Each summer for more than two decades the Cabrillo Festival Conductors/Composers Workshop has brought together leading faculty, the award-winning Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and early career conductors and composers for a professional training program that focuses on the creation and performance of new music. In consideration of the ongoing uncertainties of the pandemic, the Cabrillo Festival has cancelled all live orchestral performances in Santa Cruz during the 2021 season. The Festival will, nonetheless, offer an intensive online workshop program over four days, July 24-27. Cabrillo Festival Music Director and Conducting Faculty member Cristian Măcelaru will be joined by leading conductors in the field, including Maestros Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, and Gemma New; and by Composition Faculty member Pierre Jalbert (Professor of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music) and featured 2021 Festival composers. Seminars, panel discussions, Q&A sessions and video reviews will allow opportunities for inquiry, technical and career guidance, and networking. Ten Fellows will be offered private sessions with Maestro Macelaru. Fellows and 10 Associates will have video review sessions with the group, as well as participate in all Q&As and discussion sessions. Anyone who has completed an application-in-full for the program will be allowed to view all sessions as a non-participatory Auditor. The $100 application fee covers all costs for participants at all levels; no further tuition will be charged.
2021 CONDUCTORS WORKSHOP
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS beginning on JANUARY 11, 2021 – DEADLINE MARCH 1, 2021
If you are a CONDUCTOR, you are invited to submit an application to be considered for a Fellow or Associate position in the 2021 Conductors Workshop to be held online, Saturday, July 24 through Tuesday, July 27. Fellows and Associates will have special access and opportunities, as outlined below; while ALL applicants will be allowed access to watch workshop sessions as Auditors. All application materials must be submitted online, as specified below. The application must be complete to be granted Auditor access. After reviewing the Workshop information and application requirements, please direct any further questions to Lyndsey Loosley, Director of Artistic Operations, using the form at the bottom of this page.
DATES AND LOCATION:
The Conductors Workshop begins Saturday, July 24 through Tuesday, July 27, 2021. All Workshop activities will be virtual.
2021 FACULTY:
Cristian Măcelaru (Music Director, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music; Music Director Designate Orchestre National de France; Chief Conductor WDR Sinfonieorchester, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of WYSO at Interlochen)
Pierre Jalbert Composers Workshop Faculty (Professor of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music)
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW:
10 Fellows, 10 Associates and unlimited Auditors will be invited to take part in the 2021 Conductors Workshop. Fellows and Associates will have special access, private sessions and video reviews with Music Director Cristian Macelaru. All conductors will share access to group sessions with Cabrillo Festival Executive Director Ellen Primack, a 30-year veteran of commissioning, marketing, and producing new symphonic music; a roundtable discussion with our 2021 featured composers, including Gabriela Lena Frank, Jake Heggie and Sean Shepherd; and Q&A sessions with maestros Cristian Macelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, Gemma New and more.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Applications and supporting materials will be accepted in digital format only, via Slideroom. Late, incomplete, mailed, or emailed applications will not be considered. All of the following materials must be uploaded by Monday, March 1, 2021; to complete an application:
- A CV or resume no more than two pages in length. In addition to detailing any conducting experience, the CV/resume should indicate your primary instrument and any training and orchestral experience on this instrument.
- Optional – letter of recommendation from an artist or teacher who can speak to your musicianship.
- A personal statement (300 words or less) indicating why you are studying conducting and how you hope to benefit from a workshop with a focus on new music.
- Video representative of your conducting. You may include up to three separate video files or links, or combine your application materials into a single video. We would prefer to see you conducting at least two contrasting works, either in performance or rehearsal. All videos should be front-facing, from the vantage point of the orchestra. You may upload up to three files, YouTube or Vimeo links via Slideroom. DVDs will not be accepted.
- A document detailing information about the video/s submitted as part of your application. For each video file or link submitted, please indicate the repertoire included, the date and location of the performance or rehearsal, and the orchestra/ensemble. If a variety of repertoire or excerpts are submitted within a single file or link, please detail the specific timing for each excerpt.
- Payment of the $100 application fee.
FEES & TUITION:
$100 application fee. There is no additional tuition. (Should you need support due to financial hardship, please feel free to alert Lyndsey Loosley directly.)
NOTIFICATION & ACCEPTANCE:
Selection of 10 Fellows and 10 Associates will be announced by April 2.
Details for online access to the Workshop will follow.
How will you apply what you have learned from the Workshop?
“I am already applying it…But it all comes down to spreading this culture of collaboration, of respect for the music, of preparation, of being more specific with gesture, etc., in all that we do.”–2016 Conductor Participant
Have questions? Use the form below!
