Composer
Ann Arbor, Michigan
kristinkuster.com
@KristinKuster
Kristin Kuster is an Ann Arbor-based composer who writes for orchestra, chamber and wind ensembles, and vocal music. Upcoming and recent premieres include works for the Baltimore and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Lisbon Summerfest Chamber Choir, and multi-percussionist Joseph Gramley. Kristin's music is recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2004 Charles Ives Fellowship); Sons of Norway; American Composers Orchestra; and League of American Orchestras. She is also the recipient of an OPERA American Grant for female composers, made possible through The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation for her new opera Old Presque Isle, slated for premiere in 2017. Kristin was awarded a 2015 Henry Russel Award from the University of Michigan where she is an associate professor of composition at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. When Kristin is not working, you can find her on her deck with her Sweetwaters and/or Comet coffee. She lives in Ann Arbor Hills with her “awesome” son with special needs and her “badass” trumpet player boyfriend.
Book: Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin. It's my son's favorite at the moment.
Piece of music: Felix Mendelssohn's Rondo Cappriccioso, Op. 14 for solo piano. It is gorgeous and super fun to play.
Destination: The Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario. A quick three-hour drive and I'm in a campsite nestled at the base of a sand dune, directly over which is a stunning, undisturbed, beautifully preserved beach along Lake Huron. The Pinery is the most well kept public park I have ever seen. It is huge, with biking and hiking trails, a canal for kayaking and canoeing, and the beaches on the lake are unparalleled in their natural beauty. It's a magical place.
Motto: My mom used to say, "It is okay and natural to be naive about something; yet it is decidedly not okay to stay that way."
I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. My dad was a meteorologist for NOAA, and we relocated to Boulder, Colorado when I was three years old. In some ways I still think of Boulder as home, even though I haven't lived there since 1998.
What were some of the passions and pastimes of your earlier years?
Growing up, I led an almost double life as a pianist and a softball player. I played competitive softball from the ages of 10-18. My softball teammates were from all over Colorado and few of them knew I spent the same amount of time at the piano as I did with my dad at the batting cages. Our team practiced and traveled all across the U.S. year-round. I think I broke Dad's heart for a minute when I decided to go to college for music instead of on a softball scholarship.
How did you come to realize that composition was your calling?
I was a terrific pianist as a kid - about a third of my awesome chops are still with me now. The Mendelssohn Cappriccioso is a favorite piece because it was transformative for my musical personality. I loved playing it, and had memorized it for a regional solo piano competition when I was about 13. As my mom drove me from Boulder to Utah for the competition, I knew there were nine measures in the middle that were jangly in my fingers. I didn't want to hit that stage knowing I wasn't solid, so I asked Mom to turn the car around - and she mercifully did. It was in that moment I knew I wasn't destined to be a concert pianist and I focused more on writing my own music the instant we got home.
Why does this form of artistic expression suit you?
Composing suits me most of all because it's fun. It feeds the part of my brain that enjoys puzzles and problem solving. I also get to express all the love and sadness and joy and heartbreak and humor and beauty I feel in the medium of sound. I've loved music since I arrived here on earth, and am grateful to be able to be in this amazing field.
How did you get your start as a composer?
For composers today, there is no longer a breakthrough "hit it big" gig or commission like there used to be. Our field has transformed a great deal in the last 15 years or so. I think this is a great thing; young composers can now craft their career paths in their own unique ways. Upon completing my doctorate here at U-M in 2002, there simply began to be a steady stream of folks who asked me to write for them. Interest in my music picked up a little bit when I moved to Manhattan, and I think that had more to do with an increase in my compositional output than geography. I have had, and continue to have, a nice, steady, slow burn in my career. I have been fortunate in this regard that I didn't have a wild rush of fancy commissions at a young age, as it allowed me to go at my own pace and devote time to my interests that are centered around things other than music; which in turn, has profoundly informed my writing.
What led to your writing Here, Leaving for solo cello, two violins, viola, contrabass, and marimba?
It is cool that you ask about this particular piece, as it is one of my favorites. A friend of mine, composer Harold Meltzer, ran a fabulous chamber group called Sequitur. I met Harold when I was living in Manhattan and he asked me to write for the group. As our deadline for the piece approached, my dad entered hospice care after a long battle with prostate cancer. I wrote Here, Leaving over the course of about a month right after my dad passed away in 2010. It is all at once light, heavy, beautifully hopeful, and sad music; the lyrical solo cello is slowly enveloped by the rest of the ensemble. It was a piece that came quickly for me. While it still chokes me up when I listen to it, I love it because it is a sonic snapshot of this experience of watching my kind, witty, smart, scientist dad release his footing to this earth.
