All kinds of cool things...

OK, first of all check out the two logos that were designed for us by a friend of Chung's. Tell me these are not amazing. We may do some kind of combination of the two, or pick one, it's still up in the air right now. Thus, we could use YOUR comments!! Post some thoughts and let us know what you think!

Also, pC is presently working on a letter and promotional materials to send out to active arts lovers in Miami. We are also

thinking about making our dress rehearsal or our first concert an "invitation only event" that would give select Miami arts patrons a first look at Project Copernicus and what we are all about. This is another idea that we would like to get your feedback on...

It looks like the dates of our concerts are changing slightly, and rest assured that when they are set in stone we will post them boldly here for all to see. This week should prove to be an exciting week as we further nail down details of the upcoming season, and possibly solidify exciting relationships with local organizations. Chung will have more on that in the next few days, along with the news of how a Project Copernicus recording could end up in your local Starbucks pretty soon. Umm yeah...I said Starbucks. Stay tuned.

--Steve

First Concert Dates and Venues Set, New Connections

Big news. Our first concert dates are set! Jan. 11 and 12, 2007. The concert on the 11th will be at Coral Gables Congregational Church, a beautiful Spanish style building right across the street from the Biltmore Hotel. The main sanctuary is simply stunning with a warm and resonant acoustic. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places and is in the heart of the historic district. The concert on the 12th is still tentative, but will be firmed up next week. This one will be at St. John's-on-the-Lake in North Miami Beach. Again, a stunning location overlooking a waterway that leads directly into Biscayne Bay and a wonderful sanctuary. This concert will be in conjunction with Arts at St. John's, one of the real movers and shakers in the arts community here in Miami. They will provide invaluable publicity and the venue for us, and the possibility of further collaborations with them seems to be very good. My wish list for that weekend includes recording sessions of the music from that cycle, and I've been in discussions with Victor Sachse at Centaur Records about a distribution deal. We're really moving now, and I'm looking forward to hearing the sound of all of your talents. Be in touch and I'll see you soon.

Why we're different

Last Friday, I participated in a panel discussion with UM composition students and faculty. I wasn't really sure if I had anything to write about, even though I had plenty to say during the discussion. Also participating in the discussion were colleagues of mine from two other groups, one in a chamber ensemble comprised of piano trio plus clarinet and one starting a "new" music group. I put "new" in quotes because after a week of digesting the discussion I had with the class and my colleagues I've finally figured out why what we are doing is different. We're just playing music. Straight up. No "new" music/poetry slams in a shipyard or throwing a modern work on the front half of a program just to have one and then hoping that the trapped audience stays around for the Beethoven on the second half. No assumptions about the audience's intellectual capacity to understand the music of living composers. Just find some good music and play it to the best of our ability. Find something in it that isn't on the page.

So many groups bemoan the fact that audiences don't want to hear works of living composers or they purposefully put themselves into a "new" music ghetto by only performing contemporary music. I think both these approaches are extreme and that ultimately, we end up in the same place. The already small group of people who are listening to serious music are being told that this new music stuff is weird and difficult, to be played only on college campuses or in warehouses with welders and performers in black leather. If that's your thing, cool, but what we're proposing is that there is a middle way. How about if we don't let on that the music is "new" and we just program it as music? No prejudice inducing tags. Just music, plain and simple. There are plenty of long dead composers that people have never heard of that sometimes show up on concert programs (Heinichen, Monn, Hans Rott. Everybody's got a champion). This isn't a bait and switch, this is having enough faith in the music and our musicianship that we can stop apologizing for the music and the way we play it. I've been a proponent of new music for as long as I've been conducting for many reasons, but to be honest, mostly because it is really exciting to work with living composers. Also, in a very real way, I can be a part of the creative process from the work's inception. That's an honor. Project Copernicus is about realigning musical paradigms and tearing down the walls of the musical ghettos we're living in. We don't need these distinctions anymore. Let's just make some good, honest music and get down to the business of touching people's hearts .

