Gemignani discusses springtime themes, last semester at USC and new beginnings, featuring pieces from Uematsu, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Elgar and Marquez.

What was your overall vision/theme were you thinking of for this semester with the pieces that we have?

I wanted to have something that shared a certain amount of thematic continuity with last semester, or at least an aesthetic continuity. For instance, last semester, we had the piece from “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a really nice piece of film music. This semester, I wanted to continue in that vein. So we're starting our concert with a famous piece from the world of video games: “Final Fantasy VII.” In particular, another really excellent Japanese composer, Nobuo Uematsu.

Last semester, we also had music by the English-Sierra Leonean composer, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, and then this semester, we're also doing another work by a famous English composer [Edward] Elgar’s "Nimrod" from his Enigma Variations. Last semester, we did a movement from Tchaikovsky's “Nutcracker.” And then now we're doing a movement from his [Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35]. So there's a certain amount of connection there.

But I think thematically, it's different in the sense that we were trying to go for something that was more evocative of the feeling of spring–and that is what primarily led me to choosing the “Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43.” One, as something to pair with the Tchaikovsky. They’re equal in length and equal in their thematic weight. Something written roughly in the same kind of time period, second half of the 19th century. Both are interesting because they represent two similar but also unique responses to the question: “what do we do with symphonic or concerto music after Beethoven?” It's the beginning, as with Elgar as well, the era of developing nationalistic styles. So we have sort of the Finnish style, with Sibelius, and then the Russian style with Tchaikovsky. It's interesting to compare those two.

This works so well for a spring concert because the piece, to me, and likely to anyone who hears it, is just extremely evocative of nature, both at a superficial level with things like woodwinds imitating birdcall and there being a storm in the middle of the movement. But I think also on a deeper level—this is something that is true for a lot of Sibelius's music, where he managed to cut through the superficial and get to something fundamental about the feeling of nature, being in nature and the love of nature. That feeling of vibrancy, this almost overwhelming feeling of life, that I think all people can sense in the springtime. I think that piece evokes that feeling better than almost anything else that I've heard. So that was my reasoning behind choosing that.

For our final piece, this has actually been a piece that we looked at doing last semester. But for one reason or another, we didn't end up making it on the program. It was a really great suggestion actually by our librarian Stefan: the “Congo del Fuego Nuevo” by Arturo Marquez. A composer who, initially, became launched into international popularity by Gustavo Dudamel with his famous performance of "Danzon No. 2." So I thought it would be fun to pay tribute to Dudamel since he's leaving Los Angeles, unfortunately, by doing this piece that he helped to popularize, and it's just a very fun, celebratory piece. I think it's perfect for any concert program.

What would you be emphasizing the most for either each piece or overall? What are you looking to bring out and convey to the audience at our concert?

So the Final Fantasy piece, there's not so much a deeper message there. There is an interesting deeper connection and it is related to the spring theme of the concert in the sense that the theme of the game is a very environmentalist theme. It's about a group of young rebels trying to free the planet from this tyrannical corporation/government that, in the case of this fantasy world, is literally sucking the lifeblood out of the planet. So they're fighting to stop that from happening. That's what the piece describes that first mission in the game where you're going to blow up one of those factories that's part of that process. So that is connected to the theme in that way.

With the Sibelius again, that was the most nature inspired piece on the program. In terms of the Elgar, I wanted to do that because this is my last semester at USC. And it's also our president Emily's last semester of her degree. And I felt that it's kind of a big change, for both us as people and also for the orchestra going forward, especially without Emily, who's been our president for like three years. So I thought this piece was a good way of saying thank you to the orchestra. And thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me and taught me over the years that I've been here. It's a piece that, at its core, is about expressing really profound gratitude. So I thought that made it perfect for this program.

How was your experience over the last two semesters? Have you had any inspirations for your next steps in the future?

My first impression thinking about the last two semesters is that I had an incredible time. It was really fun to work on all these really cool pieces that I hope everyone enjoyed and I love the energy and the enthusiasm of the orchestra because everyone is here because we want to be here. It's not like we're paid. It's not a job. It's all done voluntarily. All of the effort that is put forth is voluntary and out of a passion for what we're doing. That is, one, a passion for the music and also a passion for the act of performing and working together as an ensemble. Every rehearsal has been both an incredible experience in terms of me being able to grow as a conductor and as a collaborator, with tons of talented musicians. Each rehearsal has been its own fun and unique experience, depending on what we worked on, and what challenges we tackled, and what we overcame in order to deliver the performance of the semester. I have made a lot of good friends, being a part of this organization, and hopefully, I will continue to stay in touch and know them for years to come afterwards. So yeah, it has been just a better experience than really any young conductor could help for both in terms of learning experience and in terms of the enjoyment of it. I'm really thankful that I found SSO.

