Associate Professor of Composition Daniel Kellogg
Congratulations are in store for Associate Professor of Composition Daniel Kellogg. Kellogg recently received the 2018-19 Marion International Fellowship for the Visual and Performing Arts for his piece “Mao’s China.”
“I was elated to receive the news,” Kellogg says. “It is a special honor to be selected from a wide array of projects that go far beyond my specific field. The panel recognized both the artistic merits of my past work and my potential to tackle a large-scale piece that pushes my personal artistic expression in many new directions.”
“Mao’s China” will involve film, dancers, actors, live musicians and electronic music. Kellogg says the exploration of Mao Zedong’s communist regime in China commemorates the experiences of those close to him. “My wife and her parents lived through these events and the aftermath,” he explains. “They left China in 1984 with the hopes of a better life in America. Their determination and courageous sacrifice allowed for a new life, and my daughter is a firstborn American on this side of the family.
“It is also important to tell the stories of immigrant families so that we may appreciate the full and rich diversity that makes up the American people.”
The Marion Fellowship is awarded by State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. It seeks to provide opportunities for collaboration among artists; it will allow Kellogg to work with several different partner organizations around the world to perfect the multimedia piece over the next 16 months.
The newly named Christoffersen Faculty Fellow in Composition and recent Erismann Faculty Fellow says the fellowship will give him what he needs to do this project justice.
“Important creative work often involves risks and falls outside of conventional genres or formats. Such work is hard to create and produce. This kind of fellowship allows the time, financial resources and production support to realize such unusual and risky projects.”
“Mao’s China” will premiere at the College of Music next fall, with a partial performance at SUNY Fredonia in September 2019.
