Composer Alive: Eastern Expressions explores the creation of new music through the unique collaboration of Chicago music ensemble Accessible Contemporary Music and famed Beijing composer Xiaogang Ye. Rather than focusing on a concert performance, Composer Alive takes the viewer through the creative process and pulls back the curtains from the closely guarded world of rehearsals, first drafts and daily struggles. Xiaogang Ye writes the piece in four installments and ACM records each installment as it is written. The viewer can literally watch and listen to the development of the piece over time, along with live insight from the composer and musicians. From Xiaogang Ye’s first inspirations for the composition to a musician having a baby born the day of a concert to fund-raising fiascos and unexpected illness, Composer Alive presents the human face of classical music and removes the intimidating culture which often surrounds it. Through conversations with such experts as Henry Fogel, President of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Composer Alive also explores how classical music scared off its audience, why it is hugely popular in China and how innovative and accessible projects will direct its future.