Today's composers, says Charles Coleman, “are just as valid as Tchaikovsky.”

        “The last thing you want is to have the symphony orchestra only be a museum. That's why we're around to write all this stuff,” the 32-year-old composer says from his home in New York. “Music today reflects the times we are in, whether they be good or bad.”

IF YOU GO

What: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Jarvi, conductor; Truls Mork, cello    When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday    Where: Music Hall    Tickets: $13-$53.50; $10 students: 381-3300 or cincinnatisymphony.org. Half-price tickets available 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on concert days at CSO ticket office.    The program: Charles Coleman, Streetscape (world premiere); Shostakovich, Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64.    Pre-concert: A “streetscape” of jazz, jugglers, singers and more beginning at 7 p.m. on Elm Street in front of Music Hall.    Post-concert: Champagne toast and desserts in Music Hall lobby.    Live telecast and simulcast: Robin Wood and Brian O'Donnell will host a live broadcast of Saturday's concert on WCET-TV (Channel 48) beginning at 7:30 p.m., simulcast on WGUC-FM (90.9).    Read the review: Saturday on Cincinnati.Com, keyword: symphony, and Sunday in Tempo.

        The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will give the world premiere of Mr. Coleman's Streetscape this weekend. The piece was commissioned by Paavo Jarvi for his opening concerts as music director.

        Mr. Coleman is one of a young generation of American composers who reflect a new age. Though his roots are classical — he graduated from the Manhattan School of Music — his music is colored by jazz and funk.

        For inspiration, he looks to America rather than European music history. Among his heros is minimalist composer John Adams. (“He's my rabbi.”) Other musical gurus are Richard Danielpour, William Bolcom and John Harbison — all composers with an eclectic bent.

        Mr. Coleman has known the CSO's incoming music director for about seven years — since he began working with Mr. Jarvi's brother, Kristjan. He has written six original works for Kristjan Jarvi's New York-based Absolute Ensemble, a group noted for its hip synthesis of old and new music.

        Since 1997, Mr. Coleman has been Absolute Ensemble's resident composer. His recording credits with Kristjan Jarvi include his piece “Absolution” (1999) and the disc, Absolute Mix. The latter, an album he produced, received the German Critics' Award for best contemporary music recording of 2000.

        In his spare time, Mr. Coleman, who was once a boy soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, is a baritone. His gigs include singing with his own “crazy” band, Sound Liberation. “For want of a better term, it's an alternative hip-hop group,” he says.
       

Abstract imagination

        Streetscape, says the New York native, is loosely based on his walks around the city. He lives in the trendy Tribeca neighborhood, and usually includes SoHo in his walks.

        “Every block is considerably different,” he says. “In a very subtle way, the visuals of that inspired a few musical thoughts that went into this work.”

        But, he cautions, the audience will not hear him walking around Manhattan in the music.

        “I'm not very graphic. I don't say, "Here comes the theme; that means we're up here (in lower Manhattan),' ” he says. “I wanted to leave room for an abstract imagination. It's kind of a memory of my walks, as I'm at my writing table.”

        For the composer, who admits he is still a “baby” in the composition world, writing a big, 20-minute orchestral work was a new experience.

        “When Paavo asked me for a 20-minute work, I had to think about how I would keep the listeners' interest — and my interest — from minute one to minute 20. For me, the main answer to that question was form.”
       

Four distinct parts

        As a model, he used Respighi's The Pines of Rome, which is similar in duration and organized in four distinct parts.

        “My material is completely different from Respighi's, but I was struck by his use of form,” Mr. Coleman says. He studied “why it was fast in the beginning, slow later on, then building to a climax in the end. That general form I was attracted to. It fit, so I wanted to give it a shot myself.”

        Did the new maestro have any requests for the piece that will open his tenure here?

        “Paavo asked me if I can write a loud, big finale, and a big brassy fanfare ends the work. I think I got that,” he says. “Hopefully the material before it works.”
       

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