“Making music” means more than "playing everything correctly." Helping students/players discover the thrill of expressing "what's in the music" is a eureka experience! This starts with the conductor's study of a score and discovery of what the composer intended and wanted expressed. This clinic will focus on the processes needed for a conductor and/or performer to grasp the meaning and formulate an interpretation of a musical composition.
Frank L. Battisti
- Biographical Information
Frank L. Battisti is Conductor Emeritus of the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble which he founded and conducted for 30 years. Battisti served on the Standard Award Panel of American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts Recognition and Talent Search Panel (ARTS). He is the founder of the WASBE and is the author of nine books. His latest, The Conductor's Challenge: Finding Expressive Meaning in the Score was published in 2016. In addition he has also written many articles on wind ensemble/band literature, conducting and music education which have been published in national and international journals and magazines.
During his career Battisti commissioned and premiered over 60 works for wind ensemble by distinguished American and international composers including Warren Benson, Leslie Bassett, John Harbison, Witold Lutoslawski, Vincent Persichetti, Michael Colgrass, Gunther Schuller, Sir Michael Tippett, Robert Ward and Alec Wilder. Dr. Battisti was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University (UK) in 1986 and 1992 and has received Honorary Doctorates from Ithaca College (1992), Rhode Island College (2010) and the New England Conservatory of Music (2012). He is also the first recipient of the New England Conservatory’s Krasner Excellence in Teaching Award; Massachusetts Music Educators’ Lowell Mason Award; National Band Association AWAPA Award and The Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor.