Modern Notebook Interview: Claire Hu and Nick Bentz (Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program)

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Modern Notebook Interview: Claire Hu and Nick Bentz (Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program)

Photo: Claire Hu (photo courtesy of the artist) and Nick Bentz (photo credit: Inga Chinilina).

Modern Notebook Interview: Claire Hu and Nick Bentz (from the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program.

Original air date: November 26, 2023

On this edition of Modern Notebook, we’ll conclude our series of conversations with composers from the inaugural Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program. This week, we’ll hear from composers Claire Hu and Nick Bentz about their work and careers, and listen to a piece by each of them performed at SCFP.

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.

Claire Hu is a composer and performer. Her music explores textures and rhythms, reflecting her interest in visual art, languages, sciences, psychoacoustics, and philosophy, particularly illusions and dualities of perception.

She is interested in immersive and interactive creations and performances across art forms, and enjoys multimedia collaborations with visual artists, engineers, architects, fashion designers, sculptors and art museums for sound art projects. She also writes, performs, and produces indie pop and electronic dance music, and has released three EPs.

Described as colorful, energetic, expressive, engaging and imaginative, her award-winning works have been performed in the US and Europe.

Learn more about Claire at https://huzmusic.com.

Nick Bentz (b. 1994 - Charleston, SC) is a composer, violinist, and multimedia artist whose work is drawn to remote fringes and recesses of experience. In his work he seeks to render intimately personal spaces imbued with an individual sense of storytelling and narrative. Finding inspiration in historical materials, Nick's work often explores the destructive relationship between sound artifacts and time. His art centers around the blurring, juxtaposition, and amalgamation of stylistic idioms into singular sonic statements.

As a violinist, Nick has soloed with the Charleston Symphony, Thornton EDGE, and the Pacific Philharmonic. He has also performed with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. An avid interpreter of new music, Nick has commissioned and premiered a number of pieces ranging from chamber and solo pieces to concerti and multimedia works.

Nick is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University, pursuing a doctorate in Music and Multimedia Composition. He received a master’s degree in composition from the University of Southern California. Nick also earned a master's in violin from the Peabody Conservatory, receiving bachelor's degrees in violin and composition from Peabody under the tutelage of Herbert Greenberg and Kevin Puts. Nick's mentors include Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu, Eric Nathan, Butch Rovan, Nina Young, Donald Crockett, Ted Hearne, Andrew Norman, Felipe Lara, and Yiorgos Vassilandonakis; his violin teachers include Lina Bahn, Yuriy Bekker, Espen Lilleslåtten, and Diana Cohen.