Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Unique Commissioning Program: Season 2

The unique CLICK commissioning program, inaugurated last year by the Colorado Music Festival, has entered its second season.

Anyone can vote (by donating $10) for one of four composers. Thus all the voters both fund the commission and select the winning composer. In addition to joining a club to commission new music, voters will have their name inscribed on the score of the finished piece. The persons with the highest number of votes will have the piece dedicated to them.

Voting is now underway, the commission will be announced early this fall, and the new work will be premiered during CMF's 2012 season. The composers, with links to biographies and music excerpts, are:

Daniel Kellogg
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Mark Grey
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Kevin Puts
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Jay Greenberg
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Michael Christie, the Festival's adventurous Music Director, comments, “I'm thrilled that our audience was as intrigued by this commissioning project as I hoped. It's a unique program that micro-finances the creation of new works and gives the community a feeling of ownership. It's really a people's commission,” says Michael Christie.

Last year's winner, Patrick Zimmerli, had his commissioned piece premiered this season at CMF. You can listen to the full piece here, and read more here.

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Patrick Zimmerli (L) and Michael Christie

Voting closes on August 31.