Commissioning and Consortiums - Accessible for All

Aubrey Patterson, Artistic Director, Oregon Repertory Singers Youth Choir

NWACDA R&R Youth Coordinator

The first time I engaged in working with a composer directly was as a part of a commissioning consortium in 2014/2015 that I saw mention of on Facebook. For the low price of $400 - less than the cost of an octavo for each of our program’s singers on JW Pepper - I could have Corvallis High School Choirs engage in the premiere of a multi-movement work written on a theme for all of the voicings in our program, on a theme! My auditioned ensembles had experience with unpublished premieres thanks to earthsongs (the incredible local publishing house in Corvallis), but I had not yet entertained the idea of involving every one of our non-auditioned and differently abled singers in premiering a work. 

Did I have the budget for this project? Would my community and audience be interested? Would the singers be engaged in this idea? What if we didn’t like the music and it became a slog and a waste of money? I investigated the composer’s name - Timothy Takach - and convinced my principal we should take the leap! 

This experience was rich for my singers and for myself, and full of learning opportunities for all involved. As a consortium, Takach was seeking premieres and funding for a work that was very nearly realized. I had done enough digging to believe that I would be excited about the way in which it was written for my students, and the novelty factor of a premiere is exciting for singers and community alike. Takach was generous with commission participants and FaceTimed with my singers as well. Additionally, this created an elevated experience for our choir program in the following ways: a Superintendent welcome speech at our concert, a singer creating accompanying artwork for our program cover, and a real sense of connection between all of the singers working together toward a shared goal beyond a winter concert. I began to ruminate on the importance of engaging with living composers, and came to the conclusion that it can be a life changing experience for singers. 

From that first very positive experience with Timothy Takach’s The Longest Nights, I realized that commissioning works was not just for professional choirs, directors with doctorates ensconced in college positions, or professional organizations with lots of funding. There are composers in every community, in every state of every region (and every price point)!

In 2018 I moved to Portland for a new job opportunity at West Linn High School, and joined Oregon Repertory Singers for the chance to work intimately on a concert cycle with Morten Lauridsen. My “choir buddy”was Stacey Philipps, a fun and smart alto who also happened to be a composer. My connection with Oregon Repertory Singers deepened a few years later when I was approached about the Artistic Director position of their Youth Choir. In the Covid landscape of 2021, the forces of the youth choir included about 30 treble singers K-12 and exactly 2 baritones. In our rehearsal side conversations, Stacey Philipps proposed a fascinating and creative solution - what if she partnered with ORS Youth Choir as a composer-in-residence? Stacey and ORS Youth Choir have now been in partnership since 2021!

An exciting secondary project Stacey and I embarked upon is a wonderful resource entitled Gathering Rounds Volume II. We spent many meetings over the course of a year exploring literacy approaches and the yearlong development of the secondary level youth singer--e.g. what would you want your choral singer to be able to know, learn, and do after a year with you as their director. Stacey organized these thoughts and created a book of 52 rounds with accompanying teaching targets and guidelines in a spiral curriculum.  

In 2024 we presented an Encounter Choir session at NW ACDA’s regional conference with live performances of the works generated by our partnership entitled: Think Choral, Shop Local. As a companion to our presentation, there are additional resources on our website designed to assist choir directors in their commissioning or consortium journeys. These resources include:  

• A living document of NW ACDA composers who live in our 6 states we firmly believe and have communicated that this should be a function of our National leadership for every region of ACDA

• Guidelines for how to commission a work, including what kinds of questions to ask of potential composers to create scope

• Guidelines for how to create a consortium, which is a great option for smaller budgets, connecting sister programs, or collaborative concerts 

• Many articles about the nuts and bolts of commissioning by organizations, research journals, and composers

• A commissioning contract template for you to utilize in your commissioning adventure

• Free music! 

For more information and many linked resources, visit the presentation website. 

Aubrey Patterson (she/her) is the Artistic Director for the Oregon Repertory Singers Youth Choir in Portland, as well as the director of Voces Auream at Lewis and Clark College. Patterson enjoys adjudicating, clinician work, and premiering new and commissioned works with her ensembles. She serves as the Youth Coordinator for NW ACDA.