Sigma Alpha Iota

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES composers who didn't have time to nurture their own creativity, the creative part which is the reason they entered the profession in the first place. And I didn't want to spend my life in that kind of environment." In retrospect, the energy, initiative, and altruism of the 20-something founders of the Forum during the organizations first decade remains quite impressive, and, judging by their careers as of 2010, Barnett, Larsen, and Paulus seem to have all escaped the fate of turning into three "bitter teaching composers." In fact, all three have become "working composer" role models and mentors for young composers today. As for the organization they helped to created in the 1970, the Forum has developed and adapted to new circumstances — most notably the vagaries of major funders over the last 30+ years– but fundamentally the mission has remained the same: to help composers practice and develop their skills and find a satisfying and creative role as artists in their communities. The Birth of "The Forum" The American Composers Forum was founded as the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 by a group of University of Minnesota graduate students with a $400 grant from the University's Student Club Activities Fund. It was something of an underground organization – quite literally, as its members met in the basement of Scott Hall on the University's Minneapolis campus. The initial organizers were two composition grad students: Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus. "Stephen Paulus and I had been talking a lot about the need to hear the music that we were writing," recalled Larsen. "We thought there ought to be a way for composers to work with performers and put on concerts. So we decided 'Why can't we make an organization that can meet our need for a community to create new music, perform new music, and find an audience for the music?" Paulus recalls sitting on the steps of Scott Hall with Larsen, and saying "You know, we've got to have a name people are going to take seriously. Let's call it the Minnesota Composers Forum – which seemed like big bananas." Larsen, Paulus, and a small group of likeminded composition students, including Carol Barnett, scheduled their first concert on A "Sacred Forum" choral reading at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, circa 1977. Carol Barnett circa 1979. April 9, 1973 – a "coming out party," as Larsen described it. Larsen and Paulus paid those early performers $5 for each piece on which they played – although Carol Barnett recalls occasionally slipping her performers an extra $20 when she could. "We all knew $5 wasn't very much for what we asked them to do," she recalls, "but threw ourselves on the mercy of the performers and were grateful that they were interested enough in new music to play for way below scale." Initially, the concerts were all held at Scott Hall on the University campus, but that was soon to change. "Our aim was to give concerts everywhere we thought would be interesting," says Larsen.  "We also gave concerts in the bank atriums downtown and in some other places.  It was good fun, because what we were up to was being composers, alive and at work in Minnesota." At that time, the most prestigious venue for contemporary art in the Twin Cities was the new Walker Art Center at Vineland Place in Minneapolis. In 1971 the Center moved into a brand-new facility at the location designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. Then, as now, the Walker was considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art. After a string of six concert events in 1973 billed as "Forums" on the university campus and elsewhere in the community, the founding members of the fledgling organization approached the Walker about hosting new music concerts through its performing arts program – and their proposal was accepted. At the time, the museum was working with playwrights and other performance groups, but had nothing to offer in the area of "new music." Three of the works for the Forum's first public concert at the Walker– an October 19, 1973 – were by Barnett (Sonata for Horn and Piano), Larsen ("Theme & Deviations" for solo harp), and Paulus ("Three Elizabethan Songs" for soprano and piano). For any young student composer, the experience of hearing one of their works performed outside the university environment can be a heady experience – a major signpost that one might have "arrived" as a composer. Is that how Carol Barnett felt at the time? "'Arrived' probably isn't quite the right word," counters Carol Barnett, "and my horn player and I had performed it several times previously, but it was certainly exciting to be at the Walker Art Center rather than at Scott Hall.  Since I was playing piano for my Horn Sonata, my reaction was along the lines of 'glad it went pretty well.' I still think it's one of my best pieces. It was very satisfying to hear it performed again at the ACF Gala in 2010, especially with such good players." Larsen agrees: "We were not after prestige. We were after placing composers and their music in as many places as possible in order to create the idea that composers are everywhere." In addition to concerts at the Walker, the early Forum presented an open-air brass ensemble concert featuring new music by its members at the Civic Center Park in New Hope, Minnesota (a suburb northwest of downtown Minneapolis), and another open-air concert for produce and flower shoppers at the Saint Paul farmers' market. They also staged a "Sound Safari" for children in St. Anthony Park (another Twin Cities suburb), featuring home-made instruments played by Forum composers, who encouraged visiting kids to make their own sounds on them as well. "We thought of the 'Sound Safari' event as another activity for composers, not a necessarily a concerted effort to work with children," recalls Larsen. "We did another program for the Walker Art Center for children, at their request. Monte FORUM continued on page 16 sai-national.org WINTER 2011 PAN PIPES 15

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