Mission: Commission podcast ends today with final reveal of new works

Season Two of MISSION: COMMISSION comes to an end, with the final episode

and reveals recordings of the 3 final pieces written for Parker Quartet by

OSCAR BETTISON
VIJAY IYER
KATE SOPER

Today marks the conclusion and final reveal of Season Two of MISSION: COMMISSION, the acclaimed free weekly podcast from Miller Theatre at Columbia University.

Since April 19, 2022, the podcast has followed three strikingly different composers—Oscar Bettison, Vijay Iyer, and Kate Soper—across a six-week deadline, from the blank page to the double bar. Each was asked to compose a new work for the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet, and check in weekly with podcast host Melissa Smey (Miller’s Executive Director) to discuss how their piece is developing—a dialogue that ventures into joy, grief, frustration, and humor. Ultimately, the podcast lifts the curtain to reveal the inner lives of composers as they work, demystifying the process of how classical music gets made. And three more pieces of vibrant chamber music have been added to the world.

Media is invited to review the podcast in its totality and/or the resulting compositions:

ALL KEENS AND SLOW AIRS by Oscar Bettison
ROOM FOR GHOSTS by Vijay Iyer (Iyer joins the Parker Quartet on piano);
TELEPHONE by Kate Soper (Soper joins the Parker Quartet as soprano).
Telephone was made possible with lead commissioning support from Sean T. Buffington.

Hosted by MELISSA SMEY, Executive Director of Miller Theatre

Produced by GOLDA ARTHUR
(Vox, Marketplace, BBC World Service)

Available for free at missioncommissionpodcast.com,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts