Modern Notebook Interview: Angela Elizabeth Slater and Zachary Konick (Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program)

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Modern Notebook Interview: Angela Elizabeth Slater and Zachary Konick (Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program)

Photo: composers Angela Elizabeth Slater (photo credit: Adam Whittaker) and Zachary Konick (photo credit: Andrea Rocha).

Modern Notebook Interview: Angela Elizabeth Slater and Zachary Konick (from the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program.

Original air date: November 19, 2023

On this edition of Modern Notebook, we continue our series of composer talks with two fellows from the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program: Angela Elizabeth Slater and Zachary Konick. Plus, we’ll hear their music, including a work for winds and strings, and another for hammered dulcimer.

From SCFP: "How can we introduce and lift the voices of wonderful composers today to more communities around the world? After new music is premiered, they often collect dust on the shelves. How do we bring these works into our music-making today? What tools do we need to become advocates for music of our times?

The Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program brings together 12 musicians and 2 established and award-winning composer mentors in residence along with 6 composer fellows from an international applicant pool. This community of performers and composers interact with the Sarasota community and bring the enthusiasm of our music-making to all corners of the globe."

For more information about the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program click here.

Dr. Angela Elizabeth Slater is a UK-based composer, whose compositional voice focuses on musically mapping aspects of the natural world into the fabric of music. Nominated for an Ivors Classical Award for her work, Through the Fading Hour, her music has been described as ‘intricate...and often ravishingly scored’ and making ‘deft and vivid use of instrumental colour’.. Slater collaborates with performers, ensembles, and initiatives worldwide to musically explore sounds, colours, and textures.

Slater is also the Director of Illuminate Women’s Music, a chamber music concert series designed to celebrate the creativity of women composers and performers, as well as exploring the rich legacy of music written by women historically. Her works are self-published, with select works published by Composers Edition and Babel Scores. Please visit https://www.angelaslatercomposer.co.uk/ for more information.

Zachary Konick is a San Diego based composer, percussionist and hammered dulcimerist. He received his BM from the University of Maryland and his MM degree at the University of South Florida in music composition. He has received notable performances by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the newEar Ensemble, the Quasar Saxophone Quartet, the Florida Orchestra, the JACK, Ethel, Spektral, and Mivos String Quartets, as well as solo performances by Lee Hinkle, and Alice Weinreb. His music has been conducted under the baton of Oliver Knussen, Aleck Karis, Michael Francis and Steven Schick. He is currently a PhD candidate in music composition at the University of California San Diego, where he studies with Roger Reynolds. His past mentors have included Thomas DeLio, Chinary Ung, Lei Liang, Katharina Rosenberger, Baljinder Sekhon, and Paul Reller.

Read more about Zachary on his website at https://www.zacharykonickmusic.com/.