{"id":167354,"date":"2022-10-17T15:07:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T01:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=167354"},"modified":"2022-10-17T15:10:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T01:10:15","slug":"symphony-changes-composers-life-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/17\/symphony-changes-composers-life-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Symphony changes nationally recognized composer\u2019s life, again"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Michael-Thomas
Michael-Thomas Foumai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Award-winning composer Michael-Thomas Foumai<\/strong> was 13 when he first heard the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Symphony Orchestra<\/a> (HSO<\/abbr>). The program featured music from Ang Lee\u2019s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon<\/em>. Foumai, now a music and creative media lecturer at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span>–West Oʻahu<\/span><\/a>, recalled that he was “gob-smacked” to hear the score live with the orchestra.<\/p>\n

Years after, as a student at 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/a> in 2007, it was his music on the HSO<\/abbr> music stands.<\/p>\n

“That was a life-changing experience that confirmed for me that I could do this, I can be an orchestra composer,” Foumai said. “Composing wasn\u2019t just for the people who lived 300 years ago.”<\/p>\n

Related: World premiere of Raise Hawaiki, Hōkūleʻa<\/span> symphony by award-winning 东精影业<\/abbr> composer<\/a>, March 21, 2019
\n<\/span>\t<\/p>\n

In 2017, Foumai won an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation young composer award<\/a>, and in 2021, he was featured in HSO<\/abbr>\u2019s Sheraton Starlight Series<\/a>, showcasing a festival of his music throughout that summer at Waik\u012bk\u012b Shell. In a first for a Hawaiʻi<\/span> composer, Foumai had a total of seven of his orchestral works and new arrangements of mele by Queen Liliʻuokalani<\/span> performed.<\/p>\n

So Foumai was “electrified” when he was named director of artistic engagement and HSO<\/abbr>\u2019s first composer in residence in September.<\/p>\n

“My roots are in this orchestra\u2014there\u2019s no other like it. So I\u2019m thrilled to join the HSO<\/abbr> team,” he said. “It\u2019s a dream come true.”<\/p>\n

Dream job<\/h2>\n

In his new posts, Foumai composes and arranges the music for the HapaSymphony<\/a> series. The performances in the series join the symphony orchestra with celebrated local and Hawaiian artists and world-renowned conductors.<\/p>\n

“This kind of collaboration brings a remarkable symphonic journey only found in Hawaiʻi<\/span>,” Foumai said. “When our orchestra performs with artists, the music for all the orchestra\u2019s instruments needs to be composed, and that\u2019s my job.”<\/p>\n

Foumai\u2019s second role is artistic outreach to the community. For each concert, he provides the audience with comprehensive program notes\u2014the who, what, where and why, and how the music connects to people in Hawaiʻi<\/span>. In addition, he designs and hosts the newly launched education series “Beyond the Music,”<\/a> presented as a comfortable, casual evening setting at the Moanalua Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n

“These performances provide keiki to k\u016bpuna a ‘Magic School Bus’ approach to exploring how composers put together their great symphonies and the kaona (hidden messages) they contain,” he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s heartening that Michael will be leading the symphony\u2019s efforts to share the excitement of the music of our time with our community…
\nJon Magnussen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

东精影业<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> Professor Jon Magnussen<\/strong> called Foumai\u2019s appointment a wonderful development for the community.<\/p>\n

“Michael is a keiki o ka ʻāina<\/span>, a product of the 东精影业<\/abbr> System, and now he\u2019s giving back by teaching our music and creative media students at 东精影业<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span>,” Magnussen said. “Symphonic music of our time is alive and well, and it\u2019s heartening that Michael will be leading the symphony\u2019s efforts to share the excitement of the music of our time with our community.”<\/p>\n

Ultimate storyteller<\/h2>\n
\"Symphony,
The Hawaiʻi<\/span> Symphony Orchestra performing Raise Hawaiki.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2019, Foumai\u2019s Raise Hawaiki<\/em><\/a>, inspired by story of the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa<\/span>, was performed by the HSO<\/abbr> with the Oʻahu<\/span> Choral society, choirs from 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and other choral participation from Kapiʻolani<\/span> Community College and 东精影业<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span>. Performers also joined from the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Youth Opera Chorus and community choirs. They sang the words of Polynesian voyaging greats Eddie Aikau, Nainoa Thompson, Mau Piailug, Sam Ka\u02bbai and Sam Low.<\/p>\n

Foumai said the HSO<\/abbr> is a “time machine” and the “ultimate storyteller.”<\/p>\n

“The stories of Hawaiʻi<\/span> and Polynesia, the Pacific, the stories of us, must be continuously told and represented.” Foumai said. “Music is a gateway, a compass to learn from our ancestors, a welcoming invitation to reflect who we are now, and a portal to explore pathways forward as a community in Hawaiʻi<\/span>, as a nation and as the human race. Cultivating our home-grown composers\/artists and engaging our community with the highest level of symphonic music and Pacific-focused programs is the legacy I hope to bring in my role at the symphony and to our ʻohana<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

Read more in Ka Puna O Kaloʻi<\/span><\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael-Thomas Foumai is the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Symphony Orchestra\u2019s first composer in residence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[679,598,1459,133,59],"class_list":["post-167354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-ka-puna-o-kaloi","tag-music","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167354"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167360,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167354\/revisions\/167360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}