Composer Katie Semro of Sharon will debut an original piece of acoustic music, “Let It Sound,” on the main stage at the  2024 MAXT Makerspace Night Market Friday night in Peterborough.

The piece, which Semro describes as “new classical acoustic,” will be performed by John Fleming on bassoon, David Fleming on flute and Jayna Leach on violin at 7:30 p.m.

Semro, who describes herself as a composer, performer and educator, met MAXT Executive Director Roy Schlieben at an Arts Alive event in the spring. When Schlieben learned that Semro composes electronic music, he asked if she would compose something for the Night Market, and she happily agreed. 

“I had been composing electronic music the past few years, but I had also been becoming interested in acoustic music. I wanted to compose a piece and have musicians perform it. So I wrote a piece, and Roy found musicians who are going to play the flute, bassoon and violin,” Semro said. 

The theme of this year’s night market, “The Best ’90s Mixtape,” is meaningful to Semro, who grew up in the 1990s.

“I remember mixtapes growing up,” Semro said. “People would give them to one another; it was very personal, and also potentially self-realizing. Mixtapes were a way of saying ‘I see you. I want you to see me.’ Giving someone a mixtape was like saying, ‘This is who I am and I want you to know me,’ and that became the genesis of the journey we take in this piece. The piece follows a girl on the threshold of adulthood who knows who she is and who she wants to be, as well as knowing the beauty and the sorrow of the world. She’s ready to show her true self to the world as she heads off into the universe.” 

Semro says it took her about six weeks to compose her piece for the Night Market. For inspiration, she found poems that “evoke the feelings of a mixtape,” and read the poetry into composition software to capture the rhythm. Semro took the title of the piece from a quote from George Elliot: “Let the music which can take possession of our frame and fill the air with joy for us, sound once more.”

“I found different poetry that used the emotions of a mixtape – the knowing yourself, the highs and lows, and I drew the rhythm out of that,” Semro said. “I turned the emotion in the poems into music; the lyrics and the emotions inspired the piece. Mixtapes are music that you want to listen to again and again. It can envelope you, it can change every time.” 

Semro, who describes herself as a “deeply auditory person,” has a long history of experimenting with sound and music. Prior to composing electronic music, Semro had a podcast, “Transmission Times,” about the experience of the pandemic, and also hosted “Mother Mine,” an audio and video podcast exploring stories about mothers from around the globe.  Semro’s audio art installation “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor,” was exhibited at Sound Fest 2022 at the Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

After teaching herself composition for several years, Semro became interested in the work of composer Elena Ruehr, an MIT professor of music who is noted for her operas and composition for string quartets.

“I had the rudiments, but I wanted a composition teacher, so I sent her some of my work, and she immediately emailed me back and said she would work with me,” Semro said.

Semro has been studying with Ruehr since March. 

“Before that, I had been composing entirely on the computer. It’s a funny thing; electronic music is not considered as legitimate as acoustic music, because it doesn’t include a score that musicians can play. I wanted to start composing music that musicians can play,” Semro said. “It’s very exciting that that is going to happen.” 

The Peterborough Night Market is Friday night, Aug. 9, starting at 5:30 in Depot Square in Peterborough. For information, go to maxtmakerspace.org/night-market. To submit a favorite 1990s song for the “DJ Booth,” go  to nightmarketdjs.net/?mc_cid=b6239b4695&mc_eid=d90303ccaf.