Updated on June 2, 2023 at 8:52 a.m. ET
The Lansing Symphony Orchestra is debuting a new piece Friday created by its composer-in-residence as part of its final concert for the season.
Ahead of that performance, composer Patrick Harlin and the LSO's guest pianist Clayton Stephenson reflected on the piece and the collaborative effort of its creation.
Stephenson, 24, has just graduated from the Harvard-New England Conservatory dual-degree program in Economics and Piano Performance.
"Last year, I was the first African-American to become a finalist with the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition," he said.
Clayton’s association with the Lansing Symphony began last year as a winner of the Gilmore Piano Festival’s Young Artist Award, where he came and performed Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement under Maestro Timothy Muffitt and the LSO. But while there, he met composer Patrick Harlin.
For everyone that was there last season to hear Clayton, they know he's [a] tremendous talent and just, you know, he's a joy to watch on stage.Patrick Harlin, Lansing Symphony Orchestra
"For everyone that was there last season to hear Clayton, they know he's [a] tremendous talent and just, you know, he's a joy to watch on stage, and I experienced that as well," Harlin said.
"I said here's someone that I'd really love to collaborate, and I hope things work out. Something that's really nice that happened is that he really loved my music, and, you know, that's the best sort of working relationship. You want who you work with to enjoy what you do and have it be sort of reciprocal."
Over the past couple of months, Harlin would send ideas and work out what this piano concerto The Fourth Pedal was all about. That includes the looping audio technology that Stephenson as pianist would activate via a fourth pedal, augmenting the existing three on a standard piano.
"I think he definitely, he tried to capture, I think, characters that he thinks that I embody, and so I think there's places that I think that I can really connect to. But we also workshopped a lot of things. And so, things that I didn't know what was happening, or I needed further clarification, he was there to help me," Stephenson said.
There are so many things that you cannot put into a score, and I think Patrick was really there to help bridge that gap.Clayton Stephenson
"I think one of the things that we don't often think about, you know, studying scores of dead composers, we see the score as the kind of the bible for our music making, and what we should be aspiring to be. But at the same time, the score is a limitation. There are so many things that you cannot put into a score, and I think Patrick was really there to help bridge that gap."
The Friday concert marks the final appearance of Patrick Harlin as the LSO’s first ever composer-in-residence.
But the music will play on, and the composer has advice who whoever is named next.
"Advice I received which, take with a grain of salt, was say 'yes' to everything. I'm a 'say yes' person, so, and I felt that a lot of my favorite things that happened during the residency were because of that. Write the music that you really believe in, and, you know, trust that they chose you because they already believe in your music and they're excited to see what you're going to do. I'm just really happy for whoever it is. They have a tremendous opportunity to bring music into a community that supports and respects and, at this point, expects it."
The Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s season-ending concert, featuring composer in residence Patrick Harlin’s The Fourth Pedal with guest pianist Clayton Stephenson, alongside music of Grieg and Sibelius and led by Timothy Muffitt takes place at 7 p.m. on June 2 at the Wharton Center in East Lansing.
The Lansing Symphony Orchestra is a financial supporter of WKAR.
