#WeAreNewMusic Spotlight:
Missy Mazzoli

Missy Mazzoli Photo: Molly Sheridan

Missy Mazzoli’s gradual emergence as one of the leading American composers of her generation has been contemporaneous with the ten-year history of New Music USA thus far. So it’s not surprising that many of Missy’s most significant successes have been nurtured by New Music USA’s support. Long before Missy became one of the first two women to be commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera, New Music USA supported the recording of her first opera.

Missy discusses New Music USA’s impact:

“I’m incredibly grateful to New Music USA for its continued support of my projects. When I look back over the last ten years of my career, New Music USA has been there at what turned out to be crucial inflection points in my musical development. They supported the recording of my first opera, Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt, which led a series of opera companies to program the work. They supported a Music Alive: New Partnerships residency with the Boulder Philharmonic, which provided funding for me to create the full orchestra version of my work Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres). This work has now been programmed by dozens of orchestras including, just recently, the New York Philharmonic. They supported the recording of violinist Olivia De Prato’s album Streya, which included the world premiere recording of my work Vespers for Violin, a work that went on to be nominated for a Grammy award in 2019. Their support of Roomful of Teeth’s recording of my work Vesper Sparrow led to that work being chosen for the ISCM World New Music Days in South Korea in 2016. I was able to travel to Korea for the first time and connect with an international community of composers and curators and had the chance to coach rehearsals of a newly expanded choral version of my composition.

 

Support early in a composer’s career often reverberates outward and leads to more and more opportunities. This reverberation is even stronger when a respected organization like New Music USA puts their support behind, and attaches their name to, an up-and-coming artist. While many funding organizations reward already-established artists, New Music USA sees the potential in younger creators and composers whose works defy easy categorization. They are also one of the few organizations that consistently funds recordings and dissemination of work, an essential but often overlooked part of the commissioning process. It’s staggering for me to look back and imagine how difficult it would have been to disseminate my work, and a bit scary to imagine all the opportunities I would have never had, without the financial support offered by this organization. As I look back at the complex and often mysterious ecosystem of commissions, recording, funding, programming, and performances I have been part of in my career, New Music USA is often at the root, providing support where it is needed most, at the beginning.”

Explore Missy’s Work Funded by New Music USA: