A new exchange program uniting students from Columbia University, the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris, and the two Berlin Academies of Music debuts this semester. Its creators hope to do more than just expose young aficionados to contemporary music and composition.
The exchange program, in which four students from each of the participating schools will attend the other institutions in pairs, aims to foster cultural interaction by engaging young artists in an international context. The composers will ultimately show what they’ve learned to the public when their commissioned works experience their world premieres. The concerts are to be held in October and November in Paris, New York City, and Berlin.
From Columbia, Alex Mincek, GSAS, and Anthony Cheung, GSAS, will travel to Paris in October. Steve Lehman and Eric Wubbels, GSAS, will begin their studies at Berlin in November, and Lu Wang, GSAS, will hear her composition played on the stage for the first time at the New York concert in November.
Conceived two years ago by Fabien Levy, professor of composition in Columbia’s music department, the program offers a comparative look at the way music is taught at different schools, especially ones of such international repute, Levy said.
Master classes, composition, and rehearsals are all on the students’ schedules, but those contributing to the effort also stress the significance of the exchange component.
Michel Galante, director of the professional Argento Ensemble, sees this program as a boundary-crossing collaboration among people with “common passions and creative commitments.” He added that “it’s important for Columbia to reach out to other universities, especially in other countries and especially in the arts.”
“This is an opportunity to hear music you wouldn’t normally hear,” Lehman said, referring to the program’s focus on contemporary classical music.
Cheung said that listeners must “go in with an open mind” when attending the concerts. “You don’t need to be trained to appreciate a work of art,” and music, even music that defies convention, he said, is certainly art.
All concerts and preceding classes and programs, as well as the post-concert discussion and reception, are free and open to the public. The New York concert on Nov. 1 will feature the Argento Ensemble and is set to take place at the Kaufman Center, located on 67th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues.
