JFund Awardee Will Healy Doesn’t Sacrifice Virtuosity for Enjoyment

JFund Awardee Will Healy Doesn’t Sacrifice Virtuosity for Enjoyment

“I like music where people aren’t conscious of the fact that they’re mixing things up,” Healy explains about his ideals in bending audience expectation. There aren’t many young people that are content with sticking to one genre, so it’s natural that the relatively young Healy is able to stay grounded in a handful of traditions. If you let him get you on his wavelength, ShoutHouse becomes one of New York’s finest interdisciplinary acts.

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JFund Awardee Michael Betz on the Dichotomies Between Concept and Composition

JFund Awardee Michael Betz on the Dichotomies Between Concept and Composition

Having played piano since the age of five as well as a slew of other instruments, it’s a cinch Betz ended up at St. Olaf studying composition. “There was no distinct moment where I realized composition was right for me. It all just came together.”

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Composer Samuel Wells Uses Electronics But Never Loses The Human Element

Composer Samuel Wells Uses Electronics But Never Loses The Human Element

The marriage of JFund’s resources and Wells’ ingenuity isn’t likely one you’d have found fifty years ago in classical music. But its reverence for technology, and the overall refusal to remove the human element not only represents a stronger artistic medium but actively pushes it forward.

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JFund Awardee Leaha Maria Villareal on Collaborative Relationships

JFund Awardee Leaha Maria Villareal on Collaborative Relationships

Los Angeles-based Jerome Fund awardee Leaha Maria Villareal talks about musician relationships with tranquility in her voice. She composes music for Hotel Elefant, an ensemble that takes on the difficult task of representing music from living composers. “‘Modern Music’ is already solidified,” she explains. “There’s a canon for it, but it hasn’t yet included works that are being written today. So, how do we support the contemporary music of our colleagues?”

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