Andrew Harlan 
is a composer, sound designer, and bassist. A Boston Conservatory graduate currently pursuing a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, Andrew has been mentored by leading figures in contemporary music including Marti Epstein, Myra Melford, and Ken Ueno. Andrew's original music was showcased in a multitude of festivals including the Valencia International Performance Academy, the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice, and the Wellesley Composers Conference. During the past academic year, Andrew spent nine months at the Music and Dance Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he composed music that combines improvisation and live electronics. Although Andrew's inspiration to spend a year in the Czech Republic was spontaneously inspired by a meeting with Czech composer Michal Rataj in California, today Andrew says: "My time as a Fulbrighter was a reminder to me that the most beautiful gift of being an artist is not necessarily the art itself but the people that we get to meet and the community that we build."
I chose to study in Prague somewhat by accident. While I was in my second year as a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley, I was fortunate enough to meet the composer Michal Rataj. Michal had completed a Fulbright at UC Berkeley working in the Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT), the center where I currently work. Now, teaching at Akademie múzických umění v Praze (HAMU), Michal teaches in the composition department and leads the doctoral studies. Additionally, several earlier generations of graduate students from CNMAT had also completed Fulbright research grants in Prague working with Michal so the invitation to HAMU felt like a special opportunity to continue a long and productive relationship between our two institutions. As a composer, I am especially interested in combining musical elements from various genres and media into a cohesive musical language. My work ranges from concert music for orchestras to techno production to sound installations. Michal was a perfect mentor for my projects as he is someone who can seamlessly move through artistic worlds. His projects are as varied as they are prolific.
One of the most amazing things about Prague for me was the combination of old and new. On the one hand, Prague is a center for European Classical Music and has been for hundreds of years. But on the other hand, Prague has one of the most dynamic and interesting artistic communities that I’ve ever experienced. Yes, Mozart’s Don Giovanni was premiered at the Estates Theater, and the musical legacy of Dvořák, Smetana, and Janáček loom large over the city; But, for me, it wasn’t necessarily the connection with musical history that made Prague such an inspiring city, but rather it’s rich ever-evolving cultural present. My life in Prague was really a continual tug-of-war between these paradigms; an opera one night and experimental dance the next, a film festival and then a jazz gig, the Philharmonic and then MeetFactory.
In addition to cultural events, it was such a pleasure to be welcomed into the rich and diverse landscape of HAMU and especially the composition program. In addition to my productive lessons with Michal, I loved attending composition seminars and engaging in lively discussions (even when I couldn’t understand!). I was thrilled to present my work several times in concerts, in lectures, and seminars; I even got to study and perform Gregorian chant. I loved meeting the other composers, going to concerts, talking shop in the school cafe, and going on the semesterly department retreats to Poněšice.
As Americans working in the culture sector, it can be easy to feel as though artistic production has been globalized to a such a significant extent that we all come from the same place; That we all have the same background, heroes, references, language. One of the most exciting things about my time in Prague was being proven wrong on that point again and again! I was hearing and meeting composers who I had never heard in the United States (or even elsewhere in Europe for that matter), hearing about events that I had no idea were happening. My scope was constantly broadening.
For me, the year in Prague allowed for an important creative friction. The sudden change of environment forced me to confront certain ideologies that I had been habituated to (musically and otherwise). As someone who has moved quite a few times including another stint abroad, I find that where I am living has a huge impact on my creative output. Rather than a continual piscean change from one style to another, I like to think that it’s more like an accumulation. Creative approaches that I developed in Paris, Chicago, or Berkeley, stayed with me in Prague. Now writing from an artist residency in Nebraska, I have a chance to reflect on how my creative approach has broadened from my time in Prague and what has been retained now that I am back in the States.
One of the most personally significant projects that I worked on during my Fulbright was a long-form piece for a string trio with electronics. The piece was inspired by the Plague Columns that were erected in the 17th and 18th centuries in central Europe to celebrate the end of the bubonic plague. They are a key feature of many Czech towns and one of my favorite parts of traveling through Czechia was seeing each town’s unique column. Musically, the piece was challenging to write because it called for a more expressive and intimate approach to musical materials than some of my previous pieces. I wanted to find a way to blend the rich tradition of the string trio genre with electronic music and new sound design. I also wanted to make use of the incredible resources for sound spatialization at HAMU so the work featured a circle of eight loudspeakers surrounding the audience. The piece was performed first in the Nelahozeves Castle outside of Prague and again in Prague at the Atrium Zizkov. These performances were preceded by a week-long residency at a Zámek (a small castle, like a chateau) outside of Prague where we rehearsed, edited, and shaped the piece together.
During my time as a Fulbright Student Researcher, I was given the gift of space, time, and understanding. I was able to see so much of the beautiful country of Czech Republic. In addition, the non-musical events had just as much meaning for me. Exploring the smaller towns, eating goulash, visiting the sauna, and drinking endless czech wines with the other fulbrighters at our favorite wine bar in Jiřího z Poděbrad (Pavillon du Vin). In short, this year was one of the most important of my life both musically and personally.
More than anything, I was so grateful to be welcomed into such an inspiring artistic community in Prague. I met film musicians, directors, animators, poets, painters, photographers, dancers, improvisers, and so many more; I remain in contact with many of those that I met while in Prague and many of the collaborations are ongoing despite being back in the US. My time as a Fulbrighter was a reminder to me that the most beautiful gift of being an artist is not necessarily the art itself but the people that we get to meet and the community that we build.
