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"On Sunday afternoon the Union College Concert Series will present the first commissioned work in its long history. \"Soft Power\" was written by 28-year-old composer Matthew Aucoin, one of the most in-demand young composers on the scene today. It will be performed by the Brentano String Quartet as part of a program that also features music of Haydn, Beethoven and Shostakovich. The new work, which lasts only about six minutes, is actually the first of two pieces that Aucoin has agreed to write for the Brentano. A larger work is slated for debut in November 2019 also in Schenectady. For that piece Union College will be the lead organization in a consortium that includes Carnegie Hall. \"It was me who begged for a chance to write a warm-up,\" explains Aucoin, of the unusual double commission. \"There's something very naked about writing a string quartet. It has to do with uniformity of the texture. You can't hide behind shifts of instrumental color as you can with mixed instruments. Also there's the incredible history of contrapuntal music in the literature.\" Aucoin's reticence about plunging into string quartet writing is, on one hand, understandable. But it also comes as a surprise because as a musician Aucoin seems to know no bounds. He's excelled at both composing and conducting and is the youngest assistant conductor ever hired by the Metropolitan Opera. He currently holds the position of resident artist with the Los Angeles Opera, a post created expressly for his talents. For the company he conducts two operas a season. Up next are three performances of \"Rigoletto\" in May. Next summer he'll conduct John Adam's \"Doctor Atomic\" at the Sante Fe Opera. \"I'm a composer first and foremost,\" he says. \"I come from the jazz and rock tradition as well as classical. It felt natural to perform as well as to write music. In jazz, composing and performing are almost the same thing.\" Among a myriad of projects, Aucoin is at work on a new opera co-commissioned by the LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. That piece will be his third outing in the form. His 2015 opera \"Crossings\" features his own original libretto and was inspired by the life and writing of Walt Whitman. It debuted in Boston and had a successful run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last fall. Obviously, word has been traveling fast about Aucoin. Mark Steinberg, the founding first violinist of the Brentano, recalls hearing about the young talent from a colleague who urged him to get in touch. Steinberg invited Aucoin to dinner and afterward looked over some samples that the composer provided. \"I thought the music was compelling, that it drew me in and he had a lot to say,\" recalls Steinberg. \"He's busy doing all kinds of interesting things and I thought that string quartets should be included.\" With a couple dozen premieres under its belt during its 26-year history, the Brentano is accustomed to handling new work and interacting with composers. Steinberg says the process of learning a new piece is the same whether it's something brand new or something from the classical canon. \"It's messy,\" he explains. \"We wait, listen and respond and bounce ideas off each other and tinker with it.\" Aucoin was yet to attend a rehearsal with the Brentano when Steinberg was interviewed. \"Some composers have a solid idea of how something should sound,\" says Steinberg. \"Others are very open to seeing what's going to come from the performers.\" While it's a special thing to interact with a living composer, Steinberg observes that his group actually has a deeper level of intimacy with someone like Haydn, who's dead and gone but whose works they have played extensively. \"For a composer we never met, we have more relationship with Haydn than with Matt,\" he says. \"It's funny but I think it's true.\" Both Steinberg and Aucoin use the word \"meditative\" to describe the new work, \"Soft Power.\" According to Aucoin, the piece attempts to create a synthesis between what he calls process music (better known as minimalism) and the thorny style of atonal writing. \"It's about the power of a gentle calming gesture,\" he says. Aucoin doesn't claim to have a regular meditation practice, but he admitted that amid his busy professional life a feeling of calm may be something to aspire to. \"People often make the assumption that a piece of music shows who the composer is,\" he says. \"I think we tend to write where we want to be rather than where we are. If you're going to write a piece that goes into a trancelike state, you have to put yourself into that state to write the piece.\" Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy."
<https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/An-impressive-show-of-Soft-Power-12848874.php>