Well, we're in that interesting zone where I'm trying to get all interested parties on board (no pun intended) to support, financially and energetically, a commission for a pretty big new piece for next season.  A composer with a good track record, whose pieces Chicago a cappella has done often in years past, came to me with an idea for a very cool compilation of music, which would serve as the scaffolding on which I could create a concert program.

I can't tell you who it is, since we have not finished the process, but you might be interested in the process.

I have been charged by the board to come up with a budget that tells them how much above our normal 9-singers-and-nothing-else budget this production would cost.  Fortunately the answer is "not too much," but in these times even that feels like a stretch. 

I must say that I love the prospect of a concert where someone ELSE comes up with theme.  15 years of theme-building under our belts and I regret to inform you that in many ways it does not get easier with time, other than that you know what has worked and what has not worked. 

Meanwhile I am in the middle of things (I'm a middle child, and this seems to happen to me a lot), managing expecations, trying to keep excitement high, trying to make sure the composer is question is not crushed with disappointment in case it doesn't happen, and working with our ED to make sure that he is enthusiastic about the marketing potential of such a program.  I have enough of a sales background myself to know how hard it would be if I insisted on having CAC do a concert of 13th-century motets to the Virgin Mary.  I would have nobody to blame but myself if only 22 people showed up (the singers and three board members and ten people in the audience). 

So in a month or so, Composer X will come to us with the news that s/he did or did not get a grant to help support the piece I'm hoping to have CAC commission, and at that point we will have to roll up our sleeves and figure out how much we will need to raise to make up the difference and if we can do it. 

Of course I am biased.  I really want this to happen. 

If you're a CAC fan -- and I am not trying to get out of doing my job -- what themes would you like us to pursue that we haven't yet?