From League of American Orchestras, Symphony Magazine By Janelle Gelfand
January 2019

Smaller-budget orchestras are taking a chance on contemporary composers, involving their communities and appealing to the next generation of music lovers.

At the conclusion of Symphony Tacoma’s May 2017 world premiere of Daniel Ott’s Fire-Mountain, a multimedia work inspired by nearby Mount Rainier, the audience in Tacoma’s Pantages Theater sat, stunned, before erupting in applause. “The was an amazing silence, a quiet embrace of something coming from the grassroots, from the community, from the things so many care about,” says Symphony Tacoma Music Director Sarah Ioannides. “There was the excitement that Symphony Tacoma has given life to something that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.”