A composer needs a performer to put his or her music into the air and ears of listeners. A composer needs listeners to receive his communication. As a composer, I have always believed that the answer to the age-old philosophical question, "If a tree fell in a forest and no one was there to see [or hear] it, did it really fall?" is obvious. Someone has to be witness to the falling of that tree, someone has to play the music for it to truly exist, someone has to receive the musical communication to complete its "path". No man is an island. Composers NEED performers NEED listeners NEED composers, etc.