The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra is turning to its audience to help decide the composer-in-residence for the 2018-19 season.

“Classical Evolve,” an interactive composition competition, culminates Tuesday at Trinity Christian College’s Ozinga Chapel in Palos Heights.

“The Illinois Philharmonic had a tradition of performing American music on every program,” Stilian Kirov, music director of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, said in a phone interview from California, where he was set to conduct a Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra performance.

“I thought that was a wonderful initiative, but I also thought we should probably find a way to take this a bit further. We all came to the conclusion that the best direction to take is to create the future of American music or nurture the future of American music by helping young American composers.”

The inaugural contest was open to composers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 35 years old or younger as of May 8.

“We reviewed maybe close to 40 applications and 40 different scores that the composers had to submit. Then we have selected three finalists that have the task to compose a piece that will be performed on May 8,” Kirov said.

“They had just a few months, and the pieces are 10 minutes long each, but we wanted to see how these composers are actually able to create something in a short period of time.”

The finalists are Ben Ash, a 2014 New York University graduate in music theory and composition; Saad Haddad, a 2016 graduate of the master’s program at the Julliard School in New York; and Conor Mackey, a 2013 graduate in music theory and composition from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

“These works will be, first of all, rehearsed live on May 8. We’ll have a microphone, and there will be interaction with each composer as the piece is coming to life. After intermission, we’ll have a live mini concert performance of all three pieces back to back,” Kirov said.

“From this point on, there will be deliberation by the jury. During this deliberation, the audience will have the opportunity to learn a little bit more about each composer and have live interviews onstage, which I think is a great way to feature the composers. Then we will announce the winner.”

Joining Kirov as judges for “Classical Evolve” are Kyong Mee Choi, a Chicago-based composer, visual artist, painter, organist and poet; Henry Fogel, dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University; and Jim Stephenson, a professional trumpeter-turned-composer.

The judging panel’s votes will be combined with the audience’s majority vote to select the composer-in-residence, who will compose three works to be performed by the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2018-19 season.

“When we were talking about the format of how we were going to do this, the first question we asked ourselves is what a young American composer needs. We came to the conclusion that it’s an opportunity to be performed by a professional orchestra,” Kirov said.

“He will have the opportunity to work closely with the orchestra, get feedback from musicians and, of course, work with me. We are hopeful that this will help start the career they want and make the contribution they want and make their artistic voice heard.

“It’s wonderful to perform the old-time masterworks. I love the greatest masters of the past and their music, but I also feel it’s our mission to ensure the future of classical music.”

Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer for the Daily Southtown.