2025 in review: The Druckman Prize, Gunther Schuller, and More!
Welcome to my 2025 newsletter!
If you’ve been following my posts, you would know that I ended my last newsletter right before my premiere with the LA Phil’s Chamber Series in 2024. So, before we get into 2025, below is a photo taken at the end of my piece Duo’s premiere. I never, ever thought I’d step foot on the stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was a transformative evening!
Martin Chalifour, Jenny Seo, and me in the stripey skirt. (2024)
You can read about the concert here: https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/202411/30203/
Onward to 2025, in chronological order:
March 2025: House on Fire
My friends and collaborators at House on Fire premiered a piece I wrote based on the Hanon No. 1 piano exercise. My goal was to showcase everything House on Fire can do, from uncomfortably-close piano 6-hands, to playing a myriad of unconventional percussion instruments, to retuning a melodica into quarter tones.
After the premiere in March, the group got together again in November to record it all in Richard’s music studio rasp.la, which is a fantastic location if you're looking for a place to rehearse or have a show in the Pasadena area. Here’s the Youtube video:
June 2025: Dogs of Desire – Link to Review
Writing for this group was so fun! Last year I was called on to write for the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire and their American Music Festival. The prompt was to somehow relate the material to Erie Canal’s bicentennial and America’s connection to the west. After a lot of thought, I ended up writing an Ennio Morricone-inspired romp, with the following words (from Ennio Morricone) sung in Italian:
“Music is intangible, it has no appearance, it is like a dream: it exists only if it is performed, it takes shape in the mind of the listener. It is not like poetry, which does not require interpretation because the words have their own meaning. Music can be interpreted in various ways. A composition for a war scene can also be understood as a piece that accompanies a frenetic dance.” - Ennio Morricone
The link to the concert’s review is above if you’re interested in reading more!
June to August 2025: Aspen Music Festival + Druckman Prize
Hopping at the Maroon Bells with fellow Aspen fellows Arjan Singh and Lingbo Ma (2025)
I spent two transformative months in the mountains and learned SO much from my mentors and colleagues at the Aspen Music Festival. I hope to provide recordings, along with details, to each of the three pieces I wrote soon. (You will find them on the List of Works page when the listening links are posted.) A special thanks goes out to my composition cohort for helping me grow and understand music (and life) from multiple perspectives - I’m forever inspired to keep learning and stay curious.
Remarkably, I will be headed back to Aspen this year– two months after the festival ended, Chris Theofanidis called me to say that I had won the Druckman Prize, which means I will write a symphonic work for the Aspen Conducting Academy orchestra to be premiered at the festival. I’m currently working on the piece and am very excited to come back to Aspen as a visiting composer.
From left to right: Me, Joseph Park, Laila Arafah, Harriet Steinke, Jieun Ok | Pictured after our premieres with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at Harris Hall. (2025)
November 2025: Sploopy at the Gunther Schuller Centennial
After Sploopy’s second-ever run at Jordan Hall in Boston, conducted by NEC faculty Ken Schaphorst (2025)
My piece Sploopy, originally written for Alarm Will Sound, finally got its second wind as the winner of the first Gunther Schuller Third Stream Composition Contest, which was put on for NEC’s week-long Gunther Schuller Centennial Celebration. I was invited to New England Conservatory to talk to current NEC students and hear Sploopy be played by members of the NEC Philharmonia. It was humbling to meet Gunther Schuller’s talented colleagues and learn more about just how important Gunther Schuller was to much of Boston’s (and the nation’s) musical community.
Other News – Teaching and Animation
2025 was also a busy year for teaching - I’m still teaching at my other positions and have also joined the faculty at the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program, which has been a fantastic learning opportunity for me (even though I’m technically the “teacher.”)
Also, I was able to make my “all creatures small and LOUD” animation – a video featuring music and animation by myself – public on Youtube, with blessing from my friends at Music For Your Inbox who helped make the video possible. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to take a look:
Upcoming Premieres/Performances in 2026
Here’s a list of premieres/performances happening in 2026 (so far). I will come back to update this page once I have links to the relevant websites:
Piano Spheres & David Gordezky: The Satie Project – May 30 @ 8 PM | Los Angeles, CA (Premiere)
Blackhouse Workshop 2026 – March 26 – 28 | Dallas, TX (Participating as a performer)
Water Music NY: More Voices with Dogs of Desire – July 10th | Waterford, NY (Premiere)
Jacob Druckman Commission with Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra – July 15th | Aspen, CO (Premiere)
Albany Symphony Opening Concert – October 1st | Albany, NY
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! I’ll be back with more news at the end of 2026 or beginning of ‘27. (More to come!)
- Celka