The Masterwork Foundation
Conversations / Creative lives / Lasting influenceAn original interview collection
Behind the work,
there is always a person.
Featured conversation 01A living record
A creative life is more than a list of performances or achievements. It is the work of learning a craft, making choices, sustaining relationships and finding a way to keep creating.
A Life in the Arts brings artists, educators, administrators and creative leaders into conversation. Alongside Masterwork’s support for new work, the series makes room for the experience of people who have spent their lives making art possible.
The listening room
Begin with a musician whose work spans the stage and classroom, or an arts leader connecting an orchestra to its community.
01 / Music & educationR. Wayne Walters
Soloist, composer, conductor and educator. Walters’ work has reached concert audiences, public-school classrooms and community choirs.
02 / Arts leadershipLaurie Kenagy
Meet the Executive Director of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, whose work connects musical performance, community involvement and educational programs.
Each interview opens on its own page. Video loads from YouTube when you press play, with a direct YouTube option for captions and available transcript tools.
More than one kind of contribution
Composers, performers and artists give ideas a form we can hear, see and experience. Their practice continues long before and after the moment an audience encounters it.
Meet a performer, composer and educator ↗Behind an orchestra’s public life are relationships with musicians, audiences and a wider community. Arts leadership helps those relationships grow into opportunities to participate.
Meet an orchestra’s executive director ↗A friendship or a piece of writing can become part of an artist’s work. The story behind a composition can reveal connections that the finished music alone cannot tell us.
Discover the story of Ode to the Sea ↓
From the journal / Creative friendship
The story behind the score
A composition can begin long before the first rehearsal. For R. Wayne Walters, the story behind Ode to the Sea is also a story of creative friendship.
In Masterwork’s September conversation, Walters and Father Kenneth E. Lasch reflect on the friendship and written inspiration behind the work, following the connections between a letter, memory, the sea and music.
The Morris Choral Society performed Ode to the Sea at Masterwork’s anniversary celebration, where Walters received the Foundation’s first A Life in the Arts Award.
Read the story behind the musicContinue with the R. Wayne Walters interview ↗The first A Life in the Arts Award
Masterwork recognized R. Wayne Walters at its 65th Anniversary Celebration, honoring his contribution to performance, composition and education.
A former Masterwork board member and founder of the Morris Choral Society, Walters is part of the Foundation’s own story as well as the musical life of the wider community.
Explore the celebration
Dorothy Darlington
A professional oboist’s path from the Adirondacks to the Masterwork Orchestra and the Marine Corps Band adds another perspective to the collection.
Explore more of Masterwork’s conversations on its YouTube channel, or ask the Foundation about a particular interview.
Experience remembered. Possibility supported.
Masterwork preserves the experience of creative lives while helping artists and organizations take their next step. Discover the work being supported, or become part of what makes it possible.