Dean Hipp letter and plans for the week

Hello All,

It's been a grueling two weeks for us and we can finally stand back and take a breath. The business plan has been submitted for the Rothschild Competition here at UM, and no matter what the outcome, the tight deadline and narrow focus of their requirements forced us to solidify both what pC was about and how we are going to present pC to the community, donors and to you, the artist/members.

Next week will be spent solidifying dates and finding venues and once that's set, we'll all be going for our calendars and hopefully we'll get you all down here. The dates we're shooting for are (including rehearsals) Jan. 10th to the 14th, March 14th - 18th and May 2nd - 6th. That's an ambitious three concert season for a group that hasn't played a single note yet, but we're going for it.

Finally, Dean Hipp wrote us a very warm letter of support. He's been a fan of our idea since its inception and he's put that into writing. It's a general letter of support that will lend us some credibility as we begin our fundraising and scheduling efforts.

Hope you're having a great weekend. More to come soon.

Greetings and Introductions

Dear Project Copernicus Artists & fans,

I'd like to introduce myself (as much as you can over a blog) and tell you how excited I am to be a part of this outstanding endeavor. To the artists: For those of you that I don't know (which is most) I'd just like to say hi and tell you how much I look forward to working with you. To the fans: Thank you so much for your interest and support. I hope to see you at our debut concert, which we are working on scheduling as we speak (or type).

Undoubtedly, Chung has brought together a fantastic group of young players, and this project should prove to be an incredibly rewarding experience for everyone involved. Chung and I both welcome any and all of your comments here, as this is a collective effort, and not only do we want the advice and help of everyone involved, but we need it. So...start blogging! I can't wait to see and be a part of the great things that this group will accomplish, and I so very much look forward to meeting you in person soon.

Steve Danyew

Repost of our First Post: First Post, Exciting Times

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Welcome to our first post. The picture’s from a recent trip to Vienna. These two little girls just popped their heads out of the window and said “Hallo”! I do the same to you. Many of you are up to speed on what’s going on so far, but let me just give you all a quick rundown on the doings. First of all, I’d like to welcome Stephen Danyew as Co-Artistic Director. Stephen’s a tremendously gifted composer who has won numerous composition prizes and has been deeply involved with education programs here in Miami. It’s an honor and privilege to have him on board as my partner. His creativity and intelligence will be a valuable asset as we try to wend our way down this new path.

Right now I’m focussed on two issues:setting real concert dates/programs and raising funds. We are working on a concert for the weekend of Nov. 17th so check your calendars to see if you have that weekend free. We have some ideas for great venues and I’m working on several others, including the ones that are hypothetically listed on the “Subscription Series” page. Stephen and I are working on business plans to enter into a competition here at UM with a large cash prize which will give us a substantial boost. If any of you has experience in fund-raising, writing business plans or knows of someone who might be interested in supporting our group please contact me.

I’ll be taking the first step in fulfilling the education portion of our mission by meeting with staff members from Creative Children Therapy on Thursday morning about starting a music program for the special needs children that they serve. They want to start an orchestra program for these kids and we’re going to get creative and see what we can do to serve these children. Again, ideas wanted!

Keep me posted on your doings. I’ll put your personal events and web pages on the “News and Events” and “Links” page so that we can connect with as many people as possible. Include links to individual events so that we can move higher up the Google rankings

B Plan Done-For Now

Monday, October 9, 2006

We’ve been working diligently on a business plan for pC to submit to the Rothschild Business Plan Competition and it's done-for now. This first submission is only for the preliminary round, and we sure hope we're moving on to the next one. Our wiki model showed its value here, and the many who helped with the plan will see the obvious signs of their handiwork. The overarching goal in this endeavor is for many voices to become a unified one, a noble goal for any musical ensemble, and now this ideal is being used towards governance, fund-raising, publicity and the endless other things we need to do to succeed as a musical entity. So thanks, and keep it coming. Now that the initial excitement has dissipated it's time to do the hard work, and I find that every conversation and e-mail from you all is a great infusion of energy and inspiration, so don't let up.

