Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's Project 440 advances to the second round

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The first round of composers to be eliminated from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's Project 440 will be announced live on New York Public Radio this morning. The project, which began with 60 composer candidates and will conclude with the selection of four Orpheus commission recipients later this year, offers the public a rare glimpse into the ways new commissions come to be. Today's announcement narrows the field from 60 nominees down to 30; a subsequent round of elimination on September 9 will see 12 candidates advance to the final round, and the four winners will be announced in mid-October.

Orpheus designed Project 440 in keeping with the passion for new music and for transparency of the creative process that has been a hallmark of the orchestra since its inception in 1972. The project is documented online on the WQXR website, where fans and members of the public have engaged in lively debate about each of the candidates and Project 440 as a whole. Each composer nominee has a profile page that features samples of his or her previous work and the opportunity for the public to post reactions and comments. The website has fostered dialogue about the nature of commissioning, elements of Project 440 that resemble a popularity contest, and a number of other topics. All of the decisions regarding the elimination of candidates are made by a Selection Committee comprised of Orpheus musicians and staff as well as previously commissioned composers.

Orpheus cellists and Selection Committee members Jonathan Spitz and Eric Bartlett have created a series of videos to document the project from their perspective as well. Those videos are available through the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra YouTube channel.

The 30 composers selected to advance to the second round in Project 440 are:

Timothy Andres
Preben Antonsen
Tyondai Braxton
Yu-Hui Chang
Yao Chen
Donnacha Dennehy
Benjamin Ellin
Devin Farney
Aaron Grad
Judd Greenstein
Eric Guinivan
Yotam Haber
Martin Kennedy
Christopher Lee
James Lee III
David T. Little
Alexandre Lunsqui
Zibuokle Martinaityte
Dylan Mattingly
A.J. McCaffrey
Alex Mincek
Polina Nazaykinskaya
Clint Needham
Andrew Norman
Paola Prestini
Jonathan Russell
Sean Shepherd
Daniel Wohl
David Wolff
Cynthia Wong

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