Wang shares conducting and composing experience, including inspirations and hopes for our upcoming concerts.

What is the overall vision or theme for the Chamber concert repertoire?

It's a very light and very fun repertoire to play compared with the previous village and chamber concerts because this repertoire contains lots of pieces from the Baroque, Romantic, classical and twentieth century. Within this style, these pieces have contrasts within themselves so we can really see how music from the old time is diverse themselves. I think it would be a very fun and relaxing concert for the audience and the performers as well.

How was your experience so far over, like the last semester and this one so far? What's memorable? Or what things do you think are really helpful that you will take with you moving forward?

So last semester, I was conducting the village concerts and the pieces were quite challenging to start with. The most memorable thing was that since it's an outdoor concert, it was very windy that day in the village. Some of the music was blown away by the wind. So the back row of the cellists told me all their music was gone so they had to look over the performers sitting in front of them to play. It's memorable because we all ended together on our last note. It did work out so we were all very happy about that.

This semester while conducting the full orchestra was very exciting, especially when I was told the pieces I conduct are from two Thornton composers, including myself, and it's like very meaningful to me. Also, I find the performers of SSO are really kind and supportive. They were giving me lots of positive feedback and encouraging me.

The Chamber rehearsals are even more fun this semester because we're having much more relaxing pieces. It's rewarding and fun to conduct those pieces.

How does it feel to have your piece being played in the concert? Has your perspective on it changed from being the conductor?

I'm more than nervous. Because one year ago, when I was the guest conductor of SSO, I only got to conduct chamber pieces in Bovard Auditorium in the spring concert of 2023. But this time as a conductor, I get to conduct a full orchestra in Bovard. That's crazy to me because it's very meaningful. And yeah, it's my first time conducting an orchestra in the largest concert hall at USC. I really want to do it perfectly without having mistakes.

When I was composing, everything was ideal. I can use all the instruments I want and just imagine the songs would be exactly the same. But conducting it, I found that lots of things are different from my imagination. For example, the balance between different sections, the balance between strings, and brass is quite different from my imagination. When conducting, I have to deal with problems we face in rehearsals and the relationship between every instrument and every performance. It's quite amazing. So it feels like I'm not working alone; I'm actually working with 100 people together to show the audience this piece. So yes, it feels different to me.

What was the process of composing “Ao Miao”? What was your inspiration?

“In my high school back in China, we have this Chinese Martial Art Hero Group called The Seven Palaces. Each palace is formed by a group of friends. We made hero code names for each other. In the palace I was in, all of our names start with ‘Ao’, which means ‘pride’. My hero name is ‘Ao An’. ‘An’ means ‘shore’. And the seventh friend in our group, his name is ‘Ao Miao’. ‘Miao’ means lots of water.”

What would you tell people coming to our concert and chamber concert?

For the full orchestra concert, I would say that fantasy is something I want the audience to take note of because both pieces "Cloud Scherzo" and my piece, they're both based on fantasy a bit and imagination, and contrast. So that will be something I want them to notice. The composer for "Cloud Scherzo," Link, he graduated 30 years ahead of me, and we are both Thornton composers. We are both in the same major. So the legacy between these two pieces is something I want to also emphasize because it feels wonderful how I get to conduct his piece, 30 years after his graduation. It also feels like a legacy of Thornton and USC and SSO.

For the chamber concert, I would say pay attention to notice the diversity and similarity in between music from different time periods, and the potential of diversity in chamber music.

Harnsberger shares composing process and involvement with USC’s music scene after graduation.

What was the process of composing Cloud Scherzo? What was the inspiration? How did you start?

There's always a lot of inspiration for a piece. In this case, I had written another piece, called "Into the Cloud of Unknowing," which is a medieval, or maybe a little later, book of mysticism, or philosophy. The title is just fascinating—enter the cloud of unknowing, which is the world at large. And it was inspired by my child who was having serious neurological issues at the time, and we didn't know if it was going to be life or death or serious mental deficiencies or what. It turned out fine, with a real aggressive treatment. But that feeling of dread created the name of this other piece that I had “Into the Cloud of Unknowing.” And so I thought, ‘Oh, I'll write another movement to that.’ And so I started writing what the orchestra is going to be playing next month. And it was really the opposite of "Into the Cloud of Unknowing." [That] was very dark. Somebody told me it was like the drop D tuning version of the orchestra, [and] used a lot of lows and sonorities. This is kind of the opposite. It's a scherzo. Beethoven used the term scherzo, and it literally means joke. The piece isn't a joke, of course, it's lingers in a minor key, but it's very upbeat. I wanted something that was not the polar opposite, the more upbeat version of that first movement that I created. And now this piece stands on its own, and I just kept the cloud part of the name and called it "Cloud Scherzo." I think it still works well on its own.