Some updates:

1. We've been talking with Mark about the project-in-residence designation from CGCC CAP on a consistent basis and we're hopeful that something will be worked out soon. In the meantime, we're going to go ahead and incorporate so the group that exists in our hearts and minds will exist in the eyes of the State of Florida.
2. We're looking at the weekends of Jan. 12, Mar. 16, and May 4 for concerts. We'll be working on venues this week and next.
3. We haven't gotten many responses for our slogan contest so it looks like Jim Stephenson is in the lead with "Miami's New Center for Visionary Music". Has a very Copernican ring to it, no?

Meetings, Ideas, Encouragement

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Yet another exciting day in the life of Project Copernicus. We now have a finished first draft of the business plan including budget estimates, as well as a preliminary logo and press kit. We finished the draft of the business plan this morning and presented the materials as well as a preliminary description of the CAP Young Composers Competition to Dennis Kam and Lansing McLoskey. Both Dennis and Lansing are well-established composers and educators with a wealth of experience in community arts organizations and ensembles. They both agreed that pC is a unique and innovative idea, and that Miami can support a group that reaches out to the audiences that are just not served by other organizations. Both professors had great ideas as far as how we should proceed, in addition to possible ideas regarding future collaborations. Lansing suggested that pC assemble a Board of Advisers consisting of prominent composers, conductors, and administrators. There are many benefits to doing this, and he particularly pointed to the leverage and legitimacy that a Board of Advisers can bring to an organization.

After that meeting we had a short break during which we discussed and designed a logo that we think turned out clean, slick, and simple. We added it to the website and all our promotional materials, and we put together a very nice glossy folder for our meeting with Dean Bill Hipp. In the folder we included a copy of the business plan, printouts of pages of the website, and resumes/bios. It looked great, and we presented that to Dean Hipp this afternoon in a short meeting with him. We introduced the idea, and he familiarized himself with the details of the ensemble by asking us questions about all aspects of the project. He really believes in the idea, and agrees that pC will be on a level of its own integrating young artists, interesting collaborations and programming, and cutting-edge educational outreach. The synergy of all of these aspects makes pC a truly exciting and innovative venture, and Dean Hipp seemed impressed that we were already so far along. He gave us some great leads for local music press and publicity, and will offer us access to Festival Miami’s donor list and the materials that the Festival sends to donors. He also wanted to take some time over the weekend to really look at our site and read the materials, and said he would have even more thoughts at that point. In addition, he offered to write a letter of support for pC which we could send along with pC materials to a number of organizations and individuals. He is a fantastic person to have on board, and it is exciting that he is going to offer his thoughts, advice, and support as we move forward.

Meeting w/ CGCC CAP

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Today we met with Mark Hart, Executive Director of the Community Arts Program at the Coral Gables Congregational Church. I’m not even sure where to start, as we talked about a myriad of exciting possibilities, and a lunch meeting turned into a 4 hour festival of ideas and excitement. First of all, we have been writing the business plan since the meeting ended, minus time for food and sleep, so that we can give Mark a draft tomorrow. He is really interested in the possibility of having Project Copernicus be "a project of the Community Arts Program at CCGC." What would that mean? Well, a laundry list of things, not the least of which would be great access to resources for concert planning, funding, and it would alleviate the need to have a board and financial structure. Donors could write checks to the Community Arts Program and they could be set aside for Project Copernicus. pC artists would act as mentors for children in the Young Musicians Orchestra, and thus the group would be ensemble-in-residence for the YMO. The benefits for pC are fantastic, and we think that the benefits for CCGC would be equally rewarding.

