Written by: Beatrice Pang
Southern Adventist University’s Symphony Orchestra will premiere an original work that will be conducted by its own student composer, a first for the ensemble under the leadership of Laurie Cadwallader, director for 24 years.
On Sunday, Nov. 5, Matthew Kimbley, junior music theory and literature major and principal violist in the Symphony Orchestra, will step up to the podium to conduct his piece, “Atlantic Overture.”
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists.
Kimbley said he has been seriously pursuing composition since the age of 10. He started out creating smaller pieces like hymn arrangements that he would perform with friends. Since then, it has been mostly through trial and error that Kimbley has developed his compositional skills.
Seeking to further improve, he approached Cadwallader and Ken Parsons, director of Southern’s Wind Symphony, with the goal of composing pieces for each of the student ensembles to perform. Thus, in addition to “Atlantic Overture” being performed by the Symphony Orchestra during its concert on Sunday, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” a tone poem by Kimbley, will premier during a Wind Symphony concert on Dec. 2.
Kimbley said he worked incessantly on “Atlantic Overture” over summer break, dedicating up to 10 hours a day to the piece. He would start by writing down his basic ideas on paper, later developing them on his computer. In broad terms, Kimbley said the finished overture revolves around three melodies that undergo a variety of changes, such as major to minor shifts and countermelodies. For one of the melodies, Kimbley said he was inspired by a bird call.
“It’s not very audible in the melody itself but basically … I heard the pitches that the bird was using, and then from there, just kind of expanded it into this much broader melody,” Kimbley said.
Kimbley regularly finds muses in nature, citing water as one of his main inspirations.
Regarding his inspiration for “Atlantic Overture,” Kimbley said, “The pinnacle, when I really got the ideas, was when I went out on a trip with my family to New England. … We were visiting rocky coasts. … The sights, sounds and all of that really gave me the inspiration I needed to get this [composition] going. I came back home, and within two or three weeks, I had written the whole piece.”
Southern’s School of Music purchased both “Atlantic Overture” and “The Pursuit of Happiness” in late August from Kimbley.
In order to have copies of music for each instrument in the Symphony Orchestra, Kimbley had to get the completed parts of the overture professionally printed.
Kimbley regularly finds muses in nature, citing water as one of his main inspirations.
“The cheapest place I could find [in the U.S.] was going to charge $200 for just the First Violin parts. … The UK ended up being much cheaper,” Kimbley said.
Kimbley sent digital versions of the music over to a printing company in the UK where they were printed and shipped back. The musical score that he will be using to conduct the Symphony Orchestra was printed in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I’ve taken two semesters of conducting classes here at Southern, but jumping from conducting little things for your class and small ensembles here and there with friends to suddenly being placed in front of a 99-person orchestra… frankly, it’s very terrifying.”
Besides composing the overture and procuring parts for all the instruments, conducting the orchestra has proved to be a different kind of challenge for Kimbley.
“I’ve taken two semesters of conducting classes here at Southern, but jumping from conducting little things for your class and small ensembles here and there with friends to suddenly being placed in front of a 99-person orchestra … frankly, it’s very terrifying,” Kimbley said.
Cadwallader provided some insight as to why conducting is so difficult for beginners.
“One of the challenges of being an inexperienced conductor is that often you don’t know what to listen for,” she said. “ … Am I listening for the correct rhythm? Are the dynamics being done the way I want them to? And, of course, [Kimbley is] distracted by being the composer, too, because he knows how it’s supposed to be in his head. But is it coming into his ears the way he envisioned it when he was composing? I think that’s the challenge.”
“In some ways, it’s kind of like riding a wave because you never know which way the wave is going to take you.”
According to Cadwallader, the Symphony Orchestra is the largest it has ever been during her tenure. When asked what it’s like to steer a 99-piece orchestra, Cadwallader also took her inspiration from the ocean.
“In some ways, it’s kind of like riding a wave because you never know which way the wave is going to take you,” she said. “ … So far, I’ve been very pleased with the development of the sound of the orchestra.”
According to the School of Music website, the Symphony Orchestra concert on Nov. 5 will feature three pieces in total. Besides Kimbley’s “Atlantic Overture,” the Symphony Orchestra will accompany guest soloist Rebecca Fischer as she plays Violin Concerto No. 2 by Florence Price, and the concert will conclude with Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor.