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A
ccording to Reid,
Since 2000, jazz players from across the nation have been hand-picked by the RSMI Program for Jazz faculty
to spend a week together performing in and composing for ensembles of varying instrumentation. The
Bridges
competition challenged composers to expand on that with music for jazz trio and classical string quartet.
It was in the spirit of the intense and
aspirational goals of RSMI’s ambitious
programs for jazz and classical mu-
sicians—as well as the bold musical
vision of Leonard Bernstein, whom
Ravinia has just gotten underway
celebrating with an expansive multiyear
tribute—that
Bridges
, an international
jazz and classical fusion composition
competition, was born. It o ered an
imaginative challenge for artists ages
– (the same age range as the –
performers invited to RSMI each year)
to compose original works speci cally
for a string quartet and a jazz trio. “ e
Bridges
competition was conceived to
help give young professionals a place
on the map—if not the world stage—
which is precisely what RSMI has been
granting singers and instrumentalists
for the past three decades,” Kau man
said. e directors of the RSMI Program
for Jazz had long dreamed of such a
competition, having written many works
combining jazz and classical music and
players themselves.
In addition to a commemoration of
the anniversary, the
Bridges
competition
and concert is a tribute to the late David
Baker, the highly lauded jazz composer/
performer and distinguished professor
at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of
Music who had served as the director
of the RSMI Program for Jazz since its
inception in
. e winners of the
competition share equally in the David
Baker Prize.
e present directors of the RSMI
Program for Jazz served as adjudicators,
receiving submissions—works were
required to be minutes long and
never previously performed—between
November and February and spending
the next month selecting the winners,
who were announced in March: Sam
Blakeslee, Zach Bornheimer, and Gene
Kni c. “We picked three works that
celebrate RSMI, will entertain our
audiences, and will live on beyond this
th anniversary year,” said pianist and
co-director Billy Childs, who is known
for inventive, hybrid projects and who
this year won his h career Grammy
Award with the album
Rebirth
.
In addition to receiving the ,
David Baker Prize, each composer will
have his work premiered on June in
Ravinia’s Martin eatre, on a program
that also features works from each of the
three judges. Childs will be represented
by his
Into the Light
, and bassist Rufus
Reid by his
Beguiled
; saxophonist Na-
than Davis, who passed away in April,
will be honored in a performance of his
Matryoshka Blues
.
who
began composing just about a
decade ago at age , the
Bridges
competition sits at the forefront of an
emerging classical–jazz fusion move-
ment. “ e climate is right. For many
years, classical and jazz music were
separated by a snobbery from some mu-
sicians and their fans. But today’s young
musicians and composers are more
open-minded. ey’re exposed to many
forms of music, and are looking for ways
to combine them,” Reid said. “When we
discussed ideas for a competition, Leon-
ard Bernstein’s name came up because
his music crossed many forms, which is
why he was a genius. Welz [Kau man]
loved the classical–jazz idea and the
Bernstein connection, and worked hard
to get this competition funded.” [It’s a
connection that also hearkens back to
ALL PHOTOS PATRICK GIPSON/RUSSELL JENKINS/RAVINIA (EXCEPT KNIFIC PORTRAIT)
8
RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE