YSM faculty and alumni receive grants from New Music USA
Several YSM faculty and alumni composers and performers have been selected to receive grants from New Music USA for its Fall 2015 Project Grants Awards. Totaling $276,770 in funding, the awards support artistic work involving a wide range of new American music. The 53 awarded projects include concerts and recordings as well as dance, theater, opera, and more, all involving contemporary music as an essential element. The public can explore awarded projects from all five rounds via media-rich project pages.
Harold Meltzer '97 MMA, '00 DMA was recognized as part of the American Notes commissioning initiative by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Along with composer Jessie Montgomery, Meltzer has been commissioned to create an original orchestral work for Orpheus to be premiered at Carnegie Hall and on tour to audiences across America in 2016.
The Music Mondays series in New York City was awarded a grant for the first-ever full-length portrait concert in New York City for Judd Greenstein '04 MM. Titled City Boy: Music of Judd Greenstein, the concert featured the Claremont Trio, NOW Ensemble, and Roomful of Teeth, and was held on February 15, 2016 on the Upper West Side.
Alumni Andy Akiho '11 MM and Ian Rosenbaum '10 MM, '11 AD are both involved in LIgNEouS 4, the commission of a new work for marimba and string quartet by Akiho for Rosenbaum. Co-commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest, the world premiere of the work will take place at CMNW with the Orion String Quartet during the summer of 2016. The entire LIgNEouS suite will be commercially recorded with the Dover Quartet, to be released by Innova Records in the fall of 2016. Akiho is also recognized as part of the collaborative team for Galileo, a new project directed by The Industry theatre company which is set to premiere in September 2017 in Santa Barbara, CA.
Lastly, current composition faculty member Hannah Lash '12 AD has been awarded a grant as part of The Click! Commission, the Colorado Music Festival's innovative audience-sourced initiative to seek out new cutting-edge orchestral compositions. The commission involves a dynamic, week-long composer residency program featuring Lash, and will be a focal point for the overall six-week Festival, with the world premiere performance of Lash's work as its centerpiece. Each of the groups receiving funding has a blog, which can each be followed here.
