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Get involved by joining one of the active commissioning consortia below!
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What is a COMMISSIONING CONSORTIUM?
When a composer wants to write a new piece (or is requested to write a new piece), they are generally pre-paid a partial fee by one or many ensembles who want to perform the piece upon completion - the composer then receives the remainder of the fee when the piece is finished. This fee helps to support the composer’s livelihood for the months (or years!) it takes to compose and prepare the piece for performance. A consortium happens when institutions, ensembles, and private individuals chip in to help a composer reach their commissioning fee. This allows the consortium members to support the work of the composer and receive first access to the piece upon completion - a feat most cannot afford to do individually.
Consortium member ensembles are entitled to “first performance rights” meaning that one member (usually the “consortium head ensemble”) will give the piece its world premiere. The other ensembles in the consortium then usually hold exclusivity for a set amount of time to perform their country/region/state, etc. premieres. After exclusivity expires, the composer may choose to publish and sell or rent the piece to any other ensemble. Consortium member ensembles and directors are listed in the pre-score information of the musical score. This is a great way to support composers directly and redirect your budget toward diversity work.
WIND BAND CONSORTIA
ARARAT: Rhapsody for the Armenian Diaspora
Composer: Michael Kerbeykian-Mikulka
Instrumentation: Wind Band
Difficulty: 5 (Advanced)
Duration: 12’
Buy-In: $150 (due by March 11th, 2024)
Delivery: Electronic PDF (delivered March 13th, 2024)
Consortium Exclusivity: Exclusivity through December 31st, 2024.
To Register: Buy-in to the consortium HERE or contact Michael HERE.
“Ararat: Rhapsody for the Armenian Diaspora” will be a ~12 minute band piece (Grade 5 difficulty) based primarily on the musical traditions that ethnic Armenians have built in the US and other areas outside of the present boundaries of Armenia. Many Armenian songs begin with a slow, lyrical, improvisatory solo called a taksim. “Ararat” will begin with such a solo: it was written with the duduk in mind, though it is scored for either soprano saxophone, oboe, or muted trumpet. Solo parts will also be provided for duduk and other traditional Armenian instruments in case a performer on one of those instruments is available.
Armenian weddings often entail music played by the zurna (a piercingly loud and nasal double reed) and dhol (a large two-headed drum). Also common at celebrations is the tamzara, a lively dance in 9/8. Both of these styles of music will be depicted in “Ararat”. Armenian music in the band world almost exclusively consists of arrangements of folk songs transcribed and/or composed by Komitas Vardapet. While Komitas is venerated by Armenians, many other gusans and ashughs (such as Sayat Nova, Sheram, Shahen, and Grigor Narekatsi) have also written beautiful folk melodies. “Ararat” will contain original folk melodies influenced by their music.
Russia’s invasion of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in 1920 and the ensuing Sovietization led some Armenian composers to write classical music: Aram Khachaturian is the most famous, but composers such as Alexander Arutiunian, Sirvart Karamanuk, and Alan Hovhaness also wrote wonderful Armenia-influenced music in the Western tradition. Their scoring and harmonic language will influence this work. Due primarily to the Hamidian Massacres of the 1890s and the Armenian Genocide of 1915-17, the majority of ethnic Armenians now live outside of Armenia. Four of my great-grandparents fled to the US from Diyarbakir and Malatya: cities in present-day Turkey that were historically heavily Armenian. A common rhythm in those regions was the curcuna (3+2+2+3/8): that rhythm is still quite popular among the Armenian diaspora, and it will be utilized in “Ararat”.
In the US, the diaspora created kef music (party music), which fused Armenian music with elements of jazz. Kef became very popular among the Armenian diaspora, headlined by groups such as The Vosbikian Band, The Nor-Ikes, and my personal favorite, Kef Time Band. Pan-Armenian and Pan-Middle-Eastern music became more common as well. These will all be heavy influences on “Ararat”. Like most other musical traditions in the WANA region, traditional Armenian music is often based around makams, which are often compared to scales but have several significant differences. “Ararat” will utilize several common makams, such as Huseyni, Hicaz, Hicazkar, and Kurdi. There will be sections in “Ararat” that have quarter tones, though they will be used in a limited and practical way for each instrument and precise intonation in these sections will be neither a necessity nor a benefit. Mount Ararat is perhaps the most enduring symbol of Armenia, but it stands in present-day Turkey. My hope is that (like Ararat), even though this composition currently exists outside the boundaries of the country of Armenia, it will still be instantly identifiable to Armenians as something that is our own: full of fiery expressive passion, deep soulful mournfulness, and intensely energetic resilient joy.
Commissioning Native American Composers
Composer: Lyz Jaakola
Instrumentation: Wind Band
Difficulty: 2 pieces (a Grade 2 and a Grade 3-3.5)
Duration: Grade 2: 4’; Grade 3-3.5: 6’
Buy-In: $100 each or $175 for both pieces (due date April 1, 2024)
Delivery: Electronic PDF (delivered by September 15th, 2024)
Consortium Exclusivity: Through June 30th, 2025
To Register: Buy-in to the consortium HERE.
