Category: Headlines

Though jazz musicians might seem an unlikely topic for statistical study, the National Endowment for the Arts has released just that—a three-volume report titled “Changing the Beat: A Study of the Worklife of Jazz Musicians” is available for free download. The first volume, released last January, includes an executive summary providing report highlights.

The study is based on the premise that “when viewed as an occupation, making a living as a jazz musician can be very difficult…jazz music does not fare as well as other music forms, making it challenging to maintain and continue this treasure.”

The report contains data collected from about 2,700 union and non-union jazz musicians located in New York, Detroit, San Francisco, and New Orleans. It is intended to “address a longstanding question: How best to support the continuing growth and development of jazz and the musicians who create it?”

Dr. Billy Taylor chaired the study’s advisory board.

The full report addresses jazz musician demographics; employment and income; retirement plans and health-care coverage; recognition, grants, and fellowships; copyrights and airplay; migration and touring; bands; styles and instruments; future goals and qualities needed for a career in jazz; and respondent suggestions.

Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA, comments, “We hope this body of information will help those who appreciate and support jazz music better understand the needs of the artists who produce this uniquely American art form, which is central to America’s cultural legacy.”

If you need a warm up before the Democratic primary, you still have a few days left to vote for your favorite of the six compositions that have made it to the final round of the 2003 Masterprize competition. For those who find themselves frequently disagreeing with the new music cognoscenti who program concerts and write reviews, this is your chance to speak out (well, sort of—of the some 1,000 compositions entered, two star-studded juries have already narrowed it down to six for you).

An audio stream of each work in its entirety is posted on the Masterprize Web site and an electronic ballot is available there. A CD of the pieces also appears on the front cover of both Gramophone (November issue) and Classic FM Magazine (October issue).

Of those six finalists, two are American—Christopher Theofanidis was selected for Rainbow Body and Robert Henderson for his Einstein’s Violin. Both works are scored for full orchestra and run less than 15 minutes.

Robert Henderson Einstein’s Violin (1998) commissioned by the Utah Arts Festival and performed by the Utah Symphony Christopher Theofanidis Rainbow Body (2000) commissioned by Meet the Composer and the Houston Symphony, recorded and performed by the Atlanta Symphony

On October 30, 2003, the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding will perform them all at a gala event at Barbican Center, the finale of a 16-month process. At the end of the concert on Thursday the public vote that was cast prior to the concert (you can vote online here) will be combined with that of the audience in the hall (5% of the total), a celebrity jury also present in the hall (40% of the total), and players from the LSO (10% of the total).

The winner will receive a cash prize of £25,000.

Former British diplomat John McLaren, concerned about the health of new music and its relationship with its audience, launched the competition in 1996 with a clear personal mission to attempt to both end the myth that “no composer can expect to be appreciated in his lifetime” and “to send a signal to composers that it is possible to write for a broad international audience, without dumbing down or in any way compromising artistically. To try to persuade them that it’s good to have an audience and that the audience reaction is a valid one.”

An audience vote in what was previously a more private affair is perhaps less shocking in an age of reality TV shows, but the competition continues to take flack from those who don’t feel the public has a role in this artistic process. McLaren counters that “we’ve never said music should be tonal or harmonic or melodic or anything. We’ve never once said x is good and y is bad. All we’ve said is that eventually the measure of it has to be: does anybody like it.”

As for the composers themselves, they are just pleasantly surprised to be part of the process. Henderson told Dina Mishev of the Jackson Hole News and Guide that he hadn’t even planned to enter the competition. He thought Einstein’s Violin “wasn’t avant-garde enough,” and described it as one of his most conservative works. His wife, Sara, pushed for the entry and even filled out the forms.

Theofanidis, for his part, finds the whole thing “kind of a neat idea, an experiment to see how they can better bridge the gap between the public and performer/composer types.” With so many different competitions of a more secret and acedemic nature to choose from, perhaps Masterprize is just a new way to approach the daunting task of judging new music.

And win or lose, every finalist’s work does get numerous radio broadcasts, media attention, and an LSO performance at the Barbican. “It’s kind of like Oscar night,” admits Theofanidis with a laugh. “It’s just nice to be nominated.”

Composer Karim Al-Zand has won the second annual Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Competition Prize. His proposal to write a concertino for trumpet earned him a $20,000 cash prize and a premiere performance next spring.

