculty, including a live performance on the festival's "Wet Ink" series and studio recording of their work by the resident ensemble.

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