educational offerings
Instrumental master classes
All five of us are experienced and enthusiastic instrumental master class teachers. We often discuss auxiliary instruments like the piccolo, bass clarinet and Eb clarinet, English horn, and contrabassoon, and we love to talk about extended techniques and how to practice them. We are just as comfortable with traditional repertoire (Bach, Brahms, etc.) as with contemporary music.
Chamber music master classes
We love working with young chamber music groups as they navigate how to rehearse and perform together. This isn’t limited to wind quintets, either — we have coached string quartets, percussion ensembles, and saxophone quartets, too. Good rehearsal skills and good communication are universal! The City of Tomorrow has given chamber music master classes at Boston Conservatory, Indiana University, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and many others.
Composer workshops
One of our passions is working with developing composers. We will read works-in-progress and offer feedback with respect to notation and feasibility, as well as alternative ways of using our instruments creatively. We have been an ensemble-in-residence for many years with the Vermont College of Fine Art’s low-residency MFA program in composition, and we have given composition and orchestration workshops at Tufts, the Longy School of Music, for the Cascadia Composers in Portland, Oregon, and others.
Creating Narrative Programming
Members of the City of Tomorrow give a talk about engineering concert programs with symbolism and narrative. We have found this type of programming is more artistically satisfying, both for us as performers and for our audiences. This kind of programming workshop can apply to anything from community concerts to degree recitals to concert series, from students to professionals. We have given this talk at Northwestern University.
Entrepreneurial Skills Without Selling Out
Our career talk and Q&A emphasizes ways to develop a performing and teaching career that nurtures the artist while staying as protected as possible from the negative aspects of our field. We discuss financial planning, staying artistically diversified, being a good colleague and supporting each other through the early stages of a music career.
Successful Job Hunting in Higher Education
All five of us have held a wide range of positions in higher education, and in this talk we share how to best prepare application materials, how to interview well, planning a campus visit recital, choosing references, and how to build your CV over time. We also talk about what these jobs are like, their pros and cons, what the future holds, and how best to keep these positions for the long term.