The College of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder hosted its first competition dedicated specifically to collaborative music-making:听So You Think You Can Collaborate?听Saturday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Grusin Music Hall. The winners of the competition were听Forty Fingers of Fury听(Allan Armstrong, Laura Brumbaugh, Doreen Lee and Sunyoung Lee, pianos with Owen Zhou, technical guru). Second prize was awarded to the听Cold Quartet听(Ryan Wurst, laptop, Hannah Darroch, flute, Jessica Lindsey, bass clarinet and Mollie Wolf, dancer).
The most significant and innovative feature of the competition is that participants must consider the audience to be part of the collaborative process. This means that their presentation must not only include a high-level collaborative performance, but must include some component that engages the audience 鈥� be it speaking, technology, dance, as a few examples 鈥� with the goal of enhancing the audience鈥檚 appreciation, enjoyment and understanding of the musical performance. Much time has been spent discussing the classical music industry鈥檚 need to revitalize its audiences, and this is a competition that will reward performers who do just that.
And perhaps most exciting of all: The winners are determined by an audience vote! After all, they鈥檙e the best judges of which performers were most engaging!
Special thanks to the College of Music鈥檚 performing departments, who are providing the funds for the award money for this inaugural competition.
Organized and directed by听Alexandra Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano, the听So You Think You Can Collaborate?听competition is taking place as part of an international day celebrating collaboration, an effort spearheaded by the Music Teachers National Association as part of its Year of Collaborative Music 2010-2011.
