Virtual Guitar Orchestra - Autumnal

Matthew Halper

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: College of Liberal Arts

Department: Music Conservatory

Abstract:

As part of my ongoing two-year residency with the New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Honors Guitar Ensemble, I composed an elegiac work for guitar orchestra entitled Autumnal. Premiered at the 2024 Long Island Guitar Festival, Autumnal received its New York City premiere at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall by the New Jersey Guitar Orchestra (NJGO) in July 2024.In November of 2024, the work was released on YouTube in collaboration with the Virtual Guitar Orchestra (Europe) with support from the Augustine Foundation. This composite performance, where post-production audio-video techniques were used to assemble a number of recorded parts by instrumentalists from both the NJMEA and the NJGO (in various locations at different times), is my first foray into this genre and entails a synthesis of my work as a composer and a music technology specialist.Autumnal was one of two composition submissions used in my successful application for a 2025 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship (granted February 2025).