Dan Moretti will collaborate with Italian orchestra, “My plan with this project is to musically demonstrate how the African rhythmic and melodic influence can be used consciously to compose music what will move this traditionally influenced Italian concertina folk music to a non-traditional and innovative musical result determined by the organic nature of the compositional process,” Moretti explains. His plan will be carried out in collaboration with La Piccola Orchestra La Viola, which consists of 12 concertinas, an Italian percussion section, drums, bass, and vocals.

The fellowship will provide him with necessary resources to research, write, produce, record, edit, and promote the collaborative project, including a two-week trip to Italy for rehearsals and recording.

“The panel felt that Moretti – whom they described as ‘quite wonderful’ – distinguished himself from other applicants through his unique experimentation and playfulness in his works,” Kertzner explains.

Currently a professor in the contemporary writing and production department at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, Moretti earlier worked for the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music, Rhode Island School of Music, and the Providence School Department. In 1977, he earned an undergraduate degree in music education, arranging and composition from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH.

The fellowships’ namesakes, Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson, both were dedicated to the arts all their lives. Mrs. Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College when she was 70. Mr. Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry-making and then retired to become a fulltime painter.

Before he passed away in 1999, Johnson began discussions with The Rhode Island Foundation to design what has become a $1.2 million artist fellowship program in music composition, literature, and visual arts, offering among the highest no-strings awards in the nation, for Rhode Island-based artists.

Fellowships will enable recipients “to further their work”
“The Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowships are among the largest offered in the United States and provide significant financial support that enables artists to further their work,” states Daniel Kertzner, grant programs officer at the Foundation who, with Wanda Miglus, grant programs associate, administered the selection of MacColl Johnson Fellows. “The artists selected this year submitted work of the highest quality, and the fellowships will offer them a significant opportunity to further their artistic development. They echo the value the MacColl Johnsons placed on the role of artists in the community,” Kertzner notes.

The fellows and finalists were chosen from 41 applicants by a panel of four out-of-state jurors who are either recognized practicing composers or distinguished academics in the field. Applications were reviewed based on artistic vision and creative excellence, as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance the career of emerging to mid-career artists. Music composers with original compositions in chamber, choral, jazz, electronic, experimental, symphonic, opera, contemporary, nontraditional, world music genres, and musical theater were eligible for the fellowships.