FutureClassics Redux

This year's edition of the Composer Institute is now a week behind us, but those of you who missed the FutureClassics concert and want to hear some of the music that we were blogging about can now hear it online, courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio. The main audio player on this page has the entire concert in one continuous track, but if you want to listen to individual pieces, look for the list of repertoire in the center column.

Classical MPR announcer (and onetime professional flutist) Alison Young hosted the concert and interviewed each composer onstage just before his/her piece was performed. We've found that having a live host serves two important purposes: 1) giving the audience a chance to get some background on what to expect, as the pieces that make up the concert are usually quite diverse, and 2) giving the percussion section the time they need to change over their entire area of the stage, since massive percussion setups seem to be the new black with today's composers.

Nearly everyone I talked with (both in the orchestra and in the audience) agreed that the level of skill displayed by this year's Institute participants was the highest it's ever been, and that's saying something. The music ranged from effervescent to soaring to overwhelming, and I strongly suspect that more than one of them will be showing up on a Minnesota Orchestra program in the not-too-distant future...