Composers, Inc. had a long run in San Francisco, but it is leaving the city. A concert on April 9, in Old First Church, will be the group's last event here.
"We decided it was time to make a change and set up in the East Bay," says Nicholas R. Vasallo, one of the organization's six artistic directors. "Such a decision wasn't easy to come to and certainly there were factors at play that surely all non-profit performance and presenting organizations grapple within."
Besides Vasallo, the Artistic Directors are Robert Greenberg, Frank La Rocca, Jeffrey Miller, Martin Rokeach, and Allen Shearer.
Composers Inc. President Rafael Hernandez says:
We are moving because since moving from the Green Room a few years ago due to impending renovations, Composers, Inc. saw a dramatic decline in audience. The strong feeling amongst the board was that a problem with our current location [Old First] is lack of proximity to BART.The impact of this decline in audience on our operation was quite hard to manage, given that it happened near the timing of the peak of the financial crisis (charitable giving was down), and a time when there were some internal struggles over vision and direction for the organization. Deciding that the timing was right, given our 30th season coming up, we decided to study intently our audience and answer the question all organizations want to know: Who is coming to our concerts?
What we found was that an overwhelming majority of our audience was aged 18-45 and from the East Bay. Furthermore, while Composers, Inc. had its beginnings in the city, over time there was a slow migration of its board membership from San Francisco to the East Bay, in terms of residence and interaction with other artists and musicians as a community. This all added up to a no-brainer of a decision: Let's bring the music to our core audience; let's take the leap and set up in the East Bay.
The 8 p.m. April 9 concert presents world premieres of Martin Rokeach's Running at the Top of the World, for trumpet and piano; Allen Shearer's Roundelay, to oboe, clarinet, and bassoon; Vasallo's Only One Survives, for amplified cello, piano, and percussion.
Also, Ryan Chase's Gold Rush, for five violins, winner of the 2012 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Award.