A: This was my first year attending Fresh Inc, so the online format was my first experience with the festival. Although I was skeptical at first as to how the online format would be beneficial, I found that it was one of the most valuable experiences for me and my career.

A: Because of the online format, we focused heavily on how to navigate the classical music scene in a time where live performance isn’t accessible. Many of the workshops were tweaked to address the current situation, so we learned how to reach an audience through means other than in-person performance, building an online presence, and how we should move forward as innovative musicians following the end of the pandemic.

A: The festival introduced me to a music world that I didn’t know existed and opened my eyes to ways to have a career in music that isn’t the tunnel-vision “you’re going to get an orchestra job” career that conservatory students are often trained towards. It focused on rather than just traditional playing-to-your-audience kind of mindsets to putting your audience center stage instead, and including your audience in the artistic process of creating a musical experience.

Another unique aspect of the program was the business practices we learned. A heavy portion of the workshops focused on best practices on the business side of music, such as how to successfully get a gig, how to fund your projects, how to structure your resumes, and most importantly how to network.

A: I found that this festival made me realize the importance of contemporary music and living composers.

What struck me the most was a conversation I had with the clarinet player of Fifth House Ensemble, Elizandro Garcia-Montoya, during my private lesson. We talked about understanding the language of the composer, and how so many people don’t take the time especially to understand the language of contemporary composers.

This made me think heavily about how in music school we spend so much time learning and understanding the language of composers like Beethoven or Brahms or Mahler, but put in very little effort to understand the language of contemporary composers. This realization has put me on a recent spree of searching for works by contemporary and/or living composers to study and play and has also created an interest in commissioning new works by student composers.

A: As a composer, I had the opportunity to participate in various compositional workshops and seminars. I was able to learn from the best in the business and get a feel for what it’s like to make a career in writing music. I was most intrigued and inspired by presentations from the Chicago Opera Theatre, Hummie Mann on Film Music, and Austin Wintory on writing music for Video Games. I also attended various programs on publishing and self-publishing and commissioning agreements that well better prepare me for entering the “real” music composition world. Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend private lessons instructed by composers Dan Visconti and Lisa Bielawa that helped me recognize my future goals and realize what I should focus on during the remaining three years of my undergraduate education.

A: The hardest part for me was conducting rehearsals for the piece that I wrote and having to deal with understanding that my players weren’t in the same room and I had to factor in internet delay and lag.

A: The biggest thing that the members of Fifth House Ensemble pushed us to remember…from out two-week residency is that “Your network is your greatest currency”. They pushed us to make connections that may change our life in the hopefully not-so-distant future.