alumni
113 MEMBERS, LEFT TO RIGHT: MICHAEL DUFFY, JEREMY WAGNER, ADAM ZAHLLER, COLLIN ARNESON, JOEY CRANE, TIFFANY SKIDMORE, BENJAMIN J. MANSAVAGE KLEIN, JEFFERY KYLE HUTCHINS, NANYI NEIL QIANG, JOSHUA MUSIKANTOW
Photo: 113 composers collective
profiles
People are fundamentally misunderstanding experimental music. The 113 Composers Collective exists precisely because the support and the context for it didn’t exist. “[People think] that it’s esoteric, nerdy stuff and that no one else cares about it, but that’s really not the case,” says artistic director Tiffany Skidmore. Case in point: Since 2012, the collective has presented more than 60 world premieres of notable global and local composers, and when 113 has put out calls for scores, they’ve received responses from around the globe. “When we say community, we really mean international,” Skidmore adds. Joey Crane, Sam K rahn, Joshua Musikantow, and Tiffany Skidmore are all School of Music alumni who saw the need for more experimental music programming, even as students.
COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE AIMS TO CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT AND EXPERIENCE EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC BY KATIE DOHMAN
“We realized that even though those opportunities weren’t available to us, we could make those opportunities,” Crane, 113’s executive director, says. “Things were happening for me when I graduated but I was ending up as a token avant garde piece and I don’t think that allowed people to hear my music in the right light,” Musikantow says. “But by making a group, people could listen to my music more carefully.” Skidmore says, “We’re creating a better context for much better work.” The focus on better access to performances and professional development begins to take care of the gigantic job of shifting the perspective for adults and professional composers and performers and creating a community for new music enthusiasts. But how do you change the misconceptions for new music generally?
FALL 2019 TUTTI MAGAZINE
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