Northwest composers seriesThe Northwest composers series began in January 2002, and was intended as a showcase for the work of composers throughout the Pacific Northwest as broadly defined, including composers who get their composing done through solo or group improvisation. The emphasis was on composers working at present, but also included works by composers of the past. It originally ran on fifth Thursdays of the month, then traded positions with the Asian Voices/Dialogues with Asia series in April to run on the fourth Thursdays of even-numbered months. I did not stop doing this series because I lost interest in the work of contemporary Northwest composers, or because I didn't enjoy the programs that were part of this series -- quite the opposite on both counts. Rather -- as part of a general rethinking of the Prisms format that culminated while the program was on hiatus in August and September 2002 -- I decided the listening community and the composers in question would be better served by stirring local work back into the general soup. I became worried I might come to "ghettoize" local work a bit by drawing it away from other programs -- and more importantly became concerned that, by creating hodgepodge programs with playlists connected only by geography, I might end up restricting the range of fruitful connections that could be made between local work and other music. Despite the fact that I finished my rethinking during the hiatus, I decided to finish up this series after the hiatus, because the October installment had already been scheduled, and I wanted to conclude the Northwest composers series with it. But henceforth, I plan to turn my primary attention back to finding good ways to interpolate the work of local composers into other kinds of themed programs and series, along with setting up the maximum number of programs dedicated to specific local artists. These programs were part of the Northwest composers series:
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