Karim Al-Zand Al-Zand received his bachelor of music degree from McGill University in 1993 and his PhD from Harvard University in 2000. In 1998 he won the Salvatore Martirano Composition Competition for his string quartet. His most recent commissions have been from ALEA III, the New England Conservatory Camerata and Houston’s OrchestraX. As a pianist, Al-Zand has performed in jazz settings and has directed and composed for an 18-piece ensemble he formed in 1995. He currently pursues several areas of music theoretical work, including research on jazz and improvisation related topics.

Currently an assistant professor of composition and theory at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Al-Zand says that the honor and the “very generous” cash award are welcome at this point in his career. “It’s nice to know that the work you do is being valued,” he says. “I feel the award presents an enormous artistic opportunity for me, and it’s a gratifying shot in the arm career-wise as well. Not to mention the chance to write for [James Ackley], such a talented and accomplished performer.”

The international award is sponsored by the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut. The competition, which this year was geared specifically to works for solo trumpet and chamber ensemble, seeks to support and promote aspiring composers and encourage the performance of their works. Al-Zand’s submission was one of 50 entries received.

Though Al-Zand says he is still in the very early stages of the piece, his yet untitled work will be “somewhat programmatic, making reference to symbolic and metaphorical associations which the instrument has taken on—martial, jazz, and religious.”

Al-Zand’s piece will premiere next spring at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. A second performance will follow at the university’s Stamford campus.

Established through a gift of Raymond and Beverly Sackler (frequent University of Connecticut donors), “the Prize is part of a broader structure promoting innovation, inventiveness and the creative spirit within the School of Fine Arts,” explains David G. Woods, dean of the School of Fine Arts. “It provides the opportunity for cutting-edge creative exploration and productivity, and will provide the essence of creativity in the artistic program of the School.”

This year’s jurors were Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner; Raymond Leppard, conductor laureate and former music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; and composerJoan Tower, winner of the 1990 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.

Composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank was the first recipient of the first Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize in 2002.

If you’re in the Twin Cities tomorrow, you might want to drop by Orchestra Hall and spend the afternoon with John Corigliano. He’ll be on hand to meet with area composers and composition students at an open rehearsal of his Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems for Bob Dylan, and will host a roundtable discussion later that afternoon. Corigliano is the first of five guest composers scheduled to participate in the Minnesota Orchestra/American Composers Forum/University of Minnesota collaborative Composer-To-Composer Series this season.

It’s not a new idea for the ACF, which has developed similar programs in Philadelphia, Boston, and Atlanta. A success elsewhere, implementing the program in Minnesota seemed a natural step. This is not a competition—performances of works by the participating composers were already scheduled as part of the Minnesota Orchestra’s season (most will be world premieres). The program is simply a way the ACF hopes to build on that. “We decided as long as these composers are in town, we should be doing more to take advantage of their presence,” explains David Wolff, ACF’s Minnesota chapter director. “It seemed like a really great opportunity to have the local composers, composition students, and community members come and hear rehearsals and have the chance to meet and discuss things with the visiting composers.”

Minnesota Orchestra New Music Advisor Aaron Jay Kernis, who will host his own session on February 4, 2004, in conjunction with the Midwest premiere of his Color Wheel, praises the program for bringing “world-class composers from around the globe in direct contact with Twin Cities area composers and new-music enthusiasts, for personal and undoubtedly far-ranging discussions.”

The series also includes two November sessions—November 12 with Stephen Paulus and November 26 with Peter Lieberson. Nicholas Maw concludes the series March 3. (see sidebar for a complete schedule and additional information)

Wolff expects Corigliano’s visit to be a great start for the program based on his local name recognition (his works include the Pulitzer prize-winning Symphony No. 2 and the score for the motion picture The Red Violin, a work known within the community). Also, Wolff notes, since the Dylan songs were originally scored for a chamber group, “what works especially well for this is the idea that he’s orchestrated it. I think that that’s going to be a really interesting speaking point—to learn about how a piece goes from a smaller chamber setting into a larger orchestral setting.”

Wolff sees all of this as part of the supportive new music environment being fostered in Minnesota. (He notes that a recent ACF survey showed there are nearly 600 composers in the Twin Cities metro area.) “There’s a lot going in here,” Wolff says, “and because of that your average audience member is able to participate and take in a lot more than they are in other markets, particularly in the Midwest. We’re still not on the scale of some of the larger cultural centers in the country but I think what we have pre capita is really quite impressive.”

Forty people have already RSVP’d to attend the Corigliano rehearsal and roundtable, and Wolff is expecting a number of last-minute arrivals will bolster that figure. The Perkins Center for the Arts (K-12), the University of Minnesota composition department, and local composers with private studios will be bringing students. Even a few community members have signed up.

