Things are going amazingly well for 37 year-old American composer Missy Mazzoli.
She was recently appointed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s composer in residence, and she has an eagerly anticipated new opera set to premiere later this month.
In this profile by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times, she describes growing up in rural Pennsylvania.
"I always just felt like an impostor, which is not an uncommon way to feel in classical music. I didn’t come from a musical family; I was not born into a world of culture at all. It was shock after shock — like, doing the Tanglewood high school program, I was just like: “What am I doing here? They’re going to find out I’m a total fraud and kick me out.” It was all about getting over that feeling and realizing that this music belongs to everybody, and everybody has their own way in. And I had something to say that was totally different from everyone else."
The ensemble Five by Five will offer music from Mazzoli's "Song from the Uproar" at the Rochester Fringe Festival on Sunday, September 16th and Monday, September 17th at 8:00pm on the Main Stage of the Lyric Theatre, 440 East Ave. This performance directed by Missy Pfohl Smith presents visuals designed to shed new light on opera, history, and performance. The production company includes performers from BIODANCE and WXXI radio host and soprano Kearstin Piper Brown. Read more here.
