Celebrating 15 Years of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Broadening Reach through Versatility

By Lauren Dean

“I will always prefer live performance, both as a performer and audience member,” says soprano Mary Hubbell, who has participated in Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame twice, with shows almost a decade apart. But, she adds, “People who otherwise would not get to hear the music now can—and in real time.”

This real-time aspect is an important detail, made possible thanks to tech that’s built for distributed audiences. The concerts are transmitted through StreamYard, which can live-stream them to multiple platforms as they’re happening. It’s a way to get the musicians and all the composers in the same (virtual) “room,” as well as allow anyone from the public to watch, no matter where they are in the world. This not only enlarges the potential base; it also maintains the sense of community that Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is known for.

As her 2023 performance streamed to YouTube, for instance, clavichord player Monica Chew met the composers whose work she was performing, wherever they happened to be located. “A lot of composers were there,” she says. “And I talked to them after I played.”

“The community aspect is terrific,” notes classical pianist Stephen Porter, who has performed in Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame three times, in shows Re-Imagining Debussy, Schubert, and Beethoven. “The online aspect means that the ‘community’ is often virtual—that is, most of the composers [whose works] you perform live far away in other countries and won’t be able to attend a concert in person. But the very nature of this virtual online community allows for hugely expanded musical contacts, much more than if you were only trying to interact with musicians in person in a particular city.”

And while Porter recognizes that the move to online performances for classical music has its downsides—such as altered sound quality, as well as the casual, fragmented, and distracting nature of the forum—he also acknowledges that “it’s a question of balance.” In this case, the positive effects of accessibility may be enough for the pros to balance out the cons. Going online provides “hugely expanded access to music and concerts for people around the world who could not access it before,” including those with limited mobility or resources to travel. “This is a very, very good thing,” he concludes.

But, along with the dispersed nature of the “new normal,” another shift has occurred. Given that artists are in control of the works they perform—and can choose what they release or if they perform it elsewhere—live performances with in-person audiences are still happening. Only now, they’re not concentrated in one place.

“It’s not just a New York-based thing anymore,” says soprano Jenny Ribeiro, who linked up with Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame in New York in 2009 and later moved to Michigan. In 2024, she participated in her third call for submissions, which featured four unaccompanied singers, all in distinct locations. It was up to each singer how, and where, they wanted to premiere their pieces. For her, this was in Lansing for the opening of the new opera season. “It’s really cool,” she says. “It’s bringing it outside the New York bubble.”

In the same vein, solo cellist Craig Hultgren recalls the second time he performed with Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame, which was in 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 shutdowns. The call’s theme was pataphysics—a satirical late-19th-century French philosophy described as the “science of imaginary solutions.” For the program to come together, he recorded the selected pieces in his Iowa studio, and later, remote interviews with the composers were included in the recording. It wasn’t until 2023 that he performed the program live—and the concert took place at Lewis University, outside of Chicago.

In the end, it seems that not attending in person has actually helped to amplify the project to wider audiences, while also broadening the reach of the composers’ works. Further, the opportunity to re-perform the pieces could have even greater benefits. After traveling to participate in her debut Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame concert in New York City in 2023, soloist and French horn player Mary Beth Orr used her pieces for a music event in Grand Rapids, MI, to raise donations for a non-profit. “So, in a sense,” she says, “the work just keeps giving back.”

This special edition on NM421 is the third of a special 5 part series of interviews with musicians who have been featured on Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame.

The first installment was published on February 8th, 2025.

The second installment was published on March 8th, 2025.

The third installment was published on April 12th, 2025.

The next installment will be published on June 7th, 2025.