Hollis Headrick

When Hollis Headrick catches a moment to speak with me, he is in especially high spirits despite the chaos of transitioning to the directorship of the Weill Music Institute, a newly created position at Carnegie Hall he’ll start fulltime in mid-December, while phasing out his work as Executive Director of the Center for Arts Education in New York City. After just a few minutes of conversation, his energy seems explained—he is optimistic about arts education, cares about his role in that process, and is excited by the opportunities ahead of him at Carnegie Hall.

The recently established Weill Music Institute, named in honor of the long-time education proponent and Carnegie’s largest single-gift donor Sanford I. Weill, will encompass the hall’s current music education programs and serve as a launching pad for future initiatives. The Institute’s resources, including the current education endowment fund, are put at $70 million. Weill’s contribution to that figure speaks loudly, underlying his philosophy that the “pursuit of art education is a key to giving children a sense of self-worth and happiness and the possibility of expanded horizons.”

It’s a demonstrated commitment that attracted Headrick. “One of the main reasons that I was interested in the position,” he explains, “is because Carnegie Hall, through the leadership of the Weills and the donors who have created the endowment for the Weill Music Institute, really want to raise the profile of education.”

As the Institute begins its work, this will mean evaluating how the entire organization “can think of education as a more integral part of what Carnegie hall does,” says Headrick, from what goes on in the new Zankel Hall to the effect of Neighborhood Concerts throughout New York’s boroughs. The new financial and physical resources will allow the Carnegie staff to re-imagine the opportunities for education across programs.

Personally, Headrick says he’s most excited by the potential the new Zankel Hall offers, exemplified by the eclectic kinds of programming already taking place there. “From my background—jazz and contemporary music—that is what interests me, having the widest possible range of musics to use for educational purposes, to build upon the wonderful things that happen in classical music that Carnegie is know for most.”

The role living composers need to play in that education is not lost on Headrick. “I think that it’s very important that young people understand that composers still work everyday,” he says. It’s a living tradition that for Headrick covers everything from a rap artists composing live onstage to a Juilliard-trained musician with a pen and manuscript paper. He is convinced that “we need to get that into the schools so that the work of living composers is something that’s valued. Composers and their work can be presented [in Zankel Hall] in a way that will allow for a conversation and a broader understanding of how living composers work. I think it’s very important and we can’t lose sight of that.”

Sounding more optimistic than the usual media coverage (encouraging considering his long-time involvement in education and the arts), Headrick says that “nationally I think music education probably is in as good of shape as it ever has been in the sense of having different types of performance opportunities—different ensembles and choruses and marching bands.” He also cites the importance of more research about the value of arts education—music education in particular (remember the Mozart Effect?)—on a child’s development. But new federal legislation focusing on testing and the general economic need for school budget cuts has meant new challenges in making sure the arts are a part of a complete education for all students.

In New York City, a committee that includes Department of Education staff as well as music educators from the cultural community is working to develop the arts in the schools. Headrick encourages this public-private partnership since for the “foreseeable future, the department of education cannot address all of the needs in arts education that the public school system has.”

And that’s something Headrick thinks Carnegie Hall, with it’s instant name recognition and branding, is also in a place to address. “That’s all in development, but these are the kind of broader vision pieces that we’ll be looking into.”

Arts education may not be top priority in today’s school systems, but it’s still getting attention and Headrick says he is “very optimistic.”

“While we’re having this conversation, there are music education programs going on all across the city in the public schools,” he says. “That doesn’t mean that every elementary school has a music teacher or all the resources that they need, but it does mean that overall we are in much better shape in the area of arts education than we were 5 or 6 years ago.”

Bringing it back to his new role at Carnegie, Headrick stresses that education is not just about school programs. “This is education in the broadest sense,” he explains, “so that when a person comes to a concert, there are ways we can think about that in an educational context.” Whether it’s a Web site visit, the chance to meet a performer, or attending a premiere, Headrick will encourage an attitude of always asking: Are there opportunities for education here that we haven’t explored before?

Photo by Robert Bachrach

Composer, critic, and teacher Arthur Berger died October 7, 2003 in Boston. He was 91. Up until the last months of his life, Berger remained an influential presence in the music community. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe reports that “according to [Berger’s] personal representative, Rosalie Calabrese, ‘his heart gave out.’ ”

• Read Dyer’s full article
• Read a NewMusicBox interview with Berger published in February 2003.

