As we conceptualize our next season, we are searching for composers interested in collaborating with us on a few ideas still in the planning stages.

First among these is a concert program titled “Music for a Recession.” The economic crisis has affected all of us in some way or another, and we want to explore a renewed sense of simplicity in the wake of a crisis borne of hypercomplexity. Our riff on this theme is to commission works that utilize only “found percussion” instruments: those that are not made explicitly for music, e.g. drums, marimba, cymbals, but that can be used to create novel musical sounds, e.g. metal pipes, clay pots, plywood. We are open to the innovative use of just about any inanimate object capable of producing sound! We hope that the relevance and portability of the program will attract a diverse audience group and will be versatile enough to be performed at many types of venues, ranging from dive bars to concert halls.

The second project in genesis is a concert program titled “Iktus +1”. Essentially, this concert will feature non-percussionists performing concertos with percussion quartet. The selected work will join an exciting program of music including Tan Dun’s “Elegy: Snow in June,” a concerto for violincello and percussion quartet, and Andre Jolivet’s “Suite en Concert,” for flute and percussion quartet. Iktus is excited to be collaborating with New York based new music group, the Cadillac Moon Ensemble. Composers submitting their works must write for violin with percussion quartet.

We are committed to these ideas, but they need to be fleshed out and realized—that’s where you come in. Consider this an open call for scores and input. While we would love to accept everyone’s work and be able afford to compensate selected composers for their work, we cannot. We hope, however, that the chance to showcase your work will be an adequate reward, and we pledge to be utterly dedicated and professional in our approach to the music. Ideally, we will establish strong relationships that will outlast the current downturn, at which point we’ll all be rich and can afford to pay you!