Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
photo: Ann Marsden

For the last nine years The Minnesota Orchestra, in partenrship with the American Composers Forum and the American Music Center, has presented the Composer Institute, a week-long immersion into the world of a major symphony orchestra. This year, seven composers were chosen for this program, which culminated in a live performance on November 21, 2009, at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, under Osmo Vänskä's direction, of a full concert program of new orchestra works by Angel Lam, Spencer Topel, Roger Zare, Fernando Buide, Kathryn Salfelder, Carl Schimmel, and Geoff Knorr.

This year, The Minnesota Orchestra has generously agreed to allow audio file recordings this seasons' entire Future Classics/Composer Institute concert to be streamed online by Minnesota Public Radio for one week only beginning today.

Click below to access these audio files.

An overview of the Forum's programs, participants, and funders for Fiscal Year 2009 (July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009) -- now available as a PDF download.

Video documentation of some of our programs.

The Forum's newsletter is distributed to around 3000 members and friends every other month.

You are inivited to subscribe to a new weekly series of podcast conversations with artists on the innova Recordings label. The first show has been posted to iTunes and it features California electroacoustic composer Barry Schrader. Each week is a different composer so please keep listening. It will automatically download to your computer for your listening pleasure, and you can also synch up your iPod and take the show with you as you jog. Just go to: http://innova.mu/podcast.html

A list of some of the features on various media, including compact discs, radio, and the ACF website that have appeared in the Forum's newsletter, Sounding Board, over the past few years.

McNally Smith College of Music Students Compose Music to Works by Twin Cities Artists

Art inspires other art. And when it inspired the aspiring musicians of the McNally Smith College of Music, the effect was something greater than either the visual art or music composition as the public will see and hear in the college's gallery space, February 25 through April 30, 2010.

Please join us as we celebrate the 35^th anniversary of the American Composers Forum.

As members of the new music community, you are the reason ACF exists. On this anniversary we want to hear from you. Post a video to YouTube about your experiences with ACF!


For details, click on the link below.

ACF Philadelphia's Community Partners: Film Composers Edition provides direct support to composers for production of a film score for a new film that highlights Philadelphia communities, cultures, or history, such as: films highlighting, depicting or otherwise involving Philadelphia communities or individuals within those communities; films of specific interest to Philadelphia communities, but not necessarily directly about the community; films that highlight some aspect of Philadelphia's history or cultural heritage; films that highlight an influential or overlooked individual or community group whose work has impacted Philadelphia communities; films that are fictional, depicting an individual, community, or political or cultural issue, if it relates directly to Philadelphia and its communities.

Individual composers in the Philadelphia region are eligible to apply. Application deadline is May 31, 2010 (postmark)

The Forum's daily two-minute radio show, reminding you that "all music was once new."

innova® is the label of the American Composers Forum, and one of the fastest-growing indie labels in the country.

Where are we going? And what are we doing? All in Good Measure (aka Measure For Measure), a weekly series of online audio conversations, takes a fresh look at the world of making new music for a new world. Through candid, in-depth interviews with leading thinkers in a variety of related fields, listeners will gain new perspectives on issues that face artists today and learn ways to adapt for survival.

ACF's "Minnesota Voices" project is featured prominently in a new Twin Cities PublicTelevision documentary entitled Never Stop Singing. Noted musicians Dominick Argento, Anton Armstrong, Philip Brunelle, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Dale Warland and others share their passion for the choral art, along with performance excerpts featuring VocalEssence and other Minnesota choirs.

The new documentary airs on tptMN (KTCA-Digital TV channel 2.2) on June 7 (8pm), June 8 (2am, 8 am, and 2 pm), July 5 (7:30 pm), and July 6 (1:30 am. 7:30 am, and 1:30 pm), and on tptLIFE (KTCI-Digital TV channel 2.3) on July 12 (1 pm).

You can view a preview video clip, see additional photos, and read testimonials at the Never Stop Singing website:
http://www.neverstopsinging.org/

New Music Philadelphia is a Webcast that features the music of composers active in the Greater Philadelphia Area. The station serves as a hub for hearing new music being created in and around the city of Philadelphia. While attending concerts is essential for the support of new music composers, a web-based showcase offers greater, more consistent access to new music disseminated around the city and the internet.