Preben Antonsen, composer

Composer Preben Antonsen, whose new piece “What Wondrous Love,” makes its world premiere at Symphony Parnassus’ Nov. 19 concert, graduated from Yale University in 2013, majoring in music and computer science. He has been composing since he was a small child. “Before I knew how to read music, I would make drawings on staff paper,” he said. “At 4 years old, some kids draw pictures. I would draw pictures made out of notes.”

Though he’s only 26, he has an impressive list of accomplishments:

• Studied with composer John Adams from 2001-2009
• San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra premiered his first orchestral work in March 2009
• In 2008, he appeared in NPR’s program about young classical musicians, “From the Top”
• American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) recognized him with six Morton Gould Young Composer Awards: 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010

Below are a few questions and answers with Preben (pronounced PRAY-ben):

Where are you from and where do you live now?

I was born in Seattle but since age 4, I have lived in Berkeley.  

What is your musical background / family?

I learned to read music when I had piano lessons starting at age 6. I started trying to compose even then—mostly writing down melodies my sister would play on the violin. Both of my parents are amateur musicians: My dad plays trumpet (and has played with Parnassus before), and my mom studied piano as a kid, likes to sing, and is a music lover. My sister plays the violin.

What is your life like as a working composer?

My time split between a few things. I work at a Catholic Church (St. Jerome’s in El Cerrito), and I teach piano / composition students, some of them through the John Adams Young Composer Program at the Crowden School in Berkeley. I compose as much as possible and also perform as a pianist—one concert a year for the past five years. I also write with (composer / conductor) Matthew Cmiel for the new music ensemble, After Everything. I am writing a piece for eight double-basses for a concert later in the year.

What was the inspiration for “What Wondrous Love”?

The main idea was the old Christian hymn. Samuel Barber wrote a set of variations on it, and it’s from that shape-note style of singing, unaccompanied vocal harmony. I always liked that song as a kid, and working in a church reminded me of it. I thought it would be great to do an orchestral version. That’s the arrival point.

I wanted to see about writing a piece that ended happily without feeling sentimental or shallow. It starts in a minor key with a lot of darkness, and then there is some climbing upwards, and there’s an uplifting result at the end of the short but perilous journey.

How is it to work with Symphony Parnassus?  

It’s great. It’s a rare opportunity, and I will definitely try to make the most of it and learn as much about orchestration as I can. It’s thrilling to hear something of mine played by the orchestra for the first time. It’s hard to imagine how it will really sound (played by the specified instruments). I have a clear aural image, but the way each instrument moves through the notes is really distinctive. I have to imagine that aspect of it when I am composing on the piano. 

Pierce Wang, violin

When asked about his favorite music, violinist Pierce Wang, 14, answers simply, “Conus, as it is my main piece now,” he said.

It sure is. “Conus,” Pierce’s nickname for the dramatic but seldom-played Violin Concerto in E Minor by Russian Romantic composer Julius Conus, has gotten a lot of attention from the young violinist this year. He has performed it with two other regional orchestras—the Saratoga Symphony and the Solano Symphony—and on Nov. 19, he performs it with Symphony Parnassus at Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco.

“I feel very honored and excited to play with Symphony Parnassus,” Pierce said. “My hope is that everyone will walk away from the performance with some amount of awe after hearing the Conus.”

Pierce’s upcoming performance will have a special dedication: He is playing to honor his maternal grandmother, Ellen Yeh, who died in mid-October. She liked to watch him practice and always supported him. “My grandmother often reminded my parents how important it was that I enjoyed the violin as I continued learning to play,” he said. “She loved to hear me play my violin as much as seeing my card-throwing and amateur magic tricks.”

Pierce said this picture—of him as a young child, with his late grandmother, Ellen Yeh—is one of his favorites. His performance is a dedication to her memory.

Pierce has been studying violin almost his whole life—12 years. In addition to the beauty of the instrument, he also likes the violin for practical reasons: “I am a very active person,” he said. “I bring it with me everywhere.”

He is a winner of the 2017 San Francisco Conservatory of Music – Symphony Parnassus Concerto Competition, and has achieved many other honors, including, in 2014, appearing on “From the Top,” NPR’s classical music program for young artists, and, in 2013, he won the Yehudi Menuhin-Helen Dowling competition. He studies violin with Alena Tsoi at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-College Division.

Pierce lives in Fremont, Calif. with his parents Evan and Karen Wang, and has two brothers—Austin, 19, and Ryan, 20, both of whom play guitar. He is in the 9th grade at Stanford University Online High School, where he has received such honors as the National Latin Exam (Intro to Latin) Certificate of Merit, and Recognition in Math, Algebra I (2015).  

When not playing violin, Pierce enjoys computer programming, robotics, longboarding (similar to skateboarding), card-throwing, performing magic tricks and playing with his dog, Rémy, a basenji-terrier mix.

Preben Antonsen (b. 1991) graduated from Yale University in 2013, majoring in music and computer science. He has been composing since he was a small child, and studied composition with John Adams from 2001-2009. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra premiered his first orchestral work in March 2009. NPR’s program “From the Top” featured Preben as a young composer in 2008. Sarah Cahill commissioned him to write a piano work for her anti-war project, “A Sweeter Music,” which she performed in Berkeley and New York. He is a 2005 BMI Student Composer Award winner, and ASCAP recognized six of his compositions with Morton Gould Young Composer Awards in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He collaborated with other teenage composers and instrumentalists on the Bay Area new music concert series, “Formerly Known as Classical,” which seeks to engage teenage audiences.

Preben transcribed John Adams’ Second String Quartet for two pianos as Roll Over Beethoven, performed by Christina and Michelle Naughton in March 2016. The new music ensemble After Everything has premiered two of his works, Instruments of Straw for string orchestra and A Basil Tale for soprano and ten players.