The People's Commissioning Fund pools small donations in order to commission works from young composers. It is a process, Bang on a Can co-founder David Lang said, that is designed to democratize the process of funding new music.

"We call this program the People's Commissioning Fund because it is you and me that are the commissioners of new music," he said, "not a large foundation, not a government agency, not a major corporation."

This year's PCF concert will showcase three new works commissioned through the fund: Carla Kihlstedt's The Long and Short of It; A Brief History of Chatter, Cynthia Hopkins' Song Before Love Songs, and J. G. Thirlwell's Anabiosis. In addition, the All-Stars will perform Dan Plonsey's The Plonsey Episodes, which was commissioned in 1998.