As a composer, Berger’s focus was on work for solo piano and chamber music, though his list of works also includes a number of choral and orchestral pieces. He began teaching in 1939 at Mills College. In 1943 he became a music critic for the New York Sun. A few years later, Virgil Thomson asked him to join the New York Herald Tribune, where he served as a full-time daily music reviewer until he resumed teaching in 1953 at Brandeis University. After retiring from Brandeis in 1980, Berger taught at the New England Conservatory of Music until 1999.

Berger was one of the founders of the influential periodical Perspectives of New Music. His book, Reflections of an American Composer (2002), is a collection of essays offering a unique perspective on the changing role of contemporary music in academia and modern society.

Aaron Copland, an early mentor of Berger’s, once wrote that his music “is markedly his own; every aspect harmony, rhythm, form reflects his idiosyncratic approach. Because of its distinction and originality, it constitutes a valuable and personal contribution to American music.”

Osvaldo Golijov Photo by Michael Krasser

• Jump to the post-announcement Q&A with Golijov

Composer Osvaldo Golijov has been named one of 24 new MacArthur Fellows for 2003, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced October 5. He will receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years.

Announcing the awards, Daniel J. Socolow, the director of the MacArthur Fellows Program, noted that although the 24 winners are engaged in vastly different areas of work, from—biophysics to blacksmithing—”each is highly focused, tenacious, and creative. As in past years, these Fellows are not only very good at what they do, their work is distinctively bold and original.”

On top of the breath-catching size of the financial award, there is an intriguing veil of mystery surrounding the award—there’s no application and no interview. A 12-member anonymous selection committee and the Foundation’s board of directors make their decision based on the recommendations of several hundred anonymous nominators. Award-winners are notified by phone the week before the public announcement.

The MacArthur Fellows Program is structured “to emphasize the importance of the creative individual in society.” There are no restrictions on how recipients may use the money and no reports are required. Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation, explains that the Fellowship simply “offers highly creative people the gift of time and the unfettered opportunity to explore, create, and accomplish.”

Golijov, 42, is currently associate professor of music at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Greatly influenced by his Jewish heritage and Argentinean upbringing, Golijov is known for his ability to synthesize cultures and genres. His Pasión Según San Marcos (2000) was met with a flurry of international critical and audience acclaim. A decade-long association with the Kronos Quartet has resulted in the creation of some 30 works, as well as the Nonesuch releases Caravan and the Grammy-nominated Nuevo. In addition to Kronos, Golijov’s work has been performed by ensembles such as the Boston Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, New World Symphony, London Sinfonietta, and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Golijov studied composition at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem and received his Ph.D. (1990) from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center (1990) before joining faculty of the College of the Holy Cross in 1991. Golijov also serves on the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center.

When I spoke to Osvaldo Golijov a few days after the announcement, he was still reeling with excitement over the award. He turned out to be not only the dedicated and talented composer the MacArthur Foundation identified him as, but also a charming and humble man. He had this to say about the honor:

Molly Sheridan: I know you find out you’ve won a MacArthur awards with just a phone call, pretty much out of the blue. Tell me a little about yours—when you got it, what your first reactions was…

Osvaldo Golijov: I guess my reaction was like everybody else—totally stunned. I think that they expect that reaction because the second thing they say is that they are sending you also a FedEx letter to confirm that this is not a joke. So yeah, I mean I was completely…and still, it’s a major readjustment in life—from chasing the carrot and trying to do what you love but also to put the food on the table for the children and so forth, to saying, ‘Oh, wow, I can do whatever I want and they will still eat.’ [laughs] That’s very nice.

Molly Sheridan: Obviously it’s a lot of money. Do you have any idea what you might do with it yet? I know it’s very soon, but are there any projects you’ve been thinking about that you just haven’t known how you would fund?

Osvaldo Golijov: Yeah, well there is one kind of piece that I wanted to do and I hope that maybe as a large instrumental piece I can make it work, something based on music of the Middle East with pre-recorded voice
and instruments and maybe an orchestra. I mean something big with that kind of material.

Molly Sheridan: What made you interested in the Middle East for this. I mean, is that influenced by current politics or is it more personal?

Osvaldo Golijov: Well, yes, but also with history and with my own life. I lived there. It’s something that I feel, in the same sense that I did the Pasion before. This is something that I feel brewing inside and this is an opportunity to let it out.

Molly Sheridan: I know a lot has been made of your Jewish heritage and your Argentine upbringing. But you’ve been working in the U.S. and teaching here for quite some time now. How does that impact the music that you write now?

