Last year marked a vibrant addition to Winnipeg’s musical landscape with the launch of the Contemporary Music Interactive (CMI) — an initiative devoted to presenting new works by composers connected to Manitoba. Founded by violinists Sophie Reimer-Epp and River Sawchyn, the project gives emerging composers an invaluable opportunity to have their music performed at a professional level, discussed in depth, and brought to life before an audience.
In collaboration with Groundswell, CMI supports the next generation of musical voices — helping young composers prove that their works are both artistically compelling and performance-ready.
A Strong Debut Season
The organization’s inaugural season culminated this past May with two concerts at Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship Church, featuring eight Manitoba-based composers.
Reflecting on the experience, Sophie Reimer-Epp said, “Oh yeah. it surpassed any expectations we had. It was so fantastic. We had great audience turnout, the music, the performances of all the pieces was amazing. Our composers did so well up on the stage.”
For River Sawchyn, the realization of CMI’s first season was “one of those moments, you know, when you’ve been planning a project for so long, it almost starts to feel like fictitious at some point… But as soon as we started rehearsing and going to the church and getting everything set up, and then as soon as people started walking in, it was just a very surreal experience.”
Learning and Growing from Year One
Following their first season, CMI has been actively gathering audience feedback. “There’s so much enthusiasm for the initiative that we’ve created,” said Reimer-Epp. “You never know when you’re creating something new — is there going to be demand for it? Are people going to be excited by the idea that you’ve created? And people definitely were.”
The duo has continued to refine their approach through surveys and newsletters. “We really want to hear from our audience,” Reimer-Epp added. “We’re trying to hear as much as possible from people, what they thought, what they think we could work on.”
Partnership and Support from Groundswell
CMI was supported last year by Groundswell’s Ground Floor Initiative, which provides mentorship and resources to emerging projects. “Groundswell was very integral to building us up as a new organization,” said Sawchyn. “We really appreciated all the support and guidance we got from some very, very key people.”
Although the exact nature of this year’s partnership is still being finalized, both founders expressed their appreciation and hope for continued collaboration.
Supporting Young Composers — “They’re Us”
When asked why creating opportunities for young composers is so important, Reimer-Epp put it simply: “These young composers, they’re us. River and I are the demographic that we’re targeting.”
She explained that CMI grew out of their shared experience as young musicians. “We were really loving new music, and we just can’t get enough of it. We wished there were more opportunities for young people. So when we started dreaming up all the different aspects of the series, it was like, what would we want in our dream opportunity… and we literally got to build that ourselves.”
Sawchyn agreed, noting how vital it is for composers to experience their music being performed live. “Step one is write the music. Step two is share the music,” he said. “We found there is just a lack of kind of in-room, up-close and personal, intimate sharing experiences for up-and-coming composers.”
Call for New Compositions for 2025–26
The Contemporary Music Interactive is now accepting submissions for its 2025–26 season, expanding its instrumentation requirements.
“We’re really excited this year to be expanding our operations a little bit,” said Sawchyn. “We’re looking for instrumentation up to five chamber players, and the piece needs to be between five and 15 minutes long.”
As for eligibility, the term “up-and-coming composer” remains open-ended. “We talked about this very thing — should we have an age limit?” Reimer-Epp said. “In a spirit of wanting to have as many people as possible have this opportunity… we wanted to just leave that a little bit ambiguous so that if someone was looking on our requirements and said, ‘I feel like I’m an up-and-coming composer,’ that they’d feel welcome to apply.”
From Submission to Stage
Once submissions close, a panel will review the works. “We’re going to be putting together a panel… River and myself and then a few other key compositional new music people from the community,” said Reimer-Epp. “Each of us will listen through all the pieces… and then we’ll get together and discuss not only which compositions will suit CMI’s purposes best, but also which ones will make a really great program together.”
A Platform for Dialogue Between Composer and Audience
CMI’s concerts are unique for their focus on interaction. Composers introduce their works and speak about the creative process. “We include space to tell us what makes your piece unique,” said Sawchyn. “We highly encourage you to think outside the box… if you want to bring a dancer, show a film, something that is integral to your piece.”
Reimer-Epp emphasized the importance of this exchange: “The more you know and understand about a piece, the more you understand about new music techniques, the more there is to listen for. We didn’t want there to feel like there was a divide… we wanted to create a more educational format where not only are we experiencing the music together, we’re also learning together.”
Looking Ahead
Looking ten years down the road, Sawchyn envisions CMI growing its reach: “We really want to continue to expand ourselves as an organization… having more concerts a year, bringing in composers from out of province as well… maybe find more collaboration out of province and out of country and kind of open up branches elsewhere.”
How to Apply
Composers can find submission details at cmiwinnipeg.ca under the Composers tab. CMI can also be found on social media as @contemporarymusicinteractive on Instagram and Facebook. For those interested in learning more, the website also offers information about CMI’s mission, past concerts, and a newsletter sign-up for ongoing updates. Submissions are open now until January 5th.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source classic107.com ’
