Published: June 26, 2023 • By College of Music
Jeffrey NytchProfessor of Composition + Entrepreneurship Center for Music Director Jeffrey Nytch.
We tend to think of entrepreneurship solely as a business endeavor, but Professor of Composition 鈥攚ho directs the 蜜桃传媒破解版下载 College of Music鈥檚 Entrepreneurship Center for Music鈥攃onsiders the application of entrepreneurial principles as essential to his creative practice.
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鈥淓ntrepreneurs create value for a product or service by addressing unmet needs in the marketplace,鈥� says Nytch, recently awarded a MacDowell Fellowship, the preeminent artist residency program in the country. 鈥淚n the arts, that means understanding the audience you鈥檙e trying to reach and creating works that speak to them in meaningful ways.听
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鈥淭here are boundless opportunities for musicians to bring their art to their communities, and the vast majority of them require some element beyond a performance in a concert hall.鈥�
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He adds, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough for me to teach our students about building careers for themselves in the arts. I need to model that in my own work and lead by example.鈥澨�
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Indeed, Nytch has been taking an entrepreneurial approach to his creative work for more than a decade. His first symphony鈥斺�淔ormations,鈥� commissioned by the Geological Society of America and premiered by the Boulder Philharmonic鈥攄epicted the geologic history of the Rocky Mountains and was paired with educational activities in the Boulder community. More recently, his multimedia string quartet, 鈥淔or the Trees,鈥� combined music, sound design, oral histories and projected images to engage audiences on issues of deforestation and climate change. Each performance of 鈥淔or the Trees鈥� is presented in partnership with local environmental groups and includes a discussion with the audience about how they can get involved.

As a MacDowell Fellow this fall, Nytch will tackle his next project鈥攁 concerto for his longtime friend James Rodgers, principal contrabassoonist for the Pittsburgh Symphony.听

鈥淢y piece will celebrate the history and legacy of the steel workers and worker organizations who spearheaded the birth of America鈥檚 labor movement,鈥� says Nytch. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the human element I鈥檓 most interested in鈥攖hese workers tended to be recent immigrants with little or no formal education, yet they quite literally built 20th-century America.听

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a history that I think is worth remembering today 鈥� and Pittsburgh is the place to do it. It鈥檚 incredible how much history of the labor movement unfolded there.鈥�

He continues, 鈥淭he early labor movement was marked by incredible violence, as well as heroism on the part of workers and their families. When I think about them, the phrase 鈥榞ritty nobility鈥� comes to mind鈥攑ut another way, ordinary people doing the extraordinary. That鈥檚 exactly how I would also describe the tone of the contrabassoon鈥攅arthy, sometimes unrefined, but also capable of great lyricism and beauty.鈥�

The lower version of its better-known cousin, the bassoon, the contrabassoon is generally known as a supporting instrument for the bass section of the orchestra. As such, there鈥檚 little solo literature for the instrument and only a handful rarely-performed concertos.听According to Nytch, 鈥淚n addition to writing a piece that will tell an important story, it鈥檚 my hope that it will be a significant contribution to the woodwind repertoire.鈥澨�

Nytch will be on sabbatical leave for the 2023-2024 academic year, during which he鈥檒l advance his entrepreneurial/artistic pursuits, including the MacDowell residency and composing the contrabassoon concerto.听

鈥淭his is truly a lifelong dream,鈥� he says of the MacDowell Fellowship. To date, MacDowell Fellows have won 97 Pulitzer Prizes, 868 Guggenheim Fellowships, 117 Rome Prizes, 33 National Book Awards, 31 Tony Awards, 33 MacArthur Fellowships, 15 Grammys, nine Oscars and eight National Medals of the Arts.

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