Emmanuel Sikora will give a concert at the Center for the Arts in Homer on Sunday September 30th at 3pm. About half the concert will be of his own compositions. Sikora has performed his music at a number of local events including the Cortland Arts and Wine Festival this summer and the Young Artist Showcase at Grace Episcopal this past winter. Additional information can be found at EmmanuelSikora.Com
Sikora, who will be a junior at Cortland High School, spent his summer studying and writing music. He worked with Tekla Babyak, a graduate student in musicology at Cornell University, studying voice leading, diatonic/chromatic harmony, traditional forms and fugue. He also spent part of the summer working with Brian Franco on a systematic approach to songwriting.
As a young classical composer growing up in the 21st century, Sikora faces a wide range of choices in terms of extended tonality, atonality, minimalism, jazz and other influences. This might be seen as a source of confusion, with so many possibilities available. On the other hand each of these “systems” can be viewed as another color on the composer's pallet, who is free to choose and mix the techniques to be used at any particular moment. The challenge of having all of these possibilities is the need to study each one of them in detail.
Until quite recently, Sikora's inclination has been to adopt the style of 19th century composers such as Chopin, Schumann and Schubert. A number of his mentors have been nudging him in the direction of a more extended tonality. Marion Giambattista, his voice teacher, asked him to write a song in an early 20th century style. The result was “The Shadow Rose” which was selected in a statewide competition to be performed at the upcoming NYSSMA festival in Rochester, NY. Sikora finds writing in this style more difficult and that he needs to check the compositions on the piano more frequently.
According to his summer music tutor Tekla Babyak, the present time is more open to music that contains some tonal elements. There was a time during the 1960s and 70s, she said, when composers felt compelled to produce the most outlandish music possible. In one piece for example no notes were played, but the performers were asked to squirt toothpaste at members of the audience. Today, there is a tendency for the community of composers to accept music that is much more lyrical than was possible during the later part of the 20th century.
Sikora has to contend with the sometimes conflicting advice of musicians, parents and mentors. In the end, there is no one who can tell him what the music of the 21st century will be like; he will have to find his way by following his own instincts. Some of his inspirations come on long walks up the hill near his home in Cortlandville, where he goes to watch the sunset. Sometimes he'll get an idea and sit to write it down; then another idea comes, and so on. "In the end I may miss the sunset," he said, "but I get some good music out of it."