Category: Ledes

League of American Orchestras & New Music USA Announce 12 New Music Alive Residencies

Posted on October 22, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

League-NMUSA2
Twelve orchestras and composers have been selected to receive Music Alive: New Partnerships grants of $7,500 each, the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA announced today. Matching composers and orchestras who have not previously worked together, the program will support a series of one-week residencies between 2014 and 2016, each culminating in the performance of an orchestral work from the composer’s catalog. Orchestras with operating budgets of approximately $7 million and below were eligible to apply.

“These new Music Alive residencies provide communities across the country with invaluable opportunities to hear the music of our time while connecting in-person with these talented composers,” said League President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “Supporting orchestras in their commitment to perform the works of living American composers has always been an institutional priority for the League, with programs such as Ford Made in America and the ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming historically playing an important role at the organization.”

“Through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and our other funders, we are delighted to be continuing our support of collaborations between composers and orchestras,” commented Ed Harsh, President and CEO of New Music USA. “Through Music Alive and in many other ways, New Music USA supports the dynamic, sustained relationships between individual creative artists and orchestras that are essential to a healthy musical ecology.”

The composer/orchestra partnerships are:

Clarice Assad and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra
Douglas J. Cuomo and the Grant Park Music Festival (Chicago, Illinois)
Annie Gosfield and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (New York)
Takuma Itoh and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (Arizona)
Jingjing Luo and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (New Jersey)
Missy Mazzoli and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra (Colorado)
Rick Robinson and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston, Texas)
Carl Schimmel and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (New Orleans)
Laura Schwendinger and the Richmond Symphony (Virginia)
Derrick Spiva and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Sumi Tonooka and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (Sioux Falls)
Dan Visconti and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (Little Rock)

Forty-four orchestras and 219 composers applied for the program and two artistic panels selected the twelve grantees. Each residency will include a performance of a work by the composer, as well as individually tailored events, enabling the composers to reach new audiences, interact with youth, and take part in community-centered activities.
Now in its 14th year, Music Alive supports composer residencies in the concert halls and communities of orchestras throughout the country by providing funding, administrative support, and resources for both short and multi-year orchestra-composer collaborations. In addition to the new Music Alive: New Partnerships program, Music Alive also currently supports a three-year residency program for five composers and orchestras, most recently announced in 2013. Since 1999, there have been 127 Music Alive orchestral residencies; that number includes 78 individual orchestras and 110 individual composers (several orchestras and composers have participated multiple times). Music Alive programs help orchestras increase new music opportunities for audiences, artists, and administrators; identify model practices for sustained partnerships between artists and communities; help orchestras fully and comprehensively achieve their missions; and enrich orchestral repertoire with fresh and inventive music of our time.
Funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, and The Amphion Foundation. More information on Music Alive is available on the New Music USA website.

(—from the press release)

Three Musicians Among 2014 USA Fellows

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Daoud Haroon, Alison Brown, and Meshell Ndegeocello

The 2014 USA Music Fellows: Daoud A. Haroon, Alison Brown (photo © Jody Spence), and Meshell Ndegeocello (photo © Mark Seliger). From the United States Artists Fellows Website.

United States Artists (USA) has announced 34 new USA Fellows for 2014 including three musicians: Nashville-based bluegrass/newgrass banjoist Alison Brown; Durham-based trombonist, ethnomusicologist, and jazz educator Daoud A. Haroon; and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, bassist, and rapper Meshell Ndegeocello. Each artist will receive an award of $50,000 to support his or her practice and professional development, opening up creative possibilities through financial support.
As one of the largest grant-making organizations in the country providing direct support to artists, USA honors innovative, accomplished artists at all stages of their careers. Artists are nominated by their peers and field experts for the quality, imagination, and enduring potential of their work in the following disciplines: architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts, and visual arts. Awards are entirely unrestricted and may be used by fellows in any way they choose.

Founded in 2006 by the Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson, and Prudential Foundations with $22 million to support artists in America, USA is currently funded by a broad range of philanthropic foundations and individuals. Since inception, through its signature USA Fellows program, USA has distributed $19.1 million in support to 405 artists. Past recipients of USA Fellowships include visual artists Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, Theaster Gates and Catherine Opie; cartoonist Chris Ware; designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy (of Rodarte); composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Meredith Monk and Jason Moran; ballet dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied; choreographer Bill T. Jones; and writer Sapphire.

