Masterclass: Samuel Zyman

A composition masterclass, presented by Mexican composer and Juilliard professor Samuel Zyman, will take place on Friday, October 28 from 10-12pm at Boston University College of Fine Arts, 855 Commonwealth Ave, Room 414.

Participants include composition and flute students. All other students and faculty members who are interested are welcome to join. Please reserve your tickets on Eventbrite.

A chamber music recital of Samuel Zyman’s music will be presented the same day at Boston University Tsai Performance Center (685 Comm. Ave., Boston) at 7:30pm by Trío Boehm (Mexico, US, Spain.) The program includes Zyman’s Two Motions in One Movement for Solo Piano, Sonata # 2 for Flute and Piano, Sonata for Cello and Piano, and Suite de la Mancha for Flute, Cello, and Piano.

Thus, in connection with this recital, Dr. Zyman will talk at the masterclass about his background and career as a composer, and will discuss his approach to composition. He will play recorded excerpts of some of his works that are not included on the evening program, and will show a video excerpt of the premiere of yet another piece (Canto a la Música for two solo cellos, youth chorus, and youth orchestra). Dr. Zyman will address such issues as style and technique and illustrate his comments at the piano. Questions and participation from the audience will be strongly encouraged.

Biography

Samuel Zyman, a long-time New York-based professor of Music Theory at The Juilliard School, is acknowledged as one of the leading Mexican composers on the international scene today. He has written nearly 60 works in a wide variety of genres, including a concerto for orchestra, two symphonies, 11 concertos, many other orchestral pieces, numerous chamber pieces, a film score, several solo piano works, and songs. Samuel Zyman was born in 1956 in Mexico City, where he studied piano and conducting at the National Conservatory of Music. He received his masters and doctoral degrees in composition from The Juilliard School, studying with the American composers Stanley Wolfe, Roger Sessions, and David Diamond. In addition to numerous commissions, Samuel Zyman is the recipient of several Meet-the-Composer grants, the Diploma from the Mexican Society of Critics of Theater and Music as Most Outstanding Composer for the Year (1992), the Mozart Medal for outstanding achievement in music (1998), awarded by the Embassy of Austria in Mexico, and the Medal of Merit in the Arts (2014), awarded by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly for his contributions to art and culture in Mexico City.

Zyman’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company and is featured in dozens of CDs. His music has been performed in Mexico, the United States, and around the world by such ensembles as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and all other major Mexican orchestras, as well as by numerous chamber ensembles and soloists, including tenor Plácido Domingo, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and the Cassatt Quartet. Zyman’s Sonata for Flute and Piano is regarded as a major repertoire piece and is frequently performed and recorded worldwide.