MTNA Collaborative Music Commissioning Project

The MTNA Collaborative Music Commissioning Project (CMCP) was created in 2011 to promote chamber music study at the intermediate and amateur adult levels. The goal of the project was (1) to support living composers and their work with teachers and students in MTNA, and (2) to provide accessible repertoire for unusual instrument combinations. Ann Rivers Witherspoon, national chair of the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program, also served as co-chair of CMCP and managed the composer communication. Janice Wenger, the other CMCP co-chair, organized and performed the premiere performances at the national conference annually along with her colleagues from the University of Missouri.

The original visionaries for this project were keenly aware that many chamber music ensembles of all ages are initially formed by friends wishing to make music together. Young students, eager to use their emerging instrumental skills, were particularly in need of compositions that were written for the actual instruments that their circle of friends play. Beyond the traditional combinations of strings and piano, the existing repertory was especially lacking accessible pieces that included woodwinds, percussion, brass, or mixed combinations of them. Further, the project leaders decided to focus on trios including piano, knowing that these ensembles would be the easiest to assemble and schedule because of their modest size, and would best serve the many piano teachers in the MTNA membership and their students.

During the 11 years of CMCP, and ending in 2022, MTNA commissioned 23 different piano trios with varying instrumentation. Please see the listing of composers and compositions at the link below for information on the pieces as well as contacts to purchase copies of the scores. If your students, of any age, have an interest in making music with their string, brass, percussion, or woodwind friends, we urge you to consider exploring these works commissioned by MTNA.