Contemporary classical music often employs extended techniques, pushing young musicians into uncharted territory. While challenging, these approaches offer fresh opportunities for musical exploration.

“We encourage our students to approach this experience as an exploration,” Clayville said. “Each composition is a distinctive sonic landscape, offering both challenges and incredible opportunities for discovery. The chance to interpret these varied worlds is something truly special.”

Albright added: “To bring new music to life requires dialogue, creativity, and flexibility, and it encourages performers to stretch their concepts of what is possible. That’s perfect because these are the same qualities we seek to bring out in our students every day.”

Nearly three dozen students are included: 19 flutists and 15 trombonists, including Lesser, Clayville, and Albright, who will rotate as conductors. Joining them on flute is Lawrence’s own sight-singing instructor Bianca C. Pratte ’20.

“For us as artists,” Lesser said, “this concert is a powerful reminder that music is a living, evolving art form. Engaging with composers who are crafting music that resonates with today’s societal reflections and challenges makes this experience all the more meaningful.”

To prepare, both ensembles attended a retreat at Lawrence’s Björklunden in Door County, where they performed the set for the first time. Such social bonding is central to the collaboration’s goals.

“Students often find themselves confined within their own instrumental circles—trombone players with other trombones, percussionists with percussion,” Clayville explained. “This collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to break down those barriers and build connections across different musical worlds.”

The project originated within the Lawrence ecosystem. Isaac Mayhew ’17 approached Albright on behalf of the Millennium Composers Initiative (MCI), a group that “strives to push the limits of what defines music and art through experimental, conventional, and interdisciplinary means.” Initially, MCI sought to collaborate with the Trombone Ensemble, which Albright and Clayville co-direct. Given that Clayville also directs the Flute Ensemble alongside Lesser, a combined project felt natural.

“We’ve done collaborations in the past,” said Clayville, “so the Flute Ensemble and Trombone Ensemble have done pieces together.”

The MCI collaboration is a distinctive opportunity for both ensembles. While ample repertoire exists for flute and trombone ensembles separately, compositions specifically for their combined forces are scarce. In the past, the ensembles have relied on arrangements, but they are not always particularly idiomatic for the flute-trombone timbres.

Clayville noted that while he appreciates arrangements, which allow musicians to reinterpret existing music, he sees a different kind of value in creating something genuinely innovative and original. From his perspective, new music serves as a cultural direction, reflecting the diversity of expression that exists in our modern world.

The ensembles have turned toward composers to fill this repertoire niche. Dominic Ellis ’17 and current senior Aayush Raheja have been featured in the past. Alongside Mayhew, the program includes nine composers from around the world: David Acevedo, Ali Balighi, Ty Bloomfield, Michael Kahle, Chelsea Majkut, Treya Nash, Helder Oliveira, Sofia Jen Ouyang and Ben Zucker. The featured composers offer an impressive variety in their approaches to new music.

“What I hope,” said Lesser, “is that this concert has something for everyone—both players and audience. There is a more traditional flute piece called Fireflies, and that’s fun to play. [Other times] we’re speaking into our flutes and playing quarter tones.”

One composer took inspiration from animal sounds, creating movements that evoke birds and frogs. To bring the frog sounds to life, she sent the ensembles a box of marbles along with a tutorial on how they can use them to mimic the sounds of frogs.

“I think allowing students to spend time with this music will give them some insights into what is possible out there and maybe open up a new space for them,” Clayville said.

Thornton will be in the tour’s pit orchestra for performances in Madison Feb. 14-18 and in Appleton Feb. 20-25. Pre-performance gatherings for Lawrence alumni are planned Feb. 18 at the Overture Center and Feb. 23 at the Fox Cities PAC.

It’s a much-anticipated homecoming for the Lawrentian. A member of the tour since September 2022, Thornton said she dreamed of such an opportunity while studying music in Lawrence’s Conservatory of Music.

“It truly has been the most incredible and rewarding—and challenging—experience of my life,” Thornton said. “I like to say that ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ and it came true. Les MisĂ©rables is the first show I remember listening to as a child. 
 I’ve always had a love for travel and Broadway, so being part of the Les MisĂ©rables tour has been a tremendous privilege and opportunity.”

When the show opens its run in Appleton, it will be Thornton’s 40th city with the tour. She’ll also mark her 400th performance that week. She expects to see familiar faces at the alumni gatherings and in the audience, including mentors from the Conservatory faculty.

“I knew coming into Lawrence that I loved flute, musical theater, teaching, and performing in pit orchestras, but I wasn’t sure what kind of careers were available to me that incorporated all of these wide-ranging passions,” Thornton said. “I wasn’t dead-set on a classical symphony orchestra job, and Lawrence was incredibly supportive of non-traditional careers in music.”

A double-degree student majoring in both music performance (flute) and government, she regularly took in the Broadway tours that came to the Fox Cities PAC, furthering her love of musical theater. And she wanted to explore—academically, musically, and globally. She found all of that not only doable but encouraged at Lawrence.

“A lot of schools make it nearly impossible to study abroad as a music student, but Lawrence made it soeasy,” Thornton said. “It ignited my love for travel and gave me the confidence and independence to travel solo, something I frequently do on tour while sightseeing.”

She used Lawrence connections to secure work with the College Light Opera Company in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

“That program and the networking opportunities it provided me were a huge catalyst for my pit orchestra career,” Thornton said.

She also credits her Lawrence experience with teaching her skills well beyond the stage.

“I was a double-degree student at Lawrence and was involved in many different ensembles and clubs,” she said. “The time management skills and ability to wear multiple hats that I learned at Lawrence have been critical for me on tour—life doesn’t stop just because you’re on the road.” 

After graduating from Lawrence, Thornton went to graduate school, earning a Master of Music degree from James Madison University in Virginia and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“During summers off from school, I played in the orchestras at the College Light Opera Company and Ohio Light Opera to hone my skills as a pit musician,” she said. “Those programs gave me a ton of connections in New York City, and when I moved to the area for my doctorate, I was able to jump into the NYC freelancing scene relatively quickly, and even got to perform Off-Broadway while still in school. After finishing my doctorate in May 2021, I freelanced and taught in New York City for a year, and then joined both the faculty at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and the Les MisĂ©rables orchestra in Fall 2022.”

As she prepares to return to Appleton—and visits the Lawrence campus—Thornton ponders the advice she would give to current and future Conservatory students.

“Network, network, network,” she said. “Always have videos of your playing and an up-to-date resume ready to go. Respond to emails quickly. And be kind to people—there’s a million talented players, and the talented and kind players are the ones who get invited back.”