Once you had your idea and your inspiration, how long did it take from that point to submitting it to SSO’s Calls for Scores?

I created the first version of that whole movement in a pretty quick amount of time. It was weeks. And I knew someone on the East Coast who said, ‘Hey, do you have any new music for orchestra?’ And I said, ‘Well, I'm working on this thing.’ And so I wrote it pretty quickly, in a matter of weeks. That was ten years ago when I created that first version. And they played it. Then a few years ago, I started publishing my music on my own [and] I was looking at that old score. I thought, ‘Wow, that's really not too bad a piece. But it's too short.’ So I created this new [piece]. The whole middle section has these blazing fast runs and things. And then this middle section settles down, and it was a dream moment in this little piece. I totally rewrote that. That's now two or three times the length of what it used to be. So there was that process.

Then I saw the Call for Scores. This piece, from the description of what the [Student Symphony Orchestra] was looking for, fit. I thought, ‘Wow, this might be the place for this.’ It's in a great demo software, this MIDI software that works with the finale program that I use. It created a great demo, and I just figured out, ‘Ah, I'll send it.’ And sure enough, you guys picked it. The neat thing is that Emily brought up at the rehearsal that [SSO] has gotten composers from all over the world with all different levels of expertise. And here I was. I'm right down the street in Pasadena, a few miles away. That was the shocker, that this piece ended up being perfect for your group, coming from an alumni. I went and met with the conductor before rehearsal, and it was like a homecoming. It was a perfect match.

Did your perspective change on the piece when it was being played during our rehearsal? How was it different from your imagination to how it actually sounded?

Yeah, absolutely. No matter how great a composer you are or how many pieces you've orchestrated, there's no emotion, no tactile, or oral acts that can occur inside your head that's anything better than hearing something live. I was sitting right where the conductor was. I heard the cellos just laying into it. The two guys sitting principal cello, it felt like they were enjoying performing “Cloud Scherzo.” They put so much emotion into it. It makes you feel great that people are enjoying the music that you've written. There's nothing like it. I joke to the horn players, ‘I'm watching you guys.’ They played great. Everyone played really well. The passion everyone put into it, it sounded glorious. It’s a piece of music that was hitting the right spot emotionally for the group and SSO has a killer string section. They really play well, it was very moving.

How is this selection and concert meaningful for you as a USC alumnus?

It means a lot. I can't tell you how much it means because I'm a great proponent of the USC music school, It's one of the best music schools in the world. I still work with my fellow alum and people who were students there after I was there. I work with them all the time, they make up the LA music scene [in] the L.A. Philharmonic and different orchestras all over and conductors. I'm really proud of [having my piece] being performed [at USC] again. When I was at school, I worked with the USC Thornton Symphony, with an orchestra project for a class. It was always for a class. So now it's really fulfilling to do that full circle. I go to different performances at school a lot. I was there for Frank Ticheli’s retirement and USC Symphony concerts here and there, concert bands, this and that. I always thought, ‘Gosh, I'd really like to get some of my stuff in the hands of USC again.’ This is a great reintroduction to the school. I hope to chat with Larry Livingston, who was the head of the music department when I was there and, and some of the other teachers who are still teaching and, and chat with them. And I'd love to do more. This is a great honor to have this perform with SSO. It's really very fulfilling. It's a great feeling. It was so neat, the emotion when I parked in the parking lot where I used to park every day going into school. I hadn't parked in that lot for years, walked the same walk, and went into the same building. It just was a real homecoming mentally.

Do you have any advice for composers?

As far as inspiration goes, you can find inspiration in anything. The name of this piece came from a tragic moment in my life. I've also been inspired by the history of Los Angeles. I wrote an opera based on Olvera Street. You can look out the window, see the sun coming up, and be heavily inspired. That should go into music—whether it's film music, concert music, opera, whatever it is. There are little inspirations around every corner. Old music, new music, it's around every corner. Let it inspire you. But as a companion to that, there are elements of wanting to give up in the music industry because it's a tough industry. I perform horn all over the place, and as you play more you improve. I've been doing my own publishing, writing more, and doing more music. So you're always growing, and you should never give up as a composer. Just keep looking for the inspiration, keep looking, and listening. You'll find it around every corner.