American Composers Forum
Encyclopedia
The American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composer
s and their music
. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul
, Minnesota
, United States. Its mission is "to connect composers with communities and to encourage the making, playing, and enjoyment of new music."
The Forum was founded as the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 by a group of University of Minnesota graduate students — including Libby Larsen
and Stephen Paulus
— with a $400 grant from the University’s Student Club Activities Fund. In 1996, the organization changed it name to the American Composers Forum, and established chapters in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Today, the Forum acts as the umbrella national organization for locally funded chapters in Minnesota
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1453 (based in Saint Paul), Philadelphiahttp://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1457, and the San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1407, in addition to volunteer-led chapters in New York City
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1456 and Los Angeles
http://www.composers.la/. In 2007, the organization partnered with the American Music Center
http://www.amc.net/ in extending membership to current composition students attending six affiliated academic institutions: Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Yale University. The Forum's current annual budget for fiscal year 2008 is $1.8 million. It currently has over 1700 active members in all 50 states, Canada, and several other countries.
Forum members pay annual dues that are used to fund networking and informational services, such as the Forum's website http://www.composersforum.org and bimonthly newsletter, Sounding Board.http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=1670§ion=media The Forum also funds national and local commissioning projects, as well as offers programs for individual composers and performers of new music. These projects and programs are funded by grants from government agencies, corporate and private foundations, and individual contributions.
Current Forum programs include Continental Harmony,http://www.continentalharmony.org/, a national, community-based commissioning program; Faith Partners,http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=1796§ion=commissions a residency program that pairs multiple communities of faith with a composer of their choice; BandQuest
,http://www.bandquest.org./ a program that supports the creation of new work for middle-level concert bands by contemporary composers such as Michael Colgrass http://www.michaelcolgrass.com/, Michael Daughertyhttp://www.michaeldaugherty.net, Jennifer Higdon http://www.jenniferhigdon.com/, Tania Léon http://www.tanialeon.com/, and Gunther Schuller http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=1400; Composers Datebook,http://composersdatebook.publicradio.org, a daily two-minute radio feature integrating contemporary composers into the continuum of classical music history; and Innova Recordings, a compact disc label that issues more than two dozen releases of new music each year. In co-operation with the American Music Center http://www.amc.net/ and the Minnesota Orchestra
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org, the Forum also offers an annual Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_programs_detail.cfm?oid=8911§ion=&programoid=1811, an intensive, week-long series of professional workshops and career seminars for emerging composers, culminating in a public concert of their works performed by the Minnesota Orchestra and its music director, Osmo Vänskä
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/osmo2/, at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
In 2006 the Forum launched its First Nations Composer Initiative
http://www.fnci.org/, developed in partnership with the Ford Foundation
. This program aims to establish a national infrastructure for American Indian composers and performers, increase the visibility of these artists in both Native and non-Native communities, and create new opportunities for their work.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s and their music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States. Its mission is "to connect composers with communities and to encourage the making, playing, and enjoyment of new music."
The Forum was founded as the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 by a group of University of Minnesota graduate students — including Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...
and Stephen Paulus
Stephen Paulus
Stephen Paulus is an American composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His best-known piece is his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, one of several operas he has written for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which prompted The New York Times to call him "a young man on the road...
— with a $400 grant from the University’s Student Club Activities Fund. In 1996, the organization changed it name to the American Composers Forum, and established chapters in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Today, the Forum acts as the umbrella national organization for locally funded chapters in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1453 (based in Saint Paul), Philadelphiahttp://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1457, and the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1407, in addition to volunteer-led chapters in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1456 and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
http://www.composers.la/. In 2007, the organization partnered with the American Music Center
American Music Center
The American Music Center is a non-profit organization which aims to promote the creating, performing, and enjoying new American music. The organization was founded in 1939 by composers Marion Bauer, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Harrison Kerr, Otto Luening, and Quincy Porter.The organization has a...
http://www.amc.net/ in extending membership to current composition students attending six affiliated academic institutions: Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Yale University. The Forum's current annual budget for fiscal year 2008 is $1.8 million. It currently has over 1700 active members in all 50 states, Canada, and several other countries.
Forum members pay annual dues that are used to fund networking and informational services, such as the Forum's website http://www.composersforum.org and bimonthly newsletter, Sounding Board.http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=1670§ion=media The Forum also funds national and local commissioning projects, as well as offers programs for individual composers and performers of new music. These projects and programs are funded by grants from government agencies, corporate and private foundations, and individual contributions.
Current Forum programs include Continental Harmony,http://www.continentalharmony.org/, a national, community-based commissioning program; Faith Partners,http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=1796§ion=commissions a residency program that pairs multiple communities of faith with a composer of their choice; BandQuest
BandQuest
BandQuest is a series of band music for middle-level band commissioned and published by the American Composers Forum, a national non-profit composer service organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota...
,http://www.bandquest.org./ a program that supports the creation of new work for middle-level concert bands by contemporary composers such as Michael Colgrass http://www.michaelcolgrass.com/, Michael Daughertyhttp://www.michaeldaugherty.net, Jennifer Higdon http://www.jenniferhigdon.com/, Tania Léon http://www.tanialeon.com/, and Gunther Schuller http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=1400; Composers Datebook,http://composersdatebook.publicradio.org, a daily two-minute radio feature integrating contemporary composers into the continuum of classical music history; and Innova Recordings, a compact disc label that issues more than two dozen releases of new music each year. In co-operation with the American Music Center http://www.amc.net/ and the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org, the Forum also offers an annual Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_programs_detail.cfm?oid=8911§ion=&programoid=1811, an intensive, week-long series of professional workshops and career seminars for emerging composers, culminating in a public concert of their works performed by the Minnesota Orchestra and its music director, Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Antero Vänskä is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer.He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic . He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982...
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/osmo2/, at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
In 2006 the Forum launched its First Nations Composer Initiative
First Nations Composer Initiative
The First Nations Composer Initiative is an organization dedicated to the promotion of new music by Native American composers. It is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States and affiliated with the American Composers Forum. Its Program Director is Georgia Wettlin-Larsen and its Advisors...
http://www.fnci.org/, developed in partnership with the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
. This program aims to establish a national infrastructure for American Indian composers and performers, increase the visibility of these artists in both Native and non-Native communities, and create new opportunities for their work.
See also
- First Nations Composer InitiativeFirst Nations Composer InitiativeThe First Nations Composer Initiative is an organization dedicated to the promotion of new music by Native American composers. It is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States and affiliated with the American Composers Forum. Its Program Director is Georgia Wettlin-Larsen and its Advisors...
- American Composers AllianceAmerican Composers AllianceThe American Composers Alliance is an American membership organization dedicated to the publishing and promoting of American contemporary classical music. Founded in 1937 by Aaron Copland, Milton Adolphus and others, it is the oldest national organization of its kind, and represents over 200...
- American Composers OrchestraAmerican Composers OrchestraThe American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...