By Beth Cowart, Minnesota Orchestra
Photographs by Greg Helgeson

From October 25 through 31, 2002, the Forum and the Minnesota Orchestra, in cooperation with The American Music Center, held the second annual Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute. A comprehensive reworking of the Orchestra and the Forum's Perfect Pitch reading sessions, the Institute provides up to nine composers with a week of seminars and readings of their works by the Minnesota Orchestra. - Ed.

Halloween at the Composer Institute: (l to r) Christopher Dietz, composer; Andriana Macres, Orchestra artistic planning intern and Composer Institute assistant; Michael Twomey, composer; Orianna Webb, composer; Aaron Jay Kernis; Assistant Conductor Scott Terrell; AMC New Music Information Specialist Lyn Liston; Russell Platt, composer; Todd Coleman, composer; Beth Cowart (in Halloween wig); Lu Pei, composer; Erich Stem, composer; Jorja Fleezanis, concertmaster; Nathan Stumpff, composer; and Forum Director of Chapters Bob Peskin.

(Sounding Board, January 2003) Managing the Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable endeavors I've been involved in during my 16 years working for major orchestras. It's hard to know if projects like this gravitate to me or if I do to them - it's likely a mixture of both - but I am grateful for the chance to focus on a collaboration with the potential to affect and enhance the creation of American orchestral music.

A major expansion of our six annual Perfect Pitch reading sessions, the Institute consists of three orchestral reading sessions and roughly 25 seminars and workshops on the business and art of composing. The goal is to give composers a weeklong immersion into the world of a major American orchestra. The topics include things composers need to know but don't necessarily get in music school, ranging from copyright law, legal issues, promotion, self publishing, and union regulations to music preparation, copying, public speaking skills, and community residencies. The program also provides rare opportunities for composers and orchestral musicians to work closely together over an extended period of time. Advanced instrumental seminars, one-on-one consultations, and countless impromptu discussions take place throughout the week.

Of course, it's not just the workshop topics but also the rare gathering of talented and passionately devoted people that make the week so special. Really, I ask you: Where else would you find a music copyright attorney, program note annotator, community music school director, music librarian, Web developer, new-music information specialist, community-residency expert, prominent concertmaster, public speaking coach, orchestra personnel manager, educational residency facilitator, and the head of BMI or ASCAP under one roof? And that list doesn't even mention the preeminent orchestral musicians, who work diligently to learn and play new works by the composers.

The program came about with the idea of merging the resources and expertise of the three participating organizations. Its success is a result of the vision and generosity of Linda Hoeschler and her Forum colleagues, and the knowledge and experience of Lyn Liston and those associated with the American Music Center (AMC).

The author (left) with Institute Chairman Aaron Jay Kernis.

My dear friend and co-conspirator, composer Aaron Jay Kernis, who serves as Institute chair and mentor, deserves kudos for his steadfast advocacy of new music and fellow composers. He clearly derives a great deal of satisfaction from being an active participant in the music community, through many avenues in addition to the Institute; I think that his steadfast involvement must, in some way, have a beneficial effect on his own beautiful and singular voice as a composer.

In the months leading up to the event, we hold brainstorming sessions and planning meetings during Aaron's trips to Minnesota. (He serves as new music advisor for the Minnesota Orchestra, and in this role he travels here frequently to do pre-concert talks whenever we perform a new or recent work.) We solicit goals and ideas from the Forum, AMC, and Minnesota Orchestra staffs, and begin the task of shaping the seminars. The Forum sends out guidelines and logs the applications as they arrive from across the country. Aaron works with a judging panel to carefully select the participants and alternates.

The final weeks of planning are a 24/7 effort for Aaron and me, marked by long phone conversations and even longer hours. By the grace of a custom-made (and indispensable) computer program designed by Orchestra Management Solutions, Aaron and I develop and edit the complex schedule details simultaneously from our respective homes and offices in New York and Minnesota. At this point, the lion's share of our attention goes toward turning the goals and ideas into a finalized list of workshops, lining up presenters, and matching presenters' schedules with that of the Institute. We aim to maximize the use of everyone's time and achieve a balance (however delicate, if not impossible, it may be) between our ambitiously long list of desired topics and a sane, manageable pace through the week. Nearly as important as the workshops, seminars, and mentoring sessions are a few strategically scheduled social events and outings to the local theater, pool hall, or bowling alley.

Composer Erich Stem (left, with microphone) works with the Minnesota Orchestra during a reading session.

The three organizations collaborate on a huge amount of organizational details. We create evaluation forms for both the orchestra players and composers; arrange air, hotel, and ground transportation for the composers and presenters; produce a program booklet with bios and program notes; prepare the stage crew, production assistants, and room setup staff; and coordinate various handouts, welcome packets, and meals. Press releases are sent out, and the public is invited to the composer talks and reading sessions. The combined effort is substantial, but the payoff is big.

The most immediate reward for all this work comes from simply sensing the thrill of the composers as they hear their works performed by a "top ten" orchestra. It's equally gratifying to hear how the Institute enables composers to connect to the professional world in a way they hadn't thought possible. Some have called it the most significant event of their musical educations.

Composers thank the orchestra with enthusiastic applause at the close of the reading session.

From my perspective, the Institute is not only a boon to the creativity and careers of composers, but an investment in the Orchestra's future as well. We all look forward to the new and inspired orchestral compositions that will come from past and future participants. The program cultivates creation of the music itself, and is an innovative and forward-thinking endeavor for any orchestra - yet it seems perfectly natural for an orchestra such as ours, with its long history of commitment to new music. I feel that both the Minnesota Orchestra and the musical community benefit from this program. Perhaps the Composer Institute will inspire other orchestras to develop similar programs providing composers with information and interaction they may not find elsewhere. New music, relevant to today's audiences, is absolutely necessary to assure the future health of the art form.

Beth Cowart is the Artistic Planning Associate and OMS Project Leader for the Minnesota Orchestral Association. When she's not coordinating the Institute, she keeps herself busy managing conductor communications, administering the commissioning of new works, coordinating season and concert information flow, collaborating on a new integrated orchestra management software system called OMS, and helping with the logistics of rehearsals and concerts.

The next Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute will be held October 25-31, 2003. more information