Boston University Tanglewood Institute Announces “BUTI from Anywhere” Programming

Boston University Tanglewood Institute—One of the Premier Training Programs for Young Musicians—Announces “BUTI from Anywhere” Programming

Highlights this summer include:

• Twenty online programs for 250 instrumentalists, singers, and composers ages 14-20 from around the globe taking place over 5 weeks this summer with virtual classes, lessons, and masterclasses
  
  
• Young Artists Instrumental Program debuts a new commission by composer and Visiting Artist Valerie Coleman (BUTI’89, CFA’95), live streamed on YouTube
  
  
• Joseph Conyers (BUTI’98) is appointed Artistic Advisor and Artist-in-Residence
  
  
• Visiting Artists Valerie Coleman (BUTI’89, CFA’95) and pianist-composer Iman Habibi
  
  
• New elective programs include career training and leadership, entrepreneurship, health and wellness, music theory and history, improvisation, and more
  
  
• Master classes with luminary musicians such as trumpeter Rodney Marsalis, pianist Emanuel Ax, soprano Carol Vaness, bass Morris Robinson, and pianist Frederic Chiu 
  
  
• 2021 Ensemble-in-Residence, Triple Helix, will premiere new works by young composers

(Boston, MA—June 23, 2021) Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI)—one of North America’s premier summer training programs for young musicians—announces BUTI from Anywhere, new faculty and visiting artists, and a world premiere performance of a new work by Valerie Coleman (BUTI’89, CFA’95).

The 2021 BUTI from Anywhere curriculum takes place online this year from June 20–July 31, 2021. It features 20 online programs for instrumentalists, singers, and composers ages 14-20 featuring distinguished performers and teachers from Boston University College of Fine Arts, members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), and additional faculty from preeminent institutions across the country. The 250 BUTI students hail from 27 states, 8 countries, and 3 continents.

BUTI Executive Director Hilary Field Respass says, “BUTI from Anywhere is our forward-thinking solution to the circumstances we faced this summer, and we’re pleased to have found so many ways to collaborate, stretch and offer even more learning opportunities to our students. Yes, we cannot wait to be back in person in Summer 2022, but 2021 brings new offerings, new connections, and a world premiere that will define BUTI in invaluable ways moving forward.”

Created in 1966 at the invitation of then-BSO music director Erich Leinsdorf, BUTI was developed as an extension of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), then called the Berkshire Music Center. More than fifty years and thousands of alumni later, BUTI remains a pioneer of musical training, challenging the world’s next generation of artists to perform at the highest level while providing them unparalleled access to the Tanglewood Music Festival. BUTI is the only program of its kind associated with a major research university and one of the world’s great symphony orchestras, the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

NEW COMMISSION BY VALERIE COLEMAN WITH VIRTUAL PREMIERE

In Summer 1989, Valerie Coleman attended BUTI’s Flute Seminar, led by Doriot Anthony Dwyer, which proved to be an invaluable experience that has informed and guided her development as one of the most accomplished flutists, chamber musicians and composers of our time. BUTI has commissioned Ms. Coleman to write a work that gives voice to her BUTI experience. It will be completed and premiered virtually on Wednesday, August 25 at 7pm by the 2021 Young Artists Instrumental Program.

This commission was made possible with generous support from Martin Messinger.

WORKSHOPS AND YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAMS

The summer begins with Two-Week Workshops (June 20 – July 3) where students have the opportunity to study their instruments in a small group setting. Focusing on the fundamentals of technique and musicianship, the students work together in group masterclasses, and have individual instruction. Workshops are offered in all orchestral instruments, saxophone, and Electroacoustic Composition.

The Young Artists Programs for instrumentalists, composers, vocalists and pianists will run for three weeks (July 11 – 31). In these programs, students receive intensive training typical of college and conservatory programs and participate in individual lessons, academic classes, masterclasses, recording projects, and recitals.