Osvaldo Golijov: Well, of course it has a huge impact. As you said, I am living here. I’ve been living here for almost 20 years. Living in Argentina I wasn’t in contact with people in Cuba. Living here I am [laughs] or with Japanese. So it’s amazing. I think that most of the places that we consider to be very colorful in the world are very provincial when you compare them to the big cities in the U.S. in terms of the diversity, of the richness. Just to see the classrooms of my children is an experience that I wouldn’t have had either in Israel or in Argentina.

Molly Sheridan: I know a big part of the MacArthur is the trust that you will spend the money wisely. No one ever went to Las Vegas and blew it all.

Osvaldo Golijov: Yes, I was wondering if I would spend it faster than Mike Tyson or slower.

Molly Sheridan: I think they feel that the winners are so dedicated to the work already that you probably wouldn’t even think of spending it any other way. Do you feel that’s accurate and do you know how that sense of commitment to the music developed in you?

Osvaldo Golijov: Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t write music. I mean I don’t play golf. [laughs] The interesting thing is that I still have insomnia. I thought sometimes that the insomnia was because of the lack of money, but obviously it’s built in. So I love to work, to wake up early and work. It’s what makes me happy. And it makes me much happier when I know that my children don’t have to suffer because of my own pleasure, so to speak.

Molly Sheridan: You devote part of your career to teaching other composers. How do you think that adds or takes away from the music that you are able to write?

Osvaldo Golijov: Well at the moment I’m teaching what is ideal for me which is just one day a week. And I love having the feedback of young people and learning from them. I mean, being in touch with the young generation can only be good for you. In my specific case if I did it any more it would be at the expense of my writing. So this is a nice balance but every person is different. For me it is a nice combination, but my primary love is writing.

***

On an unfortunate aside, performances of Osvaldo Golijov’s new chamber opera Ainadamar, which were to have taken place the last weekend of October at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, have been cancelled due to the illness of soprano Dawn Upshaw. “Performing as part of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar was a great joy for me at the world premiere in Tanglewood this summer,” said Upshaw when the cancellation was announced. “I regret not having the chance to share this remarkable work with the New York audience now and very much hope that efforts to reschedule the performances will be successful.”

Ainadamar was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for co-production by The Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was to have received its New York premiere as a co-presentation of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers “New Visions” series and BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Lincoln Center and BAM hope to present Ainadamar in a future season in New York. The next scheduled performance is at the Los Angeles Philharmonic on February 29, 2004.

The National Science Foundation, the Federal agency that supports science collaboration, research, and education, has awarded the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, a technology grant of $102,200. This marks the first time an award has been granted by the NSF to a music ensemble. The funding will support the orchestra’s research and experimentation with high performance network connections in music education and interactive music collaboration via Internet2. Specifically, it will allow the NWS to finance a tremendous increase in bandwidth (an upgrade in connectivity to a Gigabit Ethernet) through the NSF’s High Performance Network Connections Program.

NWS Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas noted that Internet2 technology has helped create an environment where the “constraints of geography dissolve, and music will be made and shared with extraordinary freedom and ease among composers, performers, audiences, teachers, and students the world over.”

Thomas Greene, NSF senior program officer, concurred, adding that “with this award, computers talking to computers will change how musicians communicate with musicians.”

The NWS will match the grant on a one-to-one basis.

Read more about New World’s involvement with Internet2 technology on NewMusicBox at “Taking Music Virtually Everywhere.”

Rendering of new Roulette concert hall

The performance halls of the old music guard may seat thousands, but somehow there’s still not much room for new music. Some might even argue that’s how it should be—new spaces are needed to facilitate new thinking. But new spaces are hard—hard to establish, hard to publicize, and hard to finance.

There have been some successes. Roulette, an organization under whose auspice adventurous music concerts have been presented in New York City since 1980, might be considered one, and they have just announced they must close the concert doors on their Tribeca loft. Luckily, a search to establish a new home is already underway.

Due to changes in the legal status of the building, Program Director Jim Staley says it was no longer viable to present public concerts in the alternative space. “We chose not to fight the legal battle that might have earned us more years in the space,” Staley explains. “It would have been expensive, ugly, and perhaps endless. Instead we see this as an opportunity to develop the organization and take the view that we have finally outgrown the space.”

Roulette’s concert venue has been a unique and vital player in the development of New York’s downtown music scene. To ensure that that mission does not end, Roulette has partnered with several other avant-garde spaces—Location One, The Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, and The Flea—which will allow them to continue to present concerts this season.