The 34 recipients of this year’s awards were selected from 116 nominated artists living in the United States and Puerto Rico and were chosen by a panel of expert peers in each artistic discipline. For a complete list of the 2014 fellows and additional information, visit the United States Artists website.

(from the press release)

Boosey & Hawkes Signs David T. Little

Posted on October 6, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

David T. Little

David T. Little
Photo by Merri Cyr

Boosey & Hawkes has announced the addition of David T. Little to its roster of composers. By exclusive publishing agreement, Little’s complete catalog is now represented worldwide by Boosey & Hawkes.


“Watching [David’s] career take off has been exhilarating,” said Zizi Mueller, president of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. “He constantly challenges his own musical boundaries, while creating astute and relevant works that touch us all. From his stage works to his chamber music, David has captured the attention of artists and audiences from diverse musical arenas.”

Little, the composer of such works as the opera Dog Days and the multi-media music theatre piece Soldier Songs, often explores political concerns in his music. Recent and upcoming works include AGENCY (Kronos Quartet), CHARM (Baltimore Symphony/Marin Alsop), Hellhound (Maya Beiser), Haunt of Last Nightfall (Third Coast Percussion), the opera JFK with Royce Vavrek (Fort Worth Opera/ALT), a new opera commissioned by the MET Opera/Lincoln Center Theater new works program, and the music theatre work Artaud in the Black Lodge with Outrider legend Anne Waldman (Beth Morrison Projects).

His music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Park Avenue Armory, the Bang on a Can Marathon, and elsewhere. Educated at University of Michigan and Princeton, Little is co-founder of the annual New Music Bake Sale, has served as executive director of MATA and is currently director of composition at Shenandoah Conservatory and composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia. The founding artistic director of the ensemble Newspeak, his music can be heard on New Amsterdam and Innova labels.

(from the press release)

Two Women Composers Commissioned in New League/EarShot Program

Posted on September 30, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Photos of Eotvos and Adolphe

Melody Eötvös and Julia Adolphe, photos courtesy American Composers Orchestra.

The New York Times reported today that Julia Adolphe and Melody Eötvös will each receive a $15,000 orchestral commission as part of a new program administered by The League of American Orchestras and EarShot to provide commissions and premieres for scores composed by women. The new program is made possible through the support of the Virginia B. Toulmin
Foundation Program for Commissioning Women in the Performing Arts.

Adolphe is based in Los Angeles and Eötvös, who was born in Australia, currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana. Both were among the emerging composers chosen for readings and performances by the New York Philharmonic and ACO as part of the inaugural NY Phil Biennial in June of this year. For more details on the commissions and the new program, read Allan Kozinn’s New York Times article.

Steve Coleman Awarded 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant”

Posted on September 17, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Steve Coleman in his Allentown, Pennsylvania, backyard.

Steve Coleman in his Allentown, Pennsylvania, backyard. Image courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Composer and saxophonist Steve Coleman has been named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow.

A total of 21 innovators in a wide variety of disciplines have been singled out this year to receive the award, often referred to as a “genius grant,” which recognizes “exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years. The fellowship comes with no stipulations or reporting requirements, and allows recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions.”

The MacArthur Foundation noted that Coleman is a musician “whose technical virtuosity and engagement with musical traditions and styles from around the world are expanding the expressive and formal possibilities of spontaneous composition.”
Listen to Coleman, 57, speak about his approach to improvisation, the development of M-Base, and the role of mentorship and community building in his musical life:


Follow Coleman’s work online via his website, Facebook, and Twitter.
More about this year’s class of MacArthur Fellows is available here.

A Peek from the Peaks of the PROs

Posted on September 12, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

AIMP
For 90 minutes the CEOs of all three United States performing rights organizations—ASCAP’s John LoFrumento, BMI’s Mike O’Neill, and SESAC’s Pat Collins—were all in the same room at the same time, at a NYC-based Texas BBQ restaurant. Well, mostly.

