There was a time when most music was new music. Eighteenth century audiences, once bored with Haydn's "Symphony No.103," eagerly anticipated No. 104. When it arrived, they applauded its freshness. Since then, for a variety of reasons, the classical music tradition has become somewhat petrified, like a beetle encased in a golden tomb of amber.

But Ossia wants to bring back the old days. The Eastman School's student-run new music ensemble has set up camp on the fringes of Rochester's music scene, returning to the wilderness of innovation.

"We want to see what's out there," says Scott Perkins, Ossia's president.

To do that, last June Ossia (pronounced "o-SEE-ah") announced a composition competition offering $500 and a world premiere for a new piece of music. The group sent word out through composers' websites and major conservatories. Perkins says he was astonished when 62 entries from all over the world arrived at his door. Music arrived from Japan, Australia, Germany, and Italy.

News of Ossia's contest, it seems, had gone viral.

The Eastman musicians set up a blind judging process, asking composers to seal their bios in envelopes separate from the musical scores. They began sifting through the entries.

"Our judging process was based entirely on originality and creativity," Perkins says.

Some entries, he says, were too hard to play or required unfeasible technical set-ups. A few demanded more players than the Eastman ensemble could produce. Finally, the students picked their winner, called "Abeyance." Then they slit open the envelope and found out who had written it.

The composer of "Abeyance," Steve Wanna, grew up in rural Lebanon, and started studying music when he moved to the States in 1992. He started with the piano, voice, violin, and guitar. He knew he wanted to compose.

"I do it because it's in my head and it wants to come out," Wanna recently said on the phone from his home in Virginia. "It's a selfish thing. I'm more than happy to share, but I'm not concerned with pleasing audiences."

"Abeyance" requires one percussionist, one performer on any kind of sustaining instrument, and a bunch of electronic gear. It lasts between 7 and 20 minutes, since it allows the performers to improvise within a guided framework. The score looks nothing like traditional notation. A computer program Wanna designed responds to certain parameters (e.g., amplitude, pitch, attack) of the sustaining instrument (which, in Ossia's premiere, will be four baroque recorders.) These parameters trigger the random playback of pre-composed sound files, including crackling, plosives, clicks, and snaps. In turn, the sounds both the computer and the recorder players produce will influence the musical gestures of the percussionist. Eastman graduate students Matthew Barber and Baljinder Sekhon will perform the recorder and percussion parts, respectively, and Wanna himself will operate the electronics. During the concert, the players will move about the stage, adding a mildly theatrical element.

Wanna, who cites such influences as composers Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and John Cage, says he wants listeners to experience the piece as children might; openly, without expectation.

"The overall effect," Wanna says, "is a sonic image that slips in and out of focus, and a listening experience that requires a different approach from listener and performer by focusing their attention entirely on the present moment."

In addition to the premiere of the slow, ritualistic "Abeyance," Ossia will perform two works for large ensemble: Scottish composer Oliver Knussen's short but intense "Coursing," and Korean composer Unsuk Chin's "Xi." Both Knussen and Chin are relatively young composers. Eastman graduate student Matilda Hofman will lead the 20-piece ensemble in both pieces.

Rounding out the program, Ossia will present two sets of very short songs by the famous Austrian composer Anton Webern, and Siberian composer Edison Denisov's "Bläseroktett." The performance will feature Eastman students Jamie Jordan, soprano, and conductor Reuben Blundell, who will also lead the double woodwind quartet in the Denisov work.

"It's an ambitious program," says Ossia president Perkins. "But we're up for it."

Perkins says he's looking forward to meeting the winning composer of "Abeyance." Wanna's equally enthusiastic about his first trip to Rochester.

"I'm grateful and excited that someone liked my idea," he says. "I thought it would be neat if someone played it."

Brenda Tremblay, a radio producer for WXXI, blogs about classical music at brendatremblay.com.