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Chicago Composers Forum gives rookies a shot at the bigs.
When arts patron Betty Freeman died last month at the age of 87, the vast outpouring of memorials on music critics’ and performers’ blogs was heartening. Contemporary-music supporters are often the scene’s most undervalued players—and they’re needed more than ever during this economic meltdown. Having celebrated its fifth birthday in January, the Chicago Composers Forum has been quietly nourishing the city’s vibrantly youthful new-music culture. Funded by the Alphawood and Donnelley foundations and city arts programs, CCF bestows about $100,000 per year on aspiring composers. The org aims to help new composers get their works performed by nationally recognized ensembles.
Thirty-five-year-old composer Ryan Ingebritsen, a Minneapolis native who knows the challenges of winging it on his own, says CCF has been responsible for connecting him with the right company. “Chicago can be a tough city to break into if you’re coming from the outside,” he says, reflecting on his move here in 2002. A live-music sound engineer by day, Ingebritsen says it’s not hard to conceive the format of a concert; dealing with venues, promotion and performers is the real headache. On Saturday 7, at Packer Schopf Gallery, CCF hooks up Ingebritsen with drumming legends Third Coast Percussion to play his electronic work Il Creazione Di Un Piccolo Universe. A U.S. premiere, this five-channel speaker work that combines both sampled and live drum sounds was written in Poland in 2001, while Ingebritsen studied on a Fulbright scholarship. In addition, fellow composers Chris Preissing and Stephen Syverud will debut pieces.
“Composing music is such a lonely process,” says Kate Dumbleton, CCF’s executive director and sole paid staffer. “These people don’t spend a lot of time networking.” In addition to public performances, informal workshops of opuses in progress allow composers to hear a composition in its infant stages. Ingebritsen feels composers “have to stay connected to what other composers are doing and be able to exchange creative ideas.” For an annual membership fee of $45 ($25 for students), budding scoresmiths have their compositions submitted to various musical groups. From there, those ensembles select the works they want to play, whether in a workshop or bona fide performance.
Dumbleton, 42, expresses frustration with the term composer. These architects of imaginary landscapes don’t have to come from academia; there are those without conservatory sheepskins who blur genres through experimentation or even improvisation. Moreover, she wants to bring back a greater recognition to these musical creators. “The audience’s experience is so often the ensemble or the performer, leaving the composer marginalized,” says the part-time instructor of arts administration at the School of the Art Institute. “People always come out of a concert saying, ‘What an amazing orchestra!’ We need to work on that.” CCF insists composers attend each performance so that they’re visible and able to answer questions—or just to hear your rapturous applause.
CCF presents works of Ryan Ingebritsen and four other composers Saturday 7 at Packer Schopf Gallery.
