ALONE TOGETHER: Interview with Composer, John Wineglass

Have you ever noticed how art can thrive in the darkest of times? Struggle is a common theme in the history of influential musicians and composers. Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his famous 7th Symphony, also known as the Leningrad Symphony, during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The war stricken country was devastated and desperately needed a voice of the suffering people to feel united. Shostakovich recalls working on the Adagio movement, “I kept working day and night. There were times when the anti-aircraft guns were in action and bombs were falling, but I kept working.” Despite his desperate circumstances, he was able to complete not only his 7th Symphony, which premiered in Samara on March 5th, 1942, but he continued to be a “voice” of the people through operas, ballets, film scores, and symphonies until the year of his death in 1975.

I was first introduced to EmmyAward-winning composer and musician John Wineglass in 2019. It was at rehearsals for the premiere of his orchestral work, Cityscapes: The Sights and Sounds of Stockton, that I first experienced the fresh melodies and vivacious rhythmic patterns that embodied the heart of Stockton. Little did I know this would be one of the last times that I would be able to perform on stage with a group of musicians in person for an indefinite amount of time. I recently reached out to John  wondering how the composing world has been affected by these strange new times. I was encouraged to not only hear about his ability to overcome the challenges of the  pandemic, but also how war, conflict, and isolation have inspired his newest compositions. 

His latest symphonic work, Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice, is dedicated to the lives and contributions of African and African-American forced laborers who cultivated the expansive rice economy in the Lowcountry. Read his interview below to learn about upcoming works and how music has helped bring musicians together. 

What age did you start playing the viola? 

I started playing the viola when I was about 6 years old. My sister used to play the piano and I would listen to her play the Moonlight Sonata. I picked it up by ear on piano first. My mom came down and thought, “You should get started with some lessons”. Thank God she didn’t start me out on piano lessons, she got me started in the DC youth orchestras. I went through several instruments. I started on the flute and my arms weren’t long enough. I tried a clarinet and my embouchure was not very strong. Everybody played violin so I settled on viola. This youth orchestra would travel every year and I wanted to do that. I practiced really hard going through all the levels and then when I was 11 I started touring with this youth orchestra. We went to the former Soviet Union, China, Spain, and Korea. That began my career as a young person in the orchestra. 

Who was your favorite music teacher?

My favorite music teacher was my last viola teacher, who was Maragret Ward. She played with the Washington Opera in Washington DC and would sub for the National Symphony Orchestra. She was very instrumental in my life as a mentor and a teacher. She sold me my first viola ever, that I still have here.  She suffered from dementia and had a studio of 80 students. She started really practicing keeping up her craft and she kind of overcame the ahlzeimers and dementia. We celebrated her 80th birthday 10 years ago and played the Brandenburg 6 together. That was magical because she didn’t succumb to it and overcame it. She later passed away, but was an instrumental person in my life. 

How did you discover your love for composition?

I always had a love for composition. When I was 6 years old I formed a little orchestra and would write out the parts and have my cousins come over and play. The composition voice was there from day one. Later on I applied for conservatory and at age 16 I got tendonitis. I had to stop playing for 9 months, which was disastrous. I thought, wow, if this hurts like it does now when I’m 30, thinking 30 was old, I probably want to fall back on composition. I went through a couple of hoops with business school. I started at American University as a scholarship student in finance. I was a double major in finance and music. I was taking lessons with Osman Kivrak, from the Baltimore string quartet and then continued with Margaret Ward at the Kennedy Center. I ended up dropping the business degree and getting my composition degree at American. Then I decided to start a MBA at John Hopkins. In the summer of ‘96 I took a cost accounting course and decided, this is not for me. I looked at schools and decided the conservatory route is not where I wanted to go because of the technology I wanted to learn in the film world. I wanted a program that had a film scoring component. NYU had a consortium where I could take lessons with Norman and Justin Dello Joio at Juilliard or Corigliano at Lehman College in the Bronx. I moved to NY and the rest is history. 

What would you consider your foot in the door for film scoring?

Success is when opportunity meets preparation. I had an opportunity with a friend of mine in LA that gave me a number to an obscure studio in Manhattan that was a television show. I called that day and turned in my resume the very last day. That guy, Terry Walker, ended up being my music supervisor for my first television show for 15 years. The show was All my Children. After that [I wrote for] shows on CBS and NBC. I started doing music for commercials [for companies such as] Texico and Pizza Hut from that one decision. 

What is your writing process for concert hall compositions?

Typically in my residencies, I request a place to stay. Big Sur land trust has been great and they give me a ranch of about 5000 acres in Big Sur. It’s just me and Jim, the ranch hand, who has been on the property for 45 years. There’s two donkeys and two horses. I have another place in Yosemite, going towards Groveland, that is a 20 bedroom place I use by myself. That has been a great thing to do; to get away and focus. It’s 16 hour days of going in [to compose]. That’s all I’m there to do. There’s no place to hang out. I’m there to focus on the craft and get it done. It’s painstaking. The process of what I call “downloading”, because I’m basically just a scribe. I download from the divine. It’s a process of basically transcribing what I hear in my head. That takes a lot of focus. I take pen and paper and a piano, if there is one there, and after a while I start inputting it in Sibelius to make it easier for my copyist to not have to read my chicken scratches. I have tons of voice memos of singing harmonies and melodies, talking about intervals that accompany the melodic lines. I have a piece of staff paper that I have and write lines out. I catalog all that and when it comes to writing I will regurgitate all that stuff in my writing process. 

Where do you draw inspiration for your compositions?

Nature is huge. I also draw a lot of inspiration from current social issues. I also have sinethestesia, so I associate colors with tonalities. A lot of my works are equivalent to key centers I hear or colors. Usually the primary and secondary colors are represented. I realized this when I was six years old and wrote a piece called, “The Rainbow Song”, that was a basic I-4-5-6-1 song with arpeggios. The key of C was white, the key of F was orange, the g minor was purple, d minor was red. That corresponds a lot when I compose. I composed a piece about Big Sur and a lot that is in the key of C for the white crest of the breaking of the waves.  There is also b-flat for the color blue of the ocean.

What are a couple compositions you are working on now?

The Monterey Symphony just announced that I am the composer in residence. Monterey has pivoted to smaller works. One of the pieces I am working on is for solo violin and electronics with Christina Mok, Concertmaster of Monterey Symphony. She asked me to write a work for solo violin for her. This piece is called “Alone.” The next one is a co-commision with 4 different symphonies in California: The Pacific Symphony with Carl St.Claire, Monterey Symphony,  Fresno Philharmonic with Rei Hotoda, and Barbara Day Turner with San Jose Chamber Orchestra. That work is called, “Alone Together,” for strings and 2 percussion. It is written for orchestras and artistic organizations coming together in unity and creating a work. We are doing a big virtual video component as well. 

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It goes without saying that 2020 has presented a challenge for musicians, composers and artists alike to discover new avenues of not only performing, but also connecting with each other as a community. The path for artists is narrow, but artists are forging new ways to find these types of connections our souls crave. It is clear that despite the struggles around all of us, music is a resilient language that is communicable through all people and all times in history. Be encouraged that there will again be a time that we experience live music together in the same room. In the meantime, I anticipate the creators of the arts will have plenty for us to listen to and learn from.