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Today is the official start date of my next big project, the Cellolympics. In order to see how to best articulate the purpose behind this new project, I decided to write a series of articles reflecting on my past creative endeavors. I will begin with The Definiens Project.
I created the Definiens Project, a non-profit chamber music organization, while in graduate school at UCLA. The idea for this project came suddenly one spring day while I was sitting in Dr. Robert Winters's performance practice class. I had just presented an analysis of a cello quartet's arrangement of a Metallica song. The class had loved my presentation and the piece — until they found out the composer. Some classmates were indignant. How dare I present a heavy metal band's song next to a Bach composition?
At that moment, I clearly saw the need to integrate the classical and popular music audiences. I had grown up listening to Metallica next to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. I saw value in both genres of music. Why did one have to be made out to be “better” than the other?
I started Definiens later that year. We had our first performance on St Patrick's Day, 2002. The theme for that concert was The Pop Effect. Music included everything from Dvorak to Ibert to Gershwin. I even made green food for the reception to bring in the popular holiday feel. The audience loved it!
[img]2593|right|Carter Dewberry. Photo, Emanuel Dale.||no_popup[/img]A year or two later we presented one of my all-time favorite concerts. A string quartet from Definiens joined electronic artist George Sarah in a loft-style performance combining George’s music, Bach and Debussy. I never will forget having the opportunity to introduce over 300 electronic listeners to Debussy. They couldn’t get enough. In the process of working with George, I gained so much appreciation for electronic music that I started incorporating drum loops into some of my own classically based compositions.
I continued at UCLA for my doctorate so that I would have support for this new project. My dissertation was based on new performance approaches we tried in Definiens. Many dissertation committee members either acted as board members or advisers. Numerous UCLA and USC students performed in, or composed, for the group. We worked together as a team to implement the Definiens vision.
Looking back, what I really created through Definiens was a new conversation in the music community. The performances definitely were not always popular – or successful – with audiences or with musicians. That didn’t matter to me. I gained fulfillment knowing that both audiences and musicians were being presented with an opportunity to expand out of their comfort zones, to learn about something unfamiliar.
Founding and leading the Definiens Project for many years taught me much in the areas of leadership, innovation and building community. Most importantly, I learned that anything is possible when one has both a vision and the commitment to see it through. I look forward to building on that knowledge, and my original vision for Definiens, with the Cellolympics. Let the games begin.
For those interested in more details on the Cellolympics, visit:
www.cellolympics.com
Ms. Dewberry, longtime essayist for the newspaper, may be contacted at carter@carterdewberry.com