Is there an instrument that you favor in the string family?
Cello. I love the cello. I wish wish wish wish wish I could play a cello!
Where do you begin? Do you have a creative process that you turn to?
Often the character of a piece (fast, slow, bright, dark), is determined by the commission. For example, if a piece is commissioned for an anniversary celebration of an organization or the like, I'll steer clear of going heavy, brooding, aggressive, or sad. Other than that, I tend to do a lot of thinking and imagining of the broad umbrella and overall shape of a piece for several weeks, before I start writing notes on paper. I've got to wrangle all the input in my brain for a bit before I can focus on details. When I'm sure of where I'm going, I get going with the notes.
What step or part of the composition process do you find most challenging?
The moment where I've got a good swath of music written and I know what the remaining music of the piece needs to do. At this point, I wish I could will all the rest of the details of the score (which takes an enormous amount of time and focus) onto the page and be done with it.
When and how do you know when a composition is finished?
When I've reached my deadline and sent it off. I generally let pieces live as they are, with only small cosmetic revisions (changing dynamics or articulations) after a premiere. If there are structural issues with a piece, I move on and work to make different choices in the next one.
What project and/or commission has provided the greatest learning curve?
I wrote a piece, Myrrha, for three sopranos, men's chorus, and orchestra, commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra. It premiered in Carnegie Hall in 2006. The piece was due in February. My son was born at the end of the previous September, and he had a stroke at birth. Not only was he in the NICU for much of October, I also had physical complications that lingered for some time. I can now see I wrote this piece totally on auto-pilot, 100 percent instinct. I have little memory of the actual writing of this piece, which is cool, as it turned out well.
Is there a musician/composer you admire most?
My son has amazing ears. He has cognitive delays due to his stroke; yet as his brain rewires around its stroke tissue, he is making enormous developmental strides. What I admire in his musicianship, is that it brings him sheer, unabashed, ecstatic joy. It is that childhood wonderment of which he reminds me every day - this thing where we experience something we love so much to which we react with a visceral joy. He hooks into great tunes and can sing them back, with perfect pitch, almost immediately after one hearing. My son makes hilariously clever jokes and puns by switching lyrics around. His dad is also a musician, and we've introduced our son to a wide variety of music. Lately he's into Frank Sinatra, and to hear him sing Come Fly With Me, including the counterpoint in the big band sections between verses, is bedazzling.
What’s the last piece of music you listened to?
Just this morning, while waiting for my son's school bus, we listened to Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours on my phone in the driveway. So good.
From where do you draw inspiration?
I love how it feels to look at great architectural design, to be near any body of water, to be under and look at big trees, and to be with the people I love.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Schedule fun time. Decide each day when you're going to turn everything off and be in the fun. Allot for fun time in your calendar. If you don't, you'll miss the joy of the fun.
How do you define creativity?
I think creativity is all about being willing to take risks and being willing to fail. Creativity is fostered by doing our art or our work or our everyday things free from fear of the unknown or preconceived desired results. When you explore and try new approaches to your endeavors without this fear, you will often find the results are more awesome than ever imagined.
Who in your life would you like to thank, and for what?
My parents, Patricia and James Peterson, and my stepmother, Margaret Peterson. They have all passed away, and were exemplary models of what it means to unconditionally show up for the people one loves. They all three lived life with graciousness, humility, warmth - and terribly dry, fiercely clever senses of humor. They were a ton of fun, and I thank them for teaching me that even in our darkest times, there is light, beauty, laughter, and love.
What drives you these days?
In addition to my parenting, composing, teaching, and general fun-having, I am committed to advocating for the underrepresented composers in today's classical music culture. The numbers of female and minority composers with active presences in our field are trending better than ever before; yet these groups are still significantly marginalized in terms of opportunity and exposure with professional ensembles and organizations. I am starting a foundation that will fund graduate educations for these composers at the institutions of their choice. If we can help more of these young people hone their compositional craft, and give them the training and resources they need, we can help transform our field into a more inclusive, and therefore more enriched culture of music making.
