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Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Commissioning program
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AFCM has a long tradition of including a contemporary work in practically every one of our concerts. However, the works included were mostly drawn from the first half of the 20th century and precious few later ones composed between 1945 and 1980. This was because of our feeling that a lot of these later works were non-melodic, thorny and forbidding. In other words, we felt that the "avant-garde" works, perhaps justified on an experimental, academic basis, were all too often certain to chase even our adventuresome audience away from the concert hall.
But, in the '80s, we started perceiving a change. Back to tonality, melody (in a very broad sense of the term), and a strong feeling of form and structure, and yet decidedly original and contemporary.
AFCM decided we wanted to be part this real renaissance in the art of Chamber Music composing. AFCM developed a frontier mentality to help the composers fray the edge of the chamber music envelope. We started our commissioning program in 1995. The first commissioned work was world premiered on February 26, 1997.
We gathered information from multiple sources. We formed a committee of 3 board members to evaluate all applications. Selection of composers is based on the commissioned piece's place in our season: Evening series, emerging musicians' series, or our Tucson Winter chamber Music festival. We consult with composers, musicians, the artistic director of our festival (Peter Rejto), our audience.
Our overriding concern is to present new music that would challenge, yet interest and please our sophisticated audience We want to bring people back-or welcome them for the first time-to the concert hall. We want them to find out that there is terrific chamber music composed today. We want them to feel the excitement of being part of this Chamber Music renaissance.
During the first twelve years of our commissioning program, between 1997 and 2009, we have premiered 40 new pieces, and we have contracts for 7 more through the 2011-2012 season, for a total of 47 pieces, ranging from a piano sonata to several quintets and a piece for seven instruments. Several new works have been truly outstanding and significant additions to the repertoire.
A couple works resulted from
the formation of commissioning consortiums. All other works have been
entirely commissioned by AFCM.
We invite individual audience members to become personally involved in
our commissioning program by sponsoring (i.e., underwriting) a specific
piece. The response has been extraordinary: ALL 41 our past and future
commissions over 12 years (1997 to 2009-2010) have been sponsored by our
audience (with the exception of one piece at the very beginning): individuals,
couples, small groups, friends, memorials, or estates. The names of the
sponsors appear in our programs, and also on the piece's score and on
CD inserts if a CD of it are produced
Composers are invited to participate in the final rehearsals and the premiere of their new piece, and are introduced to the audience, which has much appreciated this opportunity to meet a living composer. The composers are also invited to have a seminar with the students of the composition department of the University Of Arizona School Of Music.
Musicians tell us that they
have no knowledge of any other chamber music society in the U.S. or in
Europe with a similar commissioning program: functioning on a regular
basis, with such a significant number of commissions, and with sponsorship
entirely by the audience, without any outside source of funding. Our sponsors
are fully aware of the risk involved, but they also know that we exercise
extreme care in the selection process and devote a lot of hard work to
it. They understand that "this is the way many enduring masterpieces
come into the world and that they can leave behind something for the generations
to follow". It is their shot at immortality, or, at least, their
opportunity to be exposed to what is going on today in chamber music,
to participate in it through sponsorship, and so to help shape it for
the future.
It must be underlined that our commissioning program has been possible
only because of our close communication with our audience and our tradition
of progressive programming. We cannot emphasize enough how truly extraordinary
and generous our audience is for making possible such a significant contribution
to tomorrow's chamber music.
We hope that other chamber music societies will be inspired to join the effort and improve on it.
Jean-Paul Bierny, President,
AFCM
January 15, 2010
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