Meanwhile, a permanent home is being sought. Roulette has struck a partnership with the Danspace Project to develop a building in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. Staley stresses that the parties are still negotiating the acquisition of the space and will have to “raise an awful lot of money very fast,” but acousticians and architects are already involved in the project. “The design focus is on superb acoustics and appropriate production infrastructure while preserving Roulette’s treasured tradition of an intimate link between audience and artist,” Staley says.

Plans for the new facility include:

• 260-seat concert hall, acoustically tuned and sound isolated.
• State of the art audio recording and multimedia production facilities
• 90-seat “Black Box” performance/rehearsal studio and installation room
• Four resident composer’s studios
• Dressing rooms, technical workshop, media library, and storage spaces
• Public facilities: lobby, restrooms, snack bar
• Office suite

Veteran Roulette concertgoers will likely cheer the simple improvement of an acoustically isolated space (distracting noises from the club below the loft often crept up through the floor). This time, Staley promises, it will be “quiet except for what’s going on inside.”

The new space will mean a lot more activity and collaborative projects and allow Roulette to continue as a lab for artists and composers. The proposed Brooklyn space is even large enough to comfortably record a small orchestra. Staley expects that the facility will impact the entire new music community by also presenting events put together by some of the many homeless music organizations.

Most importantly to Staley, however, is that Roulette will continue to provide a venue that is open to radical ideas in an environment that mixes new and experienced artists. “I think it’s essential for the work to grow,” Staley confesses. “The alternative space has gotten to be a club. Years ago so much of the downtown work happened that way. It’s an important part of the process, but it has gotten more difficult.”

Much of the difficulty can be traced to economics of course. Staley is already bracing for the fundraising work that will need to be done to float the Brooklyn transition. The general market downturn has many foundations and grant-makers scaling back their awards, which means more reliance on hard-to-get private support.

Still, Staley says the Roulette staff and board are committed to the challenge. “It’s a struggle, but you just have to make it happen.”

You may not often see their faces, but there is a large and dynamic community of women composers creating new music. “Not that many women have broken through to attain the status of say a John Adams,” admits Anna Rubin of the International Alliance for Women in Music. “But then again, not that many men have either.”

In an effort to grant women support and attention within the music community, the IAWA annually holds the Search for New Music Awards. The contest is devoted to identifying promising female composers, with special dispensations being made for students and women over fifty years of age. In this last round, the IAWM had over 70 women enter one or more pieces in the various categories. The composers who entered represented several countries and ran the gamut of compositional styles.

IAWM winners (r to l) Hsiao-Lan Wang (Photo by Derick Smith), Dorothy Chang, Jean Milew, and Joelle Wallach

The winners are:

• Po-Chun Wang, currently a Master’s student Boston University, was awarded the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich prize (for women age 21 and under) for her piece Three Movements.
• Currently at work on her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, Jean Milew was granted the Libby Larsen Prize (for women currently enrolled in school) for Sudden Light.
• One of two Gideon Prizes (for women age 50 and over) was given to Joelle Wallach, a recent doctoral graduate from the Manhattan School of Music, for her piece A Revisitation of Myth; the other Gideon went to Jennifer Fowler, a Londoner, for her Magnificat 11.
• The Judith Lang Zaimont prize (for women in or out of school, age 30 and up, whose music has not yet been recorded or published) went to Dorothy Chang, an Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, for her Wind/Unwind.
• Hsiao-Lan Wang, a DMA candidate at University of North Texas, was granted the Pauline Oliveros Prize (works for electro-acoustic media) for her Green Potato II.
• At work on her Ph.D. at the University of York, UK, Sungi Hong was given the Theodore Front Prize (for women 22 and over) for The Light of the World.

All winners were given cash awards ranging from $150 to $400.

When asked about the status of women in the new music field, Rubin notes that “rumor has it that there are fewer applicants to composition departments in general.” Added to that, composers of both sexes face the challenges of declining recording sales and exposure on FM radio. Rubin finds that many women are turning to technology to jump the hurdles. “Women are making their mark in cutting edge multi-media and Internet art and I suspect that many young women in the next twenty years will be attracted to these new genres.” She suggests that women interested in this meeting of technology and the arts visit IAWM president Kristine Burns’ award-winning site, WOWEM (Women On the Web/ElectronMedia–a “big sister”-type advice site offering articles that detail various aspects of the media arts). She also hopes that awards such as those presented by the International Alliance for Women in Music will continue to “motivate composers to keep going.”