VOA常速英语2013--旧金山音乐家为古典音乐“翻新”（在线收听）

San Francisco Musicians Create 'New' Classical Music 旧金山音乐家为古典音乐“翻新”

California has long been seen as the place in the U.S. where new ideas are tested.  A group of young artists in San Francisco are continuing that trend, giving new life to an old field: opera and European classical music.

加利福尼亚州在美国一直都被认为是创新的诞生地。一群旧金山的年轻艺术家们正延续着创新的趋势，为诸如话剧以及欧洲古典音乐的传统领域注入新生力量。

There’s a well-worn path that conservatory students take after graduation.  Amy Foote, a newly minted opera singer, says normally it was expected that…“I would perform in community opera productions and that I would audition for young artists programs and getting a church gig.  Also, for instrumentalists, I think it is expected that you would take orchestral excerpt auditions.”

对于音乐学院的毕业生来说，毕业后的道路千篇一律。Amy Foote，一个刚毕业的歌剧演唱者说，通常我们被期望走这样的道路：我会在一些社团话剧作品中演出，我会去青年艺术家项目去试演，然后得到一个在教堂演出的职位。同样，乐器表演者也好不到哪去，我想他们也会被要求去管弦乐队去试演。

But like most artists, Foote had bigger dreams.   

然而像大部分艺术家一样，Foote怀抱着更大的梦想。

“I wanted to perform new classical chamber music, so I made sure that I could,” she said.

“我想表演新的古典音乐，因此我要确信我能够驾驭。”她说。

Foote is not alone, either in her drive or in her desire to seek a new way to make a career in the field of European classical music.  In fact, she’s part of a trend among her former classmates at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  

不管是从她的动机而言，还是她通过寻求一种新方式而令自己在欧洲古典音乐领域开创事业，有次想法的人并非她一人。实际上，她同先前的旧金山毕业生一样，只是这种新趋势的一员。

“What I saw out of the San Francisco Conservatory were these students who were very interested in developing their own projects in an entrepreneurial way," said Sidney Chen, an editor for NewMusicBox, a web publication that covers new American orchestral work.  "They’ve said that where opportunities don’t exist, they’ve decided to create them.”

“纵观旧金山音乐学院的这些学生，他们都对于通过创业的方式来发展自己的项目兴趣满满。”Sidney Chen说道，她是NewMusicBox的编辑，NewMusicBox是一个覆盖美国新管弦乐的网络出版商。“他们曾经说道，没有机会，我们就要创造机会。”

This push towards entrepreneurial risk-taking arose in an organic and spontaneous fashion.  Though it’s not something they teach students at the San Francisco Conservatory, several conservatory professors have recently taken it upon themselves to work with the school’s recent alumni in a new and exciting way.  

这种趋势推动了学生们加入到有风险的创业行动中来，并且以有组织以及自发的方式迅速增长。尽管这不是旧金山音乐学院课堂上所教授给学生的，很多音乐学院教授最近也参与到用一种全新的、激动人心的方式来举办近期的校友会。

“They’re our collaborators now.  They’re writing music for us,” said Conservatory graduate Matt Linder, a member of the classical guitar group Mobius Trio.

The title cut off the Mobius Trio’s new album "Last Light" was written by the head of the Conservatory’s composition department, Professor Dan Becker.  Mobius had another song written for them by music history professor Luciano Chessa.

“他们现在是我们的合作伙伴，他们为我们作曲，”音乐学院的毕业生Matt Linder 说，他是一个叫做Mobius Trio的古典吉他社团成员之一。Mobius Trio的新专辑“最后的曙光”的主打歌曲就是由音乐学院作曲系的系主任-Dan Becker先生所做.Mobius还拥有一首由音乐史教授Luciano Chessa作曲的歌。

“These are people who command very real commission fees for a reason," LInder said. "They are known composers.  But they’ve been incredibly generous in terms of donating part of their commission fee to us.”

“这些人都是一曲千金，不会随意献曲”Linder说,”他们都是有名的作曲家，但是他们却能够慷慨至极地把他们的作曲所得费捐献给我们。”

Becker also collaborated with another group of alumni, the Friction Quartet, on an hour-long work for dance and string quartet.  In the case of Amy Foote’s group, Nonsemble 6, a professor got them a booking that led to a national tour, starting clear across the country in Washington, D.C.  

Becker还和另外一个叫Friction Quartet的校友会团体合作，帮助他们完成一小时长的舞蹈及弦乐四重奏。Amy Foote 所在的演出团体 Nonsemble 6得到了一个教授的演出契约，使得他们能够从华盛顿起航，展开一次全国巡演。

“Mary Ellen Poole, the Dean, gave us the opportunity of going to the Kennedy Center," she said. "That’s awesome.”

“Mary Ellen Poole以及Dean 给我们了一次去肯尼迪中心演出的机会”，她说，“这真是太棒了！”

In classical fields like opera and concert music, there is often a lament that no new work is being created.   According to Chen of NewMusicBox, this experiment is helping address that problem too.

在诸如歌剧以及音乐会音乐的传统领域，令人惋惜的是，没有新作品问世。NewMusicBox的Chen说道，这个实验项目旨在解决此类问题。

“We’ve seen several years of very concentrated activity specifically centered on contemporary music.  That’s also unusual," he said. "It’s not just that there’s a string quartet that plays Beethoven very well.  What we’re seeing now is a whole string of performers coming out of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music who are all very committed to contemporary music and in some cases, exclusively committed to contemporary music.”

“近几年，我们都把精力过多的放在了现代音乐上，这是不正常的。”他说，“我们需要的不仅仅是一个能够成功演绎贝多芬作品的弦乐四重奏。现在我们看到的却是源源不断的人从旧金山音乐学院毕业，他们专注于现代音乐，甚至只专注于现代音乐。”

It is self-evident that these collaborations are helping these young artists, but they are doing something much more.  In an increasingly disassociated and global era, this new way of working has created a unique, local phenomenon that enriches the lives of San Francisco music lovers and creates for them and for the artists a true sense of community.

不言而喻，这些合作正在帮助这些年轻艺术家们，但是并没在此止步，他们正在做更多的事情。在一个日益多元化、全球化的时代，这种新的工作方式造就了一种独特的区域性现象，使得旧金山的音乐爱好者能够丰富他们的生活，为他们以及艺术家们创造一种真实的社区意识。