Charles Peck, a doctoral student in music composition, was one of only four classical composers chosen to create a piece for the New York Youth Symphony in its First Music program.
Peck鈥檚 piano trio will be premiered by the symphony May 2, 2017, during a concert in Carnegie Hall. The First Music program, started 33 years ago, recognizes the work of young composers under 30.
鈥淔irst Music has been an amazing support system for young composers for a long time,鈥 said Peck, who is looking forward to working with the musicians in the youth symphony. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to get into this symphony, so the level of musicianship is quite impressive.鈥
Peck has written pieces for large ensembles, chamber ensembles, chorales, electronic instruments and various solo pieces, but he鈥檚 never written for a piano trio, which includes a piano, violin and cello. Although he already has some ideas for the piece, he plans to do the majority of the work this summer, when he鈥檒l be a fellow in the composition program at the Aspen Music Festival.
While pop musicians can become viral sensations overnight, the road is quite a bit longer for contemporary composers, Peck said.
鈥淵ou need to have at least a decade of working on cool projects and meeting important people before you develop a career that propels itself,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o this makes a lot of young composers very entrepreneurial. There are opportunities out there, but you just have to work hard to get them.鈥
Peck鈥檚 work has been called 鈥渄aring鈥 and been selected in Ensemble Mise-En鈥檚 Call for Scores and the Locrian Chamber Player鈥檚 Call for Scores. He was named the winner of Symphony in C鈥檚 Young Composers鈥 Competition, Castleton Festival鈥檚 Young Composer鈥檚 Forum, OFMC Collegiate Composition Competition and the University of Cincinnati鈥檚 Composition Competition. Peck has also been awarded grants from the McKnight Foundation, American Composers Forum and Cornell Council for the Arts. His music has been featured at festivals including the New Music Gathering, highSCORE Festival and Castleton Festival. At Cornell, he studies with Kevin Ernste, director of the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center and associate professor of composition and also studied with the late Steven Stucky, composer and Given Foundation Professor of Music Emeritus, who passed away in February of this year.
To listen to or read more about Peck鈥檚 work, visit
More News from A&S
Government
Social sciences