MASTER CLASSES

Within the Workshops and Young Artists Programs, BUTI from Anywhere will distinguish itself with master classes featuring some of the world’s most esteemed artists, drawn from the roster of the Tanglewood Music Festival and beyond. Artists will work with students in master classes throughout the summer, including trumpeter Rodney Marsalis, pianist Emanuel Ax, soprano Carol Vaness, bass Morris Robinson, and pianist Frederic Chiu.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE / ARTISTIC ADVISOR AND VISITING ARTISTS

Joseph Conyers (BUTI’98) has been appointed Artistic Advisor and Artist-in-Residence, of the Young Artists Instrumental Program. Mr. Conyers brings extensive experience and talents as a performer and educator, not to mention his exuberance and entrepreneurial spirit. Mr. Conyers is no stranger to BUTI. He attended the Young Artists Orchestra in 1998 and was a Visiting Artist in 2018.

An advocate for music education, Mr. Conyers is the founder of Project 440 – an organization that helps young people use their interest in music to forge new pathways and change their communities. Since 2010 he has served as the Assistant Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra after tenures with the Atlanta Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and Grand Rapids Symphony.

Visiting Artists are composer and flutist Valerie Coleman (BUTI’89, CFA’95) and pianist-composer Iman Habibi. During their residencies this summer, these artist-teachers will work with students in multiple programs and will deliver program-wide talks on their artistry, their careers, and their vision for classical music.

As noted previously, BUTI has commissioned Ms. Coleman to compose a new work to be premiered later this summer by the Young Artists Instrumental Program – virtually! Iman Habibi’s work, Jeder Baum spricht, will be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood on July 25.

Award winning trio Triple Helix will be in residence with the Young Artists Composition Program this summer. Their residency will feature readings, instructional feedback sessions, and a recorded culminating recital performance of new works by the ten high school composers attending the program.

BUTI Young Artists Composition Program Director Martin Amlin says, “We’re so pleased that the outstanding musicians of Triple Helix can be a part of our program this summer. The performance of the composers’ works by this ensemble will allow the students to experience first-hand how a professional ensemble rehearses new compositions and will leave the students with a professional recording of their pieces. We’re very grateful that the members of Triple Helix can play such an important role in the 2021 Young Artists Composition Program!”

 

ELECTIVES

As part of BUTI from Anywhere, students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of electives. These courses serve to broaden the skills, experience, and mind sets of the young musicians and expose them to a variety of learning methods, ways to perform and collaborate, ways to serve their communities, and ways to stay healthy.

Popular electives this summer include:

Arranging Covers for Collaborations

Audition Mastery

Body Mapping

Composers of the African Diaspora

Entrepreneurial Musicians Making a Difference

Feldenkrais

Global Exploration and Improvisation

Intro to Improvisation and Jazz Theory

Intro to Recording Technology

Intro to Voiceover Techniques

Music History

Music Theory

Playing With Our Ears

String Quartet Literature

 

BSO NOW

Because of BUTI’s special relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, students have the opportunity to learn and grow through intensive programming in the presence of some of the world’s greatest music professionals and teachers. With an all-access pass to the BSO NOW streaming platform, BUTI from Anywhere students can watch events from Tanglewood live or on-demand.

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ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY TANGLEWOOD INSTITUTE

Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) is a program of Boston University College of Fine Arts. It is recognized as one of the nation's premiere summer training programs for aspiring young musicians ages 10–20 and is the only program of its kind associated with one of the world’s great symphony orchestras. Founded in 1966, BUTI is a result of the vision of Erich Leinsdorf, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at the time, who invited BU to create a summer program for high school musicians as a counterpart to the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center. Scores of BUTI alumni have gone on to illustrious careers in music, including dozens who perform in the top orchestras in the country. 

In a typical summer, BUTI accepts a select group of talented high school and early college-age musicians, inviting them to BU’s 64-acre campus in Lenox, MA, for training programs in orchestra, voice, wind ensemble, piano, composition, and harp, as well as workshops for individual instruments and string chamber music. For more admissions and enrollment information, visit bu.edu/tanglewood.

ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 34,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.

ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master essential 21^st-century skills. CFA offers a wide array of pre-college, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa.

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