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However, he focuses on the composition \u201cTwenty Children\u201d \u2013 his choral piece dedicated to the victims of the tragic shooting that took place in Connecticut, where Shaffer was raised. As a consequence of the assault made by a 20-year old man, 20 children (aged between 6 and 7) and 6 teachers died in an elementary school, Sandy Hook in 2012. The main purpose of this concert, that will be premiered next year, is to raise funds for the Sandy Hook Promise organization<\/a>.<\/p>\nBesides this, at the moment of our meeting, I am familiar only with some of his compositions intended for music therapy. However, these two pieces of information were quite enough to pay attention to his life story. And he was telling it from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
ClassicAll: When did music come to your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n Michael Shaffer<\/strong>: I started piano lessons when I was 4, my father was a piano teacher and by the time I was 8, I knew I wanted to be a composer of concert music. I don\u2019t know how I got to that conclusion, but I did (laughs<\/em>). So I studied a lot, I played a couple of instruments through high school \u2013 trumpet, French horn\u2026 And when it was the time to go to college I didn\u2019t want to go to learn how to write that terrible music that they were doing there in Academia. And I didn\u2019t want those guys to be my teachers (Roger Sessions and a bunch of them from that generation). They were so imperious, like from another century. So, I joined the army. It was 1964 and the Vietnam War was about to step up. I was there briefly, working for the intelligence corps, I was an intelligent officer.<\/p>\n What happens after the army?<\/strong><\/p>\n I still didn\u2019t want to go to college. I was stationed in Berlin for a while, I was an actor. I started doing straight plays, like Beckett, Pinter and a big production of „The Birds“ ( Aristophanes). I had written a couple of musicals, too.\u00a0 Afterward, I moved to New York and started writing plays. And I wrote plays for 20 years. I got really close, but I never made a breakthrough. The first really big one that I did, that got any attention, was a play how Shakespeare didn\u2019t write those plays. And now, Daron Hagen, the American opera composer, wants to turn it into opera, after it\u2019s been buried for so long. So, here I am, 35 years later.<\/p>\n When did you decide to write the music that refers to the tragic event happened in Sandy Hook school?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was actually driving in Connecticut and my wife called to tell me about the murders. When I saw the news reports I was looking at the children who looked just like my kids. Emilie Parker looked just like my daughter Katie and Dylan Hockley looked just like my son Patrick. I have early notes about when I started this in February 2013, two months after the event. And since I spent my professional life in the marketing of one sort or another, I seized the idea to write a piece that could be used as a fundraising tool. When I met Vlada (Vladimir Uratarevic, violinist and engraver) in 2014 he helped me focus on what the final piece was going to be.<\/p>\n How would you describe the piece \u201cTwenty Children\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s a choral elegy. Elegy is a poetic word (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard<\/em> is a famous poem). It\u2019s ambitious piece, my biggest piece so far for 26 singers \u2013 6 teachers and 20 kids. It is written for a string sextet, Joel Revsen will conduct. He is the conductor of the Metropolitan opera and when he heard about this piece he said \u201cI\u2019m in\u201d without even hearing it.<\/p>\n Is the music disturbing?<\/strong><\/p>\n The subject matter is very disturbing. I have a whole history of church music, my father was an organist and choirmaster, I know all about those memorial pieces, requiems and so forth. Composers have done that. So what I did, I took The<\/em> Tibetan book of the Dead<\/em> and Chinese I Ching<\/em> and created a libretto from that. The Tibetan Book of the Dead<\/em> is all about rebirth. So it\u2019s very positive in a strange kind of way. You know, all the things that could\u2019ve happen to those kids, they should go on and have a new life. It says \u2013 they will see their light again.<\/p>\n How long were you working on it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I got the first section done while I was still in the States, in 2017. I continued composing in Belgrade. I planned to stay for two months, but I stayed 8 months instead. So I finished it in New York, by Christmas time 2018. For the first time in my life, I just had to wake up and write music. I had to feed myself. I think that\u2019s why I was able to make it so good because I didn\u2019t think about anything else.<\/p>\n The premiere of \u201cTwenty Children\u201d is scheduled for October next year?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. It is going to be performed at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, very near Sandy Hook. We also plan to stream it. And I met some great musicians in Belgrade that have shown interest performing in here.<\/p>\n And how did you start composing music for dementia patients?<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1989 I met a young producer Susanne White, we became lifelong friends and she had me use her new music workstation called a KORG M-1. Thanks to that I wrote about 50 pieces and one of which was a piece called Quiet Beast. I wrote it for my mother to listen to during her chemotherapy treatments. This led me to create pieces for dementia patients. I talked to a couple of people who were taking care of Alzheimer patients. And they said that music is a thing that chills them out. \u201eWhen did they need this\u201d, I asked. They said that the worst time for Alzheimer patients when they get anxious is three o clock afternoon. It is called \u201csundowning\u201d. And we came up with some pieces and some videos \u2013 one fall scene leaves turning colors, and three winter scenes piano music. When we tried to sell it, it was really successful, except that the caregivers don\u2019t have any time for it. They say \u201cwe have a 36 hour a day, we don\u2019t need to do another thing\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/classicallradio.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191008_133521-300x225.jpg\")