History of the Cambridge Commission

The Cambridge Commission was conceived in the summer of 2000, with Daniel Adoue’s piece, Under the Salem Sky. Elizabeth C. Winship commissioned the work in honor of her grandmother, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a renowned patron of chamber music. The piece was the finale to a Music from Salem concert showcasing a few of her many commissions.

The excitement of hearing a premier of inventive, new music inspired the idea for a group commission. The era of the individual benefactor has passed, especially in rural areas like Cambridge, New York. But why couldn’t a community encourage and support new music?

In 2002, twenty-eight Music from Salem fans pooled their resources and composer awarded the first official Cambridge Commission to Allen Shawn of North Bennington, Vermont, who composed String Quartet #4.  Shawn’s exciting piece was premiered by Music from Salem in their summer concert series.

In July 2004, Music from Salem premiered the second Cambridge Commission, Jazz and Cocktails by Austrian composer Gernot Wolfgang. Aptly named, the piece is a highly rhythmic jazz crossover for violin and cello. When Wolfgang learned that pianist Simon Nabatov (a titanic Russian-born improviser well known to jazz aficionados) would be playing his piece, he incorporated a solo cadenza just for him.

The third Cambridge Commission was awarded to Karl Korte, who composed a chorale for the Salem Festival chorus and Music from Salem, The Time Is, which premiered in July 2006. The piece is an interpretation of two poems by Eve Merriam. To further involve students, Korte incorporated a beautiful poem by Salem High School student John Krieg, as text for one of the chorale's six sections.

As contributors increase in number, we are setting a new trend--community patronage of innovative contemporary music. Please join our community by supporting The Cambridge Commission.