Commission Projects

About commissions

The best way for concert music to survive and thrive is through the creation and promotion of new pieces. This is historically how the world of classical music has operated, and only recently has it changed its paradigm to one of constant recycling of older works. One way in which I have strived to help reverse this trend is by creating my own music - through either composition or improvisation - and teaching my students to do the same. Another is by serving as a catalyst to enable the music of worthy composers to come to life. This is what the commissioning process does. Sometimes, people have seeked me out to write a piece for me. Other times, a group of musicians get together to solicit composers to write new music for their instruments. One such formal group is the World-wide Concurrent Premieres and Commissioning Fund, Inc., headed by Kenneth Radnofsky. Piggy-backing off of this idea, I decided to organize a consortium of my own for a new saxophone concerto by the Pulitzer-winning composer Lewis Spratlan. If you are unfamiliar with the group-commissioning process, this is how it works:

How group commissioning works

The basic idea is that instead of one person getting all the credit (and shouldering all the financial burden) for commissioning a new work, it is spread out among multiple musicians. These musicians become co-commissioners, and their first performances of the new work become concurrent world premieres. Each musician puts a portion of the composer's fee, plus copying and mailing expenses, into the proverbial pot. In exchange for this, they get ownership of the score and parts, their name on the piece as a co-commissioner (good resumé-building material for graduate students or not-yet-tenured professors), and exclusive recording and performing rights for an agreed-upon time. The composer in turn gets a fair wage for his labor, a large number of performances world-wide in a short amount of time, and retains all publishing rights after the initial period of exclusivity has ended. It's a win-win situation. The performers get the satisfaction of commissioning a piece without having to take out a second mortgage, and the composer gets much more publicity and exposure for the piece than he otherwise would through the traditional commissioning process.

Becoming a co-commissioner

If this is something which interests and intrigues you, I am currently putting together a database of performers and composers to bring to fruition many more commissioning projects like the Spratlan concerto. I will soon have a web form for submitting contact information. In the meantime, please contact me using any of the contact information at the bottom of this page.

Current Projects

The current project, a saxophone concerto by Lewis Spratlan, is closed to new co-commissioners. However, if you are interested in buying this piece and would like to know more about the composer, a link to his website and sample tracks of his music are posted here.