Looking at the record. (Composer Commissioning).(history of composer commissioning program)

One of the established goals of the MTNA Composer Commissioning Advisory Committee is to improve visibility, awareness and participation in the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program. When the committee met last March at the MTNA National Conference in Cincinnati, they suggested I write a column about the scope and breadth of the program.

I wasn't sure exactly how to proceed. Finally, I decided to just look at the record and, of course, that means knowing some history.

MTNA began the Composer Commissioning Program in 1969, when four states participated. Since the beginning the mission of the program has remained the same, i.e. to encourage the creation of new works by American composers by annually providing funding to the affiliated state associations for the generation and performance of new music.

In the past few years, approximately thirty-two states have participated in the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program. So just how many pieces of American music have been created under the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program?

Since its inception, forty-seven different states have participated in the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program, creating nearly 800 new American compositions. This alone seems like evidence of the scope and breadth of the program. Looking further at the record, there are fifteen states (California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Washington) that have participated in the program every year for the past ten years.

In 1969, the Distinguished Composer of the Year Award also was established as part of the Composer Commissioning Program. Thirty-two composers have been selected to receive this honor. I talked with a couple former distinguished composers to garner their thoughts on the impact and influence of the program. Elisenda Fabregas comments:

 
   It was a great honor to be the 2000 MTNA-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of 
   the Year for my solo piano work, Portraits I. The most immediate benefit of 
   the award was an increased national visibility.... The MTNA award also 
   refocused my attention into piano writing. I have recently completed Album 
   for the Young, a three-volume collection of thirty-four pieces for the 
   early to late-intermediate level. ...