The New York Times-20080127-Life Past the Classroom And After the Orchestra

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Life Past the Classroom And After the Orchestra

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AS a young man, the composer John Corigliano swore that there were two things he would never do: write a symphony and teach composition. He has since learned the folly of speaking in absolutes. By now Mr. Corigliano has written three symphonies, the first two having won prestigious awards. And thanks to a recent Lehman College subway ad campaign, he is perhaps the city's most visible composition teacher. He also teaches at the Juilliard School, and some of his students have gone on to establish major careers.

According to a report compiled by the League of American Orchestras, Mr. Corigliano ranked 9th on a list of the 10 American composers whose works were most performed by its member ensembles during the 2006-7 season, and 4th among those still living.

His position will probably rise when the current season is tallied: Mr. Corigliano turns 70 next month, and orchestras everywhere are celebrating the occasion. Leonard Slatkin, long one of Mr. Corigliano's most active supporters, is practically mounting a one-man parade, conducting all three symphonies with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (of which he becomes music director in the fall) and other works elsewhere.

Conspicuously absent from the celebration is the New York Philharmonic, where Mr. Corigliano's father, the violinist John Corigliano, served as concertmaster for more than two decades (though, in fairness, the orchestra has played several of Mr. Corigliano's pieces in recent seasons). Manhattanites who wish to observe the anniversary will have to cross the East River, where the Brooklyn Philharmonic is embracing Mr. Corigliano as a native son of the borough with a festival of concerts and special events, beginning Sunday.

Born in Flatbush, Mr. Corigliano now shares an elegant Upper West Side apartment with his partner, the composer and writer Mark Adamo. Interviewed there recently between appearances in Pittsburgh and Washington, Mr. Corigliano spoke admiringly of the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

I've always been supportive of them, not only because I'm from Brooklyn, he said, but because they have a really healthy approach to programming and thinking about music. I like their forwardness and their outreach. He has presented the orchestra with new works as gifts and serves on its board.

Catherine M. Cahill, the orchestra's president and chief executive, said that planning for the festival was initiated by Robert Spano, the former music director. As the dialogue continued, it became clear that a concert was not going to be sufficient, she added. We wanted to do something that was much more celebratory.

Ms. Cahill secured funds for a residency by Mr. Corigliano through Music Alive, a program run by Meet the Composer and the League of American Orchestras. At the City University of New York's College of Technology, Mr. Corigliano will speak at a screening of The Red Violin (1998), which features his Oscar-winning score. Works of his have been plugged into the orchestra's chamber music series at the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library. And he will work with students from local schools, including Midwood High School, his alma mater.

The main event is an orchestral concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music next Saturday, conducted by the orchestra's music director, Michael Christie. Mr. Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy will be dramatized by the director David Herskovits of Target Margin Theater, and you could argue that one of Mr. Corigliano's more substantial compositions might have better suited such an auspicious occasion. But, Mr. Corigliano said, Pied Piper Fantasy, a programmatic flute concerto that includes instructions for staging and lighting, fits the Brooklyn Philharmonic's desire to add visual components to orchestral pieces.

After the concert works by three of Mr. Corigliano's most acclaimed students -- Mason Bates, Jefferson Friedman and Nico Muhly -- will be presented in the BAMcafe. Mr. Friedman, who studied with Mr. Corigliano as a graduate student at Juilliard, emphasized the importance of simply being exposed to a successful composer's day-to-day activities.

John taught me amazing things about how to compose, Mr. Friedman said, but he also taught me all these great things about how to be a composer in a more professional way.

Mr. Corigliano has also been a generous advocate, persuading colleagues like Mr. Slatkin to examine his students' works. Mr. Slatkin has programmed works by Mr. Friedman and will conduct Mr. Bates's Liquid Interfaces with the National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Feb. 7.

Despite the celebration Mr. Corigliano said he had no plans to compose further works for orchestra. He is creating a set of pieces for the pianist Ursula Oppens by recording keyboard improvisations on a computer, then refining the material into what he considers diary entries. The idea of a symphony for vocal sounds appeals to him; so does the notion of working with Mr. Adamo on a musical theater piece for amplified voices and small ensemble.

At the moment I don't want to write for the orchestra, all the classic things, he said. I've done that, and I want to go somewhere else, where I've never been.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: Mr. Corigliano with his Oscar for The Red Violin. (PHOTOGRAPH BY HECTOR MATA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE); The composer John Corigliano has taught at Juilliard and Lehman College and worked with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, which is celebrating his 70th birthday. (PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHANIE KUYKENDAL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)