So, we are going to give Mark a draft of the business plan and he is going to run the idea by a few other people at CCGC to see what they think. Also, we are meeting for lunch today with Dennis Kam and Lansing McLoskey, composition professors at UM to discuss the group, as well as a new young composers competition that we fleshed out yesterday with Mark. The YMO had toyed with the idea of putting on a competition last year, and planned out all of the details, but never gave it the green light. When we started talking about possibilities and unique ideas with a young composers competition, Mark loved it and we drafted up a competition to take place this season. The theme will be a composition for string orchestra with soloists or non-traditional instruments encouraged, and the piece will embrace the Latin or African-American culture. We would like Dennis Kam to serve as chairman of the jury for the competition, so that is another exciting possibility we want to discuss with him.

Today in the afternoon we will also be meeting with Bill Hipp, dean of the music school at UM, and simply an amazing resource on the arts and a great man. He has been dean for 23 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience that is relevant to concert planning, budgeting, marketing, etc. We are thrilled that he is willing to meet with us and give us some of his thoughts, and he has already told us that pC is "innovative," and that he looks forward to talking with us. We will be back after that with a report that I imagine will be quite exciting.

Marcus Roberts Trio

Sunday, October 1, 2006

Just a quick post about MRT. They performed their arrangement of the Gershwin Concerto in F tonight for opening night of UM’s Festival Miami and brought it firmly into the present day. It was incredibly alive and vibrant and of course the audience just loved it. It was the synergy and the creative tensions of melding improvised jazz with composed jazz that made the whole thing so electric. This is something we can do and in some ways, something we must do. What I mean is that we need to find some way to dust off the old and make it relevant again. I’ve never seen the orchestra happier, and as I mentioned earlier, the audience were just thrilled. Everybody won tonight - Gershwin, the MRT, we as musicians and serious music in general.

Some items of business:
Thinking of delaying the concert until January. Hard finding the players we need and also, I just want this to be great. So, little delay, but still plugging along. The next few days are going to be packed. Meetings with the Dean of the School of Music, Chair of the Composition Department, Executive Director of the Coral Gables Congregational Church Community Art program and anybody else we can find who will listen to us. Also got to get that business plan out. So. Deep breath tomorrow in between a concert for me and meetings in the evening and headlong into the big things. Wish us luck.

Steve blogs from the cocktail party.

Friday, September 29, 2006

At our meeting yesterday morning with CCT (Creative Children Therapy), Chung and I were invited to attend a cocktail party last night held by a foundation that supports some of the efforts of CCT and similar organizations. The very gracious people at CCT wanted to introduce us to many people who could serve as important and useful resources in our collaborations with CCT and the general growth of Project Copernicus. Unfortunately, I was only able to stay for about half of the party, and Chung had a dress rehearsal with the UM orchestra. Nevertheless, I had a great time and in a whirlwind I met many welcoming people who all seemed excited about CCT’s endeavor. I handed out a bunch of business cards and I put our website on the back and made sure to explain our connection, and what we are trying to do. Everyone I spoke to was very interested, and we were constantly tossing around new ideas for these projects. In fact, one gentlemen mentioned a contact he had in the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra system, where they have not only many strong youth orchestras, but also a program dedicated to serving children with disabilities. He said it may be a great resource and contact for us, and Yani from CCT said that she would get us the contact.

I was happy to get the chance to meet Maida Santander, the President of American Children’s Orchestras for Peace (www.americanchildrensorchestras.org). Chung and I had agreed that we really needed to make contact with them and discuss their efforts and ideas, after CCT introduced their program to us. Maida was very welcoming and I have no doubt that we can contact her at any time to learn about their project. She also mentioned that they are constantly looking to collaborate with new people, so we may certainly have the opportunity to work with them if we would like.

The cocktail party was held on Grove Isle, in Coconut Grove, which is quite a beautiful place I must say. It is a tiny little island that only has a hotel and condo building on it, and a ton of manicured landscaping. The foundation that hosted the event was "La Ventana De Los Cielos," (laventanadeloscielos.org) and they began to collaborate with CCT only a year ago, and the foundation aims to support the "development of children and teenagers, with physical or mental limitations..." It was a great event, and I am glad that CCT invited us and that I was able to attend, as I met some great people who will undoubtedly be friends of Project Copernicus as we grow.

