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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Founding a Forum for Composers Charter members Carol Barnett, Libby Larsen, and Stephen Paulus reflect on the early years of The American Composers Forum, an organization begun on the University of Minnesota's campus in 1973 as "The Minnesota Composers Forum" By Susan Barbieri and John Michel O n September 24, 2010, the American Composers Forum presented a gala concert and reception in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in honor of its 35th year of official incorporation in 1975. The music programmed for that event was chamber works by three of the founding members of the Forum — SAI Honorary member Carol Barnett, Member Laureate Libby Larsen, and Composers Bureau member Stephen Paulus. The same three works had also been played on a significant public concert given by the Forum at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis on October 19, 1973, during the very first year of the organization's existence, and two years before the Forum's formal incorporation. As is customary at all such anniversary events, old and new members of the Forum shared memories and offered their own assessments of how the organization has developed since the 1970's. Originally a local, Minnesota-based assemblage of a few dozen composers, the "Minnesota" Composers Forum has grown into a national "American" Composers Forum, with close to 2000 members in all 50 states, plus a few ex-pat composers living abroad. Despite being a national organization with a diverse membership, the Forum is still firmly based in Minnesota, and, despite the protestations from its founding members that they had no such intentions at the time, some of the "Minnesota" Composers Forum early regional projects seem to foreshadow many of the "American" Composers Forum's national initiatives and program offerings today. Although founded by graduate students in the Four key members of the Forum, circa 1977 (left to right): Randall Davidson, Stephen Paulus, Monte Mason, and Libby Larsen. composition program at the University of Minnesota, from its earliest days the Forum has been an organization rewarding role for themselves as creative artists in their communities. that sought audiences and opportunities for composers outside the In 1973, these goals became a mission born of necessity for the Forum's academic world. The aforementioned October 19, 1973, Forum concert founding members. They realized there was no model for a "working was significant in this regard, as it was the first major concert the fledgling composer" at that time who was not either a) already famous or b) a organization presented outside the campus of the University of Minnesota. teacher. Quite simply, the challenge for these young Midwestern composers Then, as now, emerging student composers needed to get their music was how to craft a satisfying life as a composer and find audiences for their performed and noticed. They needed opportunities to practice and refine music once they left the university. their craft, and – ideally – upon graduation to find a productive and "Wherever I went," recalled Larsen, "I ran into bitter teaching The "Minnesota" Composers Forum has grown into a national "American" Composers Forum, with close to 2,000 members in all 50 states, plus a few ex-pat composers living abroad. 14 PAN PIPES WINTER 2011 sai-national.org

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