Performing the canon or creating inroads a study of higher education orchestral programming of contemporary music

The purposes of this study are: (1) to survey conductors of college orchestras to discover if contemporary, post‐1990 orchestral repertoire is being performed, (2) to determine the contemporary literature that has been performed within the previous ten years, (3) to discover the leading reasons for the performance of contemporary orchestral music, and (4) to create a repertoire list of the most recommended composers and compositions according to orchestra directors.

A written survey was administered to 297 conductors of college orchestras in order to discover the repertoire composed since 1990 that is being performed in collegiate orchestra settings. According to the results of the survey, a majority of respondents performed music composed post-1990, though to varying degrees, with frequent recommendations from the college orchestra directors for the music of eighteen composers and ten specific compositions written after 1990.