Conducting Student Grace Wahlen on Jennifer Higdon's 'blue cathedral'

Conducting student Grace Wahlen debuts with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra on September 26 with Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral. Written after Higdon's brother lost his battle with cancer, blue cathedral is one of the most-performed works in the American contemporary repertoire. Below, Wahlen shares her approach to the piece.

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Jennifer Higdon.

"Almost every single piece I've done by a living composer, I have had some interaction with the composer, most often by email and sometimes in person. I consider this a valuable aspect to my preparation of the piece—connecting with the person who wrote it.

The work has been performed a lot, and I think part of the reason people keep coming back to it is its musical story, which I find very fascinating. She's been explicit that the flute solo in the beginning is her—she's the older sibling. And then her brother, her younger sibling, comes in later as the clarinet. After the first section where they play individually, they play together.

There's a really nice section after that where the concertmaster is featured and the strings have a really strong, intense moment all together. Then it transitions and goes into brief solos throughout the orchestra. Towards the end, the flute, clarinet and English horn return, but the clarinet continues on and then fades out as crystal glasses, Chinese health bells, and a prepared piano that chimes like a clock in the distance, all keep on until the end.

I was talking with some of the members of the orchestra last week, and something everyone agreed on was that no matter what part you're playing—whether it's piccolo or cello or percussion or trombone—there's some special moment that's fun and enjoyable to play. Higdon really has a knack for writing in ways like this where everybody has something fun and engaging to do. That kind of segues into how, for me here at SFCM, there are so many wonderful people, musicians, personalities, and I just really appreciate how Higdon highlights people, community, and truly living.

The piece is really personally vulnerable, and that means a lot to me.  It's easy for me to get wrapped up in analyzing the musical form and getting excited about things like  instrumentation, but I think one of the aspects about her writing that I really appreciate the most is the way she interweaves her musical ideas. She paints atmospheres and pictures with sounds and music really, really well. The overall pacing of the piece has the power to take you on a journey, impacting you in a very meaningful way."