Musician and Cultural Educator, Lyz Jaakola, also known as Nitaa-Nagamokwe, is an enrolled Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Tribal member who intertwines making art, music and educating. Lyz has been fulfilling cultural protocol by “paying it forward” through teaching for the last 31 years while also singing in various styles and venues such as traditional women’s hand drum circles, activist marches, jazz stages in the twin cities or local opera, choral or blues performances. A reservation-based performer, Lyz often works to bring others with her on stage and into the “limelight”, such as her mash-up band #theindianheadband, a women’s hand drum group Oshkii Giizhik Singers, or at her Tribal College’s Ojibwemowining Digital Arts Studio. Although very busy teaching, singing, making videos or parenting 3 wonderful children, she manages to find some time to write, record and produce original work sometimes shares it live or on the internet. More recent projects are composing an opera celebrating Zitkala-sa,( a Dakota woman activist, composer and educator) and performing at Kennedy Center in 2022. Receiving recognition as a Native Nation Rebuilder, AICF Faculty of the Year (2018), Arrowhead Regional Arts Council George Morrison Artist Award (2014), Ordway’s Sally Award for Arts Educators (2013), and First People’s Fund Community Spirit Award (2012). Lyz will be the first to say that any honor belongs to her husband, family, and community, because of their generous support and encouragement and to our ancestors for all they have endured and retained so that we may be Anishinaabe.
LOVE & NATURE
Composer: Gala Flagello
Instrumentation: Wind Band
Difficulty: 4-5 (Medium-Advanced to Advanced)
Duration: 10’ (in 3 movements)
Buy-In: $300 (due by May 1st, 2024)
Delivery: Electronic PDF (delivered June 1st, 2024)
Consortium Exclusivity: 1 year exclusivity - until June 1, 2025. UIUC Hindsley Symphonic Band will premiere in Fall 2024 and will notify consortium members as soon as the final date is decided. Performances before UIUC's are allowed, as long as the performance is listed as a "preview performance." Otherwise, following the world premiere, performances can be listed as "consortium premiere."
To Register: Buy-in to the consortium HERE.
Kim Fleming and the University of Illinois lead the wind band consortium for Gala Flagello’s new work, Love & Nature. This 10-minute, Grade 4-5 piece will explore how love prevails through cosmic lore, social movements, and mercurial mythos. Each of the work's three movements will connect a different instrumental soundworld to the concepts of earth, water, and air, depicting a blossoming of kindness and hope for the future of our planet.
TO THE STARS
Composer: Stephanie Plautz
Instrumentation: Wind Band
Difficulty: 4 (Medium-Advanced)
Duration: 6-9’
Buy-In: $150 (due by July 1st, 2024)
Delivery: Electronic PDF (delivered September 1st, 2024)
Consortium Exclusivity: Exclusivity through September 1st, 2025 (world premiere right is currently open).
To Register: Contact Stephanie HERE.
With a strong percussion emphasis, To the Stars will feature 1-3 woodwind soloists to open up the work. Lyrical, yet empowering, the beginning of To The Stars will create sparkly woodwind and keyboard instrument runs to lift listeners from their dreams to make them a reality!
Expect at 5-8+ percussion members, with at least half of the percussionists being on mallet instruments. 3-4 mallet moments may be written.
Brass members will expect lyrical melodies that soar over the woodwinds. Brass members potentially will have muted moments (Trumpet and Trombone), fanfare moments, and exquisite lines that they will love to perform. While not determined, there may be a brass solo.
as the moon runs red
Composer: Angela Elizabeth Slater
Instrumentation: Wind Band
Difficulty: 6 (Professional)
Duration: 20’ (in 3 movements)
Buy-In: £500 / $604 / €573 for professional wind orchestras/wind ensembles
£250 / $302 / €286 for university and academic institutions
(due by February 1st, 2025)
Delivery: Electronic PDF (delivered December 15th, 2024)
Consortium Exclusivity: Exclusivity through December 31st, 2027 following the world premiere.
To Register: Buy-in to the consortium by contacting Angela HERE.
The proposed trumpet concerto is a piece written by UK-based composer, Angela Elizabeth Slater, for Simon Desbruslais. The work expands upon the ideas of an earlier solo written for Desbruslais entitled As the moon runs red. Slater has always had ambitions to extend and develop this piece beyond a purely solo work as it lends itself to scale, force, and exchange of timbral color between the soloist and wind ensemble.
The solo work is based upon a lunar eclipse; a natural phenomenon where the Earth blocks the light of the sun from reaching the moon. As the moon passes behind the Earth, the colors with the shortest light lengths, such as the violet and blue light, are scattered as they travel through the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving only the longer wavelengths, such as orange and red. This results in the moon appearing a deep red color from the longer wavelengths. The concerto would explore this idea further; removing each of the colors to change the harmony, gestural language, and timbral character of the music with each shift and refocusing.
