The Zeitgeist Commissioning Collective is an individual giving program that gives our patrons the opportunity to support Zeitgeist, composers and the music of our time by contributing funds for the commission and premiere performances of a new work.

The Zeitgeist Commissioning Collective is working toward four new commissioning projects:

In The Making of Americans (after the Gertrude Stein novel), celebrated Boston-based experimental theater director Jay Scheib, Brooklyn-based composer Anthony Gatto, upstart New York string quartet JACK and Zeitgeist come together with singers, actors, accordions, hurdy-gurdies, church bells and more for an innovative take on opera. Premieres Dec. 12 & 13 at the Walker Art Center.

With Zeitgeist’s spring production, Converging Traditions, two traditions converge to forge new musical frontiers. We’ll feature the world premieres of Paul Elwood’s Appalachian-infused work, The Labyrinths of Time, and Seasons, a new work by Chinese-born composer Gao Hong, plus a new work we create together. Both composers will strum along with Zeitgeist – Elwood on banjo, Gao on pipa.

Next season, Victor Zupanc will create For the Birds, a chamber suite based on a series of poems by humorist Kevin Kling. The poems were written while Kling was watching the antics of various birds outside his hospital window while recovering from a motorcycle accident. They are at once beautiful, tragic, ethereal and comic—a perfect vehicle for Zupanc’s chameleon-like musical sensibility. Narrated by Kevin Kling with staging by Michael Sommers.

Mary Ellen Childs will compose The Risk of Flight for Zeitgeist and Nautilus Music Theater. The Risk of Flight will be an opera that looks at the nature of flight and the infinite by exploring three experiences of flight: 1930s barnstormers, space exploration and the experience of a mystic, in the character of a knitter who never moves from her rocking chair. Using vocal and instrumental music, video and projected still images, and staging, The Risk of Flight explores the nature of communion with the infinite and the soaring of the human heart. Premieres in 2010.

With the help of our donors, these new works can develop and flourish. Contributions will support commission fees plus all musician fees and other production costs associated with the first three performances of these new works. Donors can choose to restrict their gift to one commissioning project or can elect to have their donation allocated by the ensemble. Donors can give any amount, though there are different levels of giving with various benefits:

Improvisors $50–$149

• Invitation to open rehearsal prior to the premiere

• Credit in the program

Avant Garde $150–$499

All of the above, plus

• Four free tickets to the premiere

• Invitation to reception for composer and ensemble

Visionaries $500 plus

All of the above, plus

• Acknowledgment in Commissioning Credit in the Score

• Signed and Framed First Page of the Score

• Recording of premiere

We delight in pushing the boundaries of our art form and bringing our audiences adventurous performances that reflect the diversity of musical thought that is the music of our time. As a formidable commissioning entity, we also respect and embrace the significant role we play in shaping today’s music. Through the Zeitgeist Commissioning Collective, our donors can join us in this role. Together we can shape the music of our time and insure its present vitality and healthy future.

Join Us!

To make a donation, please click the Donate button below, or send a check to Zeitgeist; 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 100, St. Paul, MN 55101.

For further information, call Heather at 651-755-1600 or email heather@zeitgeistnewmusic.org.

Zeitgeist is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization incorporated in the state of Minnesota. As such, donations to Zeitgeist are fully tax-deductible.