This Friday evening, Milwaukee's Present Music presents its season finale concert, called "Present Music Nation," at The Warehouse. One of the pieces that can be heard is from a new community collaboration called ComposeMilwaukee.
ComposeMilwaukee is a NEA-funded project that reaches out to various companies and organizations around Milwaukee and allows for individuals from each place to collaborate with one another in order to compose an entirely new piece of music. Included in the performance are people from Badger Meter, Pieper Power, Reagan High School, and St. John's on the Lake.
"In these sorts of sessions everyone's on the same level," says project coordinator Nick Weckman. "No one has more important ideas than the other and its cool to see those people that maybe...you wouldn't see them interact in this way but now they have this bond that they're going to take back into their company."
The groups are incredibly diverse in terms of personalities and musical experience. According to Weckman this often lends itself to the creation of some widely different pieces from company to company.
"We're really trying here to listen to the life we have together...and listen more carefully to the experience, which is our shared experience together," says ComposeMilwaukee participant Ken Mayfield.
Present Music Nation performs its seasonal finale Friday June 5th, with performances at 6pm & 9pm at Hot Water Wherehouse.There will also be an upcoming free public ComposeMilwaukee concert on Sunday, June 7th at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
