The word "orchestra" might bring to mind a sea of formally attired musicians playing Beethoven or Brahms in front of a quiet and contemplative audience.
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) challenges this perception by performing only works from 20th- and 21st-century composers.
With some of the best musicians from New England, the orchestra's goal is to bring contemporary composers to a diverse audience.
BMOP will perform on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Studzinski Hall, Kanbar Auditorium.
Founded in 1996, BMOP has collected its fair share of accolades. The orchestra has programmed more than 50 modern orchestral pieces, presented more than 40 world premieres, and recorded 50 works, 13 of which are world premiere recordings.
The orchestra has won eight American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards for its "adventurous programming of orchestral music" as well as the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music.
What distinguishes BMOP from other orchestra groups is the fact that the majority of the composers whose music the musicians play are alive.
Retired Bowdoin professor Elliott Schwartz is one of the many living composers whose music has been performed by BMOP. According to Schwartz, the orchestral group challenges established conceptions that orchestras only play pieces from "dead, white European males."
Although the orchestra primarily performs works by American artists, these composers are not white men in powdered wigs, but men and women from all races and backgrounds. The composers also draw from music beyond the United States.
Tomorrow's performance will feature only the work of Bowdoin professors and graduates. Along with pieces by Schwartz and Assistant Professor of Music Vineet Shende, BMOP will perform works from Bowdoin alumni Francis Kayali '01, Nate Michel '97, Richard Francis '92, Scott Vaillancourt '92, Steve Kemper '03, and Adam Cohen-Leadholm '07.
Based in Boston, the group draws on musical talent from around New England. According to Schwartz, although Boston has traditionally been a place for "the most conservative die-hards," it has somewhat ironically become "the great center for contemporary music."
Both Schwartz and Shende emphasized the enormous catalog of musical compositions and cultures at the disposal of modern composers.
Schwartz also said that modern compositions have musical equivalents to flashbacks and quick cuts. In addition, modern compositions are greatly influenced by new instruments and sounds that were not available to classical composers.
Shende said that the role of newer instruments like the saxophone and the marimba have given modern music new texture and sounds. Shende and Schwartz both use these new developments in their own music.
Shende's composition, "Snarl," has been revised since its original composition in 2001. It tells the story of a highway driving incident. According to Shende, "[I was] apparently driving too slowly on the highway and then passed by a motorcyclist who bared his teeth at me."
The piece describes the ways that people "still get reduced to animal instincts and passions" even when surrounded by technology. Shende combines "retired, delicate, subtle, and gentle tones with undercurrents of violence" to accentuate that although the world appears to be technical and smooth, more primitive instincts still exist.
Schwartz's piece is also a revision. His composition, originally written in 1977 and titled "Chamber Concerto III: Another View on the Piano Concerto," focuses on "mixing sounds."
Schwartz says that the piece sounds like "Brahms and Tchaikovksy" combined with "walking through the hallway in a music building and hearing all the people in the practice rooms."
It's like "multiple exposures in film or cinematic quick cuts and fades," he said, noting that the piece layers many different sounds.
"Expect to hear new sounds, new harmonies, rhythms, et cetera," said Shende.
He recommends that everyone come with "open ears."
With all of this groundbreaking progress in music, what remains is the need to find a name that fits this new genre.
"It's not concert music, or even service music," Schwartz said. He mentioned that a radio station in Vermont calls the music "non-pop," and he thinks that this term best describes the music.
As an eclectic mix of rock and classical, "non-pop" might be the closest one will get to finding a label for BMOP.