Fall in Louisville, KY
It’s almost three months into this unique and exciting Creators Corps program, and I’m already learning a tremendous amount—skills and knowledge about a diverse array of topics, both related and unrelated to music. The pedagogical side of me is celebrating, while the creative side is constantly working and not breathing … but that’s a good thing!
One thing that fuels my creativity is exploration. As a person without a driver’s license living in Louisville, I initially worried I wouldn’t be able to explore the city as fully as I could with a car. Then I purchased a bike, and suddenly the city revealed itself to me in a beautiful way. The parks, the steampunk architecture and murals, NuLu, the diverse events, the alleys and narrow throughways, the stunning Halloween decorations, the cute cats … all of these—and more—have entered my creative persona since I started biking through this wonderful and powerful city!
I’ve eaten at fantastic restaurants, met wonderful people at the Louisville Pride event, attended an incredibly moving church service at St. Stephen Baptist Church, sang at karaoke bars, made new friends, reconnected with old ones, and so much more. One experience that has been particularly moving is researching the history of Muhammad Ali’s relationship with Louisville, as well as the overwhelming support of Louisvillians for Ali’s life and legacy. Ali’s insistence on justice, logic, and community is an inspiration that can be felt in practically every street of Louisville—and this energy is grounding me as I spend this incredible opportunity in such a fascinating city.
How is this creating, you ask? In my personal composition and creative philosophy, constant learning is necessary. The genius mathematician Claude Shannon, the father of Information Theory, espoused a “constructive dissatisfaction,” which ultimately resulted in him never ever stopping to question. One of my beloved composition teachers, Dr. Robert Cogan, taught me this as well and urged me to never stop questioning. This idea can manifest in many ways throughout life. For me, it has created a desire to be a lifelong student. This relentless, unceasing life of study is the foundation of my creativity. Put simply: if I am always learning something new, I can always find inspiration.
Consequently, travel, moving, studying new languages, eating new foods, drawing connections, reading, researching, talking to people, meeting new people … all of this fuels my inspiration. And Louisville is an excellent place to provide that fuel!
This fall has been both extremely productive—but also not as productive as I would like. It would be amazing to compose an orchestral piece in two weeks (which is almost what it feels like I must do to keep up with the work I’ve taken on!), but for me, that is impossible. However, I am over the moon at the progress I’m making, transforming from a composer who worked predominantly in chamber music to a composer with some competency in orchestral composition!
I’m also incredibly excited to share a program with Lisa Bielawa, Beethoven (!), and my Creators Corps partner-in-love Chelsea Komschlies (Com – like rom-com, Shlees – like cheese but with a “Shl”). I’m looking forward to reconnecting with Tessa Lark, the fantastic soloist in Lisa Bielawa’s new violin concerto, who was a classmate of mine at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
My work, titled Ev’ry Time I Blink, is an orchestration of a chamber piece previously championed by an incredible ensemble in Rochester, NY called fivebyfive. I created a larger version of this piece for 16 winds, brass, and percussion for the wind ensemble at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and now I am thrilled to create this extended orchestral version for the Louisville Orchestra. When I conceived this piece, I was thinking about how all of these fascinating, perfect moments in our lives can seem like tiny dreams after a significant amount of time has passed. I wanted to compose music for these tiny dreams—the ones we have had and the ones that have not happened yet.
-Anthony R. Green, Active Creator in Residence