During a luncheon meeting on September 10 organized by the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), each was interviewed by veteran entertainment lawyer Bob Donnelly but to avoid any possibility of collusion, whenever one CEO was talking the other two left the room. Each was asked about the U.S. Department of Justice’s current review of consent decrees for music licensing, rate court, a proposed Songwriter Equity Act, and other topics of interest to both music creators as well as music listeners. For more details, read Marc Ostrow’s report here.

2014 Barlow Winners Announced

Posted on September 5, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Ben Hjertmann

Ben Hjertmann

The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University has announced commission winners for 2014. After reviewing 280 composer applications from 30 countries worldwide, the judging panel awarded Ben Hjertmann of Chicago, Illinois (now living in North Carolina and teaching at Appalachian State University), the $12,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for saxophone quartet. The panel also granted Steven Bryant of Durham, North Carolina, the distinction of honorable mention in this competition.

In considering nearly 100 applications in the general and LDS commissioning programs, the endowment granted a total of $62,000 to ten composers. (Composers who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as any composer willing to engage LDS subject matter, may apply to the LDS commissioning program.)
The winners will write works for the following ensembles and musicians:

GENERAL COMMISSION RECIPIENTS
Dan Trueman (So Percussion and Jack Quartet)
Mikel Kuehn (Spektral Quartet)
Peter Van Zandt Lane (EQ Ensemble)
Christopher Fisher-Lochhead (Spektral Quartet)
Ted Hearne (Roomful of Teeth)
Mark Engebretson (Bent Frequency)

LDS COMMISSION RECIPIENTS
Chad Cannon (Farallon Quintet)
Steven Ricks (Manhattan String Quartet)
Matthew Nielsen (BYU Singers)
Curtis Smith (Bryan Lew/violist)

The judging panel included the endowment’s board of advisers: Todd Coleman, Stacy Garrop, Christian Asplund, James Mobberley, and Leilei Tian. Ethan Wickman served as a guest judge in most of the deliberations. Zachary Shemon, Stephen Page, and Ryan Janus represented the PRISM, ZZYZX, and United States Air Force saxophone quartets respectively in selecting the Barlow Prize. These ensembles form the endowment’s performing consortium that will premiere the new work in 2016.
Next year’s Barlow Prize will feature a new work for orchestra. Details for this commission will be available soon.

(–from the press release)

New Music USA Requesting Feedback on Project Grants

Posted on August 19, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

New Music USA(waveform)
If you have participated in the New Music USA project grant application process, our grantmaking staff would like your feedback on the new platform. A brief list of questions has been posted here to collect your thoughts on the application experience, your use of the site, areas for further development, and anything else you’d like to share.
Responses will be accepted until August 29 and may be submitted anonymously.
Go to the questionnaire ➩

British Report on Commissioning Fees Inspires Concern

Posted on August 18, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Money and music
Sound and Music, a national agency for new music in Britain, has conducted a survey of 466 composers designed to explore the economic challenges facing the creation of new work. The full report is available here, but an article today in The Guardian highlighted some of the study’s key findings:

• 66% of the 466 composers who responded stated they do not find commissions to be a significant proportion of their income. Given that the respondents had an average of 2.65 commissions in 2013 with an average fee per commission of £1,392 it’s easy to see why.
• 74% of composers received the same amount or more commissions in 2013 than in 2012 but only 15% earned more income. We also discovered that those who had been undertaking commissions for more than five years were likely to win more commissions but get paid less per commission.
• There are significant variances in income: the best paid 1% of composers received over 25% of all commission income captured by our survey. Once we excluded them from our sample, average annual commission income fell from £3,689 to £2,717.

Read the full report here.

Washington National Opera to Mount 3 New 20-Minute Operas

Posted on August 7, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

Heatshots of the six commissioned composers and librettists

The three composers (upper row from left to right) John Liberatore, Rene Orth, and Jake Runestad, and the three librettists (lower row from left to right) Niloufar Talebi, Jason Kim, and David Johnston. Photos courtesy of the Washington National Opera.

The Washington National Opera has announced details for the third season of their American Opera Initiative, a commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three teams of new opera composers and librettists—John Liberatore and Niloufar Talebi, Jake Runestad and David Johnston, and Rene Orth and Jason Kim—will premiere new 20-minute operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on November 21, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
For more information, visit the WNO website.