When Princeton University senior Kathleen Bader thought seriously about her most advantageous career move after graduation, she came up with a surprising answer: spending a year alone in a desert.
As the winner of this year's Martin Dale Fellowship, she will have a chance to do just that. Bader, a music major, plans to rent an apartment in Tucson, Ariz., and work for a year composing music.
According to her teachers, it is likely to be time well spent. "She is a very, very talented composer," said professor of music Steven Mackey, who advised Bader on a junior paper as well as on her senior thesis, which involved a performance of her work on May 14. "She is unusual in my experience in that she has evolved a personal voice very early."
Bader, however, is not so confident of what Mackey sees. She has been accepted to her first-choice graduate program in music -- Duke University -- but has deferred for a year to work on a project she sums up as "me, finding myself." She said her time in Arizona will allow her to indulge "a desire to compose in isolation for a while."
"I am at a point where I have learned so much but I haven't internalized it yet, so having the time and the space to get everything worked out in the desert would be great," said Bader.
The full story is available in the Weekly Bulletin.
Contact: Eric Quinones (609) 258-3601
