Tom Siwe Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Fund
Tom Siwe led the percussion program at the University of Illinois from 1969-1998. In that time, he built a program without parallel that produced percussionists of several generations who still populate the country's preeminent teaching positions, orchestras, and chamber ensembles. He impacted the lives of many with his kindness, generosity, and drive to move our art forward. Tom's impact on the Percussion Ensemble, both at U of I and on the medium at large, is widespread and lasting, and I could think of no better way to honor his 90th birthday than with the creation of the Tom Siwe Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Fund. The goal of this fund will be to continue Tom's work in adding significant new works for the percussion ensemble genre by the leading compositional voices of today, with special focus on composers who have not written for percussion ensemble previously.
As Tom's work helped define the medium in the 20th century, we hope to look to the composers whose work is most needed for percussion ensemble, and continue to make percussion music an equal to the repertoire violin or piano through seeking our next great masterpieces.