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Music programs commission new music for students

Contributed by: Ellen Christianson on 11/27/2008

The Colorado Wind Ensemble Commissioning Consortium announces the creation of a new composition, Hold this Boy and Listen, by commissioned composer Carter Pann.

The CWE Commissioning Consortium is made up of the Colorado Wind Ensemble and eleven Colorado school music programs and their band directors: Arapahoe High School-Ed Cannava, Arvada West High School-Craig Melhorn, Cherry Creek High School-Tim Libby, Elizabeth High School-Nick Bidinger, Golden High School-Bill Graves, Legacy High School-Clayton Stansberry, Loveland High School-Matthew Arau and Aaron Vogel, Prescott Junior High School-Andrea Hollenbeck, Rocky Mountain High School-Casey Cropp and Scott Schlup, Summit High School-Erik Johnson, and Thornton High School-Cody Gifford.


Creating high quality compositions for school band programs

The CWE Commissioning Consortium is the brainchild of CWE conductor and musical director Matthew Roeder. Through his work as associate director of bands at the University of Colorado, Roeder is in frequent contact with school band directors across the state and makes it his business to stay in touch with the needs of school programs. He has found that, though there is quite a lot of music published for younger bands, most of it is "unfortunately, lacking in depth," and that many educators share his concern. His idea was to develop a consortium of directors and their music programs that would garner the resources to commission top-notch composers to create quality works of art for the repertoire on an ongoing basis. Roeder believed that the Colorado Wind Ensemble was the right organization to lead this effort due to its dedication to the performance of high quality wind band literature and to the educational advancement of student wind and percussion performers. In addition to its involvement in the consortium, the CWE performs a full and varied concert season, conducts educational outreach in Colorado schools, and has a free ticket program for school band students.


Selecting renowned composers

The first commissioned composer was Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Colgrass, who composed Mysterious Village for the consortium in 2007. For the current commission, Roeder selected Grammy nominee Carter Pann. The participating consortium directors jumped at the opportunity to commission a composer of Carter Pann's quality. Pann, a current composition faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has quickly become one of the hottest composers for wind ensembles and bands in the world and is one of the most versatile talents among composers of his generation. His piece entitled Slalom has been widely performed by professional and collegiate ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. Roeder says, "Carter's fantastic spirit and creative energy that is such a large part of Slalom and his other major compositions for wind ensemble ( Four Factories, The Wrangler, American Child, Concerto Logic) was attractive to me."

Pann, who has composed for numerous musical genres, was equally excited about the opportunity to create a new piece for winds that would be playable by schools yet enjoyable for professionals. "It's extremely rewarding to write for the wind ensembles around the country. I know, even before the work is halfway finished, that it will grow longer legs than most other types of projects I work on...the bands are so willing, even eager, to work closely with the composer."


Premiering the new piece

The consortium members have received the new piece, and will have the opportunity to present a premiere performance. As an added bonus to being a part of the consortium, member institutions can have the composer in residence at their school to work with their band students on the composition.

The first performance of the work will be presented by the Colorado Wind Ensemble on its Holidays for Winds concert on Saturday, December 13, in Littleton. For more information on the premiere, please visit the CWE website at www.coloradowindensemble.org.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Ellen Christianson

Denver , CO

Ellen Christianson has posted 10 stories and 0 comments since joining on 3/1/2006. Ellen Christianson 's average story rating is 4.
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