Symphony in D, composed by Bostonian/MIT professor Tod Machover, made its debut at the DSO last week, conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

I was honored to have been a part of it, and to have the piece that I was commissioned to write for the performance, a poem, published as the Opinion Page feature of the Free Press yesterday [[along with a poem by Tonya Matthews, who is also the director and CEO of the Michigan Science Center).
http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/11/29/symphony/76390016/

Here is Symphony in D, linked below. It is a beautiful work [[I, and others, come on at about 13:00). It was live streamed and projected on the southern DSO wall for an outdoor event during the Saturday night performance.
https://youtu.be/ZFNyuC3p8fs

Reviews are mixed but mostly good; here's a favorable one:
http://hyperallergic.com/256578/composing-the-sounds-of-detroit-into-a-symphony/

It was a wonderful experience and the collection of "Detroit sounds" for this work was a stupendous endeavor. Machover is amazing.

In an interview before the performance, I expressed my grateful to folks on DetroitYES for the illuminating discussions that we had a few years ago, regarding the primordial formation of the swamp-like lands of what came to be called Black Bottom, and the early history of the city. These greatly inspired my opening stanzas and approach.

I hope for great holidays for you all.

Marsha Music