Better Than Baby Steps and a Wikiorchestra moment.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Hi there. Two very important bits of news:

1. Our first concert is looking like a reality. We have most of the performers lined up and I’ll be searching for venues early next week. The “hypothetical” portion of the subscription series has moved down by one concert. Our debut concert is starting to turn from a mist into rain. The next step is making something grow.
2. Steve and I had a great meeting with the Creative Children’s Therapy people today. What they are doing is impressive, different and incredibly relevant, things that our group will also strive to be. We have worked out an agreement to start an orchestra program for these children and I’m excited about tackling the challenges these encounters will bring. Everything from figuring out how to notate music to getting everybody doing the same thing at the same time will be an adventure, but since nobody’s tried it, who knows it can’t be done? In addition, they will also work with us to help meet our fundraising goals and navigate the murky waters we are in as a budding non-profit. And lastly and perhaps most importantly as we try and get on our feet, we have discussed the possibility of CCT making a donation to PC in exchange for our work with their kids.

So. Exciting developments.

Steve and I were invited to a CCT donors cocktail party. I wasn’t able to attend but Steve was available as the face of pC for the evening and I’m sure he handled it ably and relieved many people of their wallets! We’ll hopefully have a blog post from him about the cocktail party tomorrow.

Last but not least, I had a true wikiorchestra moment today. I was talking to Randy, one of our bassists, and while we were on the phone he was looking over the “Subscription Series” page. He sees the “Puppets” concert and says,”Do you need a puppeteer? I went to Harvard with one and she’s amazing. I think she’s living in Florida now”. An amazing, Harvard educated puppeteer who lives in Florida. Who knew? It’s an amazing world out there.

Thanks for reading. See you soon.

Can a Wikiorchestra succeed? Dare we try? And, Business Plan started.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Hello dear people. I’ve started the business plan tonight. I will forward you a copy of it if you ask for one and I’d like comments. As you read, think about what we can do to differentiate ourselves from the crowd. Here in Miami, so many orchestras have gone down in flames that people are a little gun shy about supporting anything with the word “orchestra” in it. But I remain convinced that we can succeed by keeping our mission taut, budget lean and mean and our production values high, and by high I mean at the level expected in New York or Vienna. We have the talent to do it, that is for sure.

As for the question “Can a wikiorchestra succeed” I think the answer is a resounding yes. What is a wikiorchestra? You all know about wikipedia, where people have created an open source encyclopedia. There is some governance, of course, but the whole endeavor is largely self-created and self-governing, like craigslist. I think we can run an orchestra this way to some extent. Ideas on marketing, programming, outreach and almost everything else that is relevant to the operation of an orchestra can only enhance our product. But how to avoid territorial battles and Guarneri Quartet like arguments about artistic matters etc? If we can keep our focus on making our group relevant and valuable to our customers - patrons and students - everything else will be secondary. I was so inspired by the example of the Tafelmusik Orchestra in Toronto. When they held a free concert for which there were tickets required, there were lines literally around the block and people turned away. I am convinced that this was because the people of Toronto saw Tafelmusik as their orchestra. I dare say that the TSO would not have the same queues. If we can manage to do the same there is no question we will succeed. The magic is with you. At Tafel all of the musicians make whatever contributions they can on stage as orchestra members, soloists and chamber musicians. Our group will do all of those things and also make contributions to education or whatever else they have a passion for. If you have a passion for accounting, great. For cooking, great. Whatever. We all have hidden skills. Time to pull them out. We need them and want them.

Tomorrow Steve and I meet with Creative Children’s Therapy. We’ll let you know how it goes and what comes of it. All the best. And thanks for everything you do.