Event

Make Me Happy

In 1944, Dmitri Mitropoulos commissioned a new work from composer David Diamond. The world was at war. He wrote to Diamond:

"These are distressing times. Most of the difficult music I play is distressing. Make me happy."The result was Diamond's Rounds for string orchestra.

On January 19, 2013, Ad Hoc will give a concert inspired by the same idea that inspired Diamond 59 years ago: "Make Me Happy." The program will unfold a little bit like a potluck - Rounds will be the main dish, and from there, Ad Hoc musicians will perform pieces that make them happy, that they think will make you happy, too.

But we want you to be a part of this project. Leading up to the performance, we're asking everybody we know to answer a simple question: "What makes you happy?" We've already gotten tons of great answers -being with family, cheese, Paris, not being with family, Saturday mornings, Zumba, football, playing hooky, well-constructed sentences, comic books - and the list goes on in all kinds quirky and fascinating and enlightening ways.

We're trying to collect a lot of responses on video, but we're also taking responses in writing, through artwork, and, really, any other way you want to answer. We'll post answers on our Facebook page. And at the concert, we'll have all of these responses on display - so what makes you happy and what makes us happy will all come together in a single event.