Paris Chamber Orchestra Hosts Young Women Composers Academy

As the creator of the Paris Play-Direct Academy, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris (OCP) recently introduced its new composers academy for the 2021-2022 season and beyond.

The selected emerging artists for the current edition of the academy are Ana Meunier, Farnaz Modarresifar, Selim Jeon, and Haeun Choi. 

Having already had completed the academy’s various programs and workshops, the four young artists will showcase each of their miniature compositions for ten musicians at the Philharmonie de Paris concert hall on April 22, 2022.

The Facebook post below by the OCP looks back on the progress each of the young composers has made. The video is available with subtitles in various languages.

At the moment, women still represent a small minority of composers. OCP collaborated with composers Thomas Lacôte and Clara Olivares to solve this disparity by dedicating the academy to young female musicians who have enormous potential but require opportunities to make them known. 

Aimed at those at the beginning of their careers from the conservatories in Paris and Île-de-France, the multi-year academy nurtures helps these aspiring composers develop their skills in writing for orchestra. 

Across the two years of the academy, they will engage in writing workshops for each family of instruments within an orchestra. OCP’s musicians will also work with them to provide feedback on their work.

Under the age of 30, the four emerging artists were auditioned and selected from 15 candidates across music conservatories of the Île-de-France region. The selection panel comprised Lacôte and OCP’s solo violinist Deborah Nemtanu.

The emerging composers are supervised by an artistic team comprising Olivares, Lacôte, and Lars Vogt, OCP’s musical director. At the end of the program, each emerging artist will receive a commission for an orchestral piece to be performed by the OCP and conducted by Vogt at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet.

“This original academy is a journey over a long period, a real immersion within the orchestra,” said Lacôte in the press release.

For further information and more about the four selected candidates for the current edition of the academy, click here.