Each season, ACO presents a series of digital professional development sessions led by composer mentors and industry leaders. An evolving resource for composers at all stages of their careers, sessions have covered topics including orchestration, networking, publishing, copyright, orchestra unions, media rights, fundraising, public speaking, educational program design, and more.

Creating Relationships with Orchestra Webinar: Away from the Writing Desk and into the World

March 22, 2023
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Featuring speaker: Lisa Bielawa

Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition whose works have been described as “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart,” by The New York Times, and “fluid and arresting … at once dramatic and probing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. She joins ACO to guide a conversation and offer insights on the importance of building relationships with orchestras, and how to begin to do so.

Commissions & Consortia Workshop: Put Me On

March 1, 2023
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Featuring Speaker: Corey Field

Corey Field is a professionally  trained composer who is better known as a prominent entertainment,  media, and copyright attorney at his Los Angeles based law firm Corey Field Law Group, P.C. In this collaboration with ACO, Corey will unpack some of the need-to-know information surrounding orchestral commissions and the creation of consortia for composers.

Rehearsal Techniques Webinar: Onstage Do’s & Do’s

February 22, 2023
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Transcript
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Featuring Speakers: Lina González-Granados and Nina Shekhar

Receiving a performance by an orchestra isn’t the end of the road for a composer, but the beginning of an ongoing relationship. This webinar will offer rehearsal techniques to composers, and will speak to how they should engage conductors, orchestras, and its musicians throughout the rehearsal process.

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SUMMARY Rehearsal Techniques WEBINAR

Orchestration Webinar: Tricks of the Trade with Melinda Wagner

February 1, 2023
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Transcript
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Featured Speaker: Melinda Wagner

Celebrated as an “…eloquent, poetic voice in contemporary music…” [American Record Guide], Melinda Wagner’s esteemed catalog of works embodies music of exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. She joins ACO to take musical works from the “canon” and use them as a guide for emerging composers to understand some of the important things to know about orchestration, part writing, and more. This session is inspired by composer Steven R. Gerber’s NewMusicBox article “Orchestration: Composers Reveal Tricks of the Trade.”

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ORCHESTRATION SAMPLE 1

ORCHESTRATION SAMPLE 2

ORCHESTRATION SAMPLE 3

ORCHESTRATION SAMPLE 4

Score & Part Preparation

January 25, 2023
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Transcript
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Featuring Speakers: Manly Romero and Philip Rothman

The work of orchestra librarians often goes unnoticed, but preparing parts to be read by orchestral musicians is a vital part of the process. Manly Romero and Philip Rothman are experts in this aspect of musical performance, and join ACO in this webinar to help composers navigate the task of successful score and part preparation.

Additional Resources

MOLA-Guidelines-for-Music-Preparation

https://www.scoringnotes.com/tips/score-preparation-production-notes/