Two Men Strike All the Right Notes : Winning Compositions Also to Be Featured at CalArts Festival

The Freeman Competition for Composers accepts entries from throughout the Western United States, so it was something of a coincidence that two of the three winners this year are from the San Fernando Valley.

In fact, John Naples of Toluca Lake and Brian Kehlenbach of Burbank live just a few miles from each other. But their winning compositions are a vast distance apart in origin and intent.

Naples said “Juggernaut Variations,” his 11-minute piece for solo clarinet, was written in three days and is designed as “something a virtuoso can sink his teeth into.” Kehlenbach labored four months on “Times of Reflection,” his 10-minute composition for electric and acoustic piano, and he terms it an “interplay between a traditional instrument and the fruits of modern electronic music.”

The composers, along with the third winner, Haruna Aoki of Pasadena, will have their works performed Saturday afternoon at CalArts in Valencia. The concert is part of the school’s annual Contemporary Music Festival, to be held today through Sunday. Aoki’s work is for marimba with taped accompaniment.

As it happens, the three will be the final Freeman winners. The competition, endowed by Betty Freeman of Los Angeles and run by CalArts, is being abandoned in favor of a scholarship at the school. The competition, open to composers under 35, awards $1,000 to each winner and pays the expense of producing a concert of their works.

John Orders, assistant to CalArts President Steven Lavine, said the school asked Freeman to convert the endowment to a scholarship because rising tuition has made it difficult for many students to afford a CalArts education.

“Hopefully, we will endow one full year’s scholarship, which is $10,200 at our current tuition,” Orders said.

Naples and Kehlenbach agreed that the Freeman Competition, which drew 41 entries this year, will be missed by young composers of serious contemporary music.

“The concert is a real good showcase,” said Kehlenbach, 30, a candidate for a doctorate in musical arts at USC. “It’s part of the Contemporary Music Festival, which is a major event, so it’s well-attended. Excellent performers play your piece, which is an added bonus.”

CalArts officials said they had hoped to stage the festival at the new Santa Monica Museum, but added that arrangements could not be completed in time. Efforts to make the move next year will continue because a Westside location could increase attendance, they said.

Kehlenbach said there is no easy name for the music he writes.

“You could call it art music or contemporary classical music,” he said. “The main idea is that it’s distinguished from commercial music. It’s not a commercial venture by any stretch of the imagination.”

Kehlenbach said the name of his composition, “Times of Reflection,” works on two levels. The mood of the piece is contemplative or reflective, and the writing uses electronic techniques to manipulate standard musical concepts of time.

“It extends the tonality of traditional piano through electronics,” he said. “The two pianos start together and speak as one voice. In the center of the piece, they separate and the electronic piano becomes like an alter ego of the traditional piano. By the end, they are together again.”

Kehlenbach said he has been on pins and needles the past few weeks, anticipating the thrill that comes from hearing his work performed.

“Sometimes it’s very depressing to compose,” he said. “You’re struggling with what you’re trying to express. It’s often a very dark time. But this is the bright period for me.”

Naples, 34, has the opposite feeling about his work. He said “Juggernaut Variations” should leave listeners with a sense of inner calm, much as writing it did for him. He enjoys composing, which is one reason he works quickly.

“I like to keep going when I’m in that up spirit,” he said.

Naples works at Screen Music International in Studio City, a firm that writes music for movies, commercials and industrial films. He has a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar from State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree in composition from Cal State Long Beach. Neither school is widely recognized in music circles, a fact that only helps fuel his compulsion to write music.

“It’s important for me to show that someone can come out of nowhere,” he said.

Naples sees his work as similar to that of composers John Adams and Steve Reich. He calls his style serial minimalism and said he didn’t begin writing until 1982. In his teen-age years, he played classical piano and later turned to rock ‘n’ roll.

“That’s why I left Buffalo for New York City; I wanted to go all the way with rock,” he said. “I seriously thought I was going to get signed to a record contract. But the bands I was in never had that single-minded purpose that you’ve got to have to make it. Finally, one day I woke up and realized I’m not a rock and roller.”

Naples said he writes serious music “to express what I can’t express otherwise. It’s like being mute not to compose.”

His “Juggernaut Variations” will be performed by CalArts teacher Bill Powell, who encouraged Naples to enter the work in the Freeman Competition.

Like Naples, Kehlenbach comes from the East Coast. He was raised in Hartford, Conn., and has been a lifetime devotee of composing.

“It’s something I’ve done since I was 8 years old and first put my hands on a keyboard,” he said. “I always ignored the lessons I was supposed to practice and I’d interpret thoughts I had on the keyboard. A small idea gets in my head and I have to pursue it to its end.”

Kehlenbach left the staff of the Hartford Conservatory of Music when he was accepted into USC’s doctoral program. He teaches two music theory classes at USC, and his wife is a junior high teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“One of the reasons I moved to Los Angeles is that I wanted to be around people who are interested in serious art music, and it’s difficult to find them,” he said. “You’re better off in a city.”

He is fascinated by the possibilities that electronic technology offers in music and works late at night composing on USC’s Synclavier, an $180,000 digital synthesizer.

“The only time it’s available is at night,” he said. “That’s why I have these dark circles under my eyes.”

Because the three winning Freeman Competition pieces are relatively short, each of the composers will present a second work. Kehlenbach’s is “Placations,” written for two percussionists and a synthesizer with taped accompaniment. Naples’ is “Histrionic Suite,” featuring piano and clarinet.

Jurors for the competition were Brian Serneyhough, a music teacher at UC San Diego; Charles Amirkanian, music director at KPFA in San Francisco, and Leonard Stein, director of the Schoenberg Institute at USC.

“One of the nice things about this year’s competition is that the three winning pieces are totally different in aesthetics and styles,” said Frans van Rossum, a CalArts faculty member who served as non-voting chairman of jury. “It’s very fresh and lively music.”

The Freeman Competition Concert is at 3 p.m. Saturday, Roy O. Disney Hall, CalArts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia. Tickets are $6, $2 students and seniors. For information, call (805) 255-1050.