For Immediate Release
Contact: Nichole L. Knight
nknight@chamber-music.org
212-242-2022 ext. 106
New York, NY (July 31, 2017)—Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network for ensemble music professionals, today announced the distribution of $951,545 through its four major grant programs: New Jazz Works and Presenter Consortium for Jazz, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Classical Commissioning, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Residency Partnership Program, funded by Chamber Music America's Residency Endowment Fund.
This funding will provide key support for the creation, performance, and presentation of small ensemble works, as well as support community engagement and audience-building initiatives. The grantees in each program were selected by independent peer panels. A complete list of the 2017 grantees follows:
NEW JAZZ WORKS
Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
A total of $447,000 was awarded to fifteen jazz ensembles through the New Jazz Worksprogram, which supports the creation of new works by professional U.S.-based jazz artists and helps assure that these compositions will be heard through live performances and recordings.
Alchemy Sound Project (Rosendale, NY)
Composer: Erica Lindsay | Instrumentation: Flute/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, oboe, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, piano, bass, drums
2017 New Jazz Works Grantees
Andrea Brachfeld Quartet (Jersey City, NJ)
Composer: Andrea Brachfeld |Instrumentation: Flute/alto flute, piano, bass, drums
Ben Wendel Group (Brooklyn, NY)
Composer: Ben Wendel | Instrumentation: Saxophone, bassoon, Fender Rhodes, guitar, piano, bass, drums
Craig Handy and 2nd Line Smith(Weehawken, NJ)
Composer: Craig Handy | Instrumentation: Saxophone, organ, sousaphone, drums/percussion, guitar, bass
The Curtis Brothers (Weehawken, NJ)
Composer: Zaccai Curtis | Instrumentation: Piano, bass, drums, alto saxophone, trumpet
Ian Carey Quintet + 1 (Richmond, CA)
Composer: Ian Carey | Instrumentation: Flute, bass clarinet, alto/tenor saxophones, trumpet, piano, bass, drums
Joshua Lawrence and Color Theory (New York, NY)
Composer: Joshua Lawrence | Instrumentation: Flute, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, alto saxophone, Fender Rhodes, piano, bass, drums
Kendrick Scott Oracle (New York, NY)
Composer: Kendrick Scott | Instrumentation: Soprano/tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, guitar, piano, bass, drums, electronics
Manuel Valera Trio (New York, NY)
Composer: Manuel Valera | Instrumentation: Piano, bass, drums
Martin Bejerano Trio (Miami, FL)
Composer: Martin Bejerano | Instrumentation: Piano, bass, drums
Mickey Bass and the New York Powerhouse Ensemble (New York, NY)
Composer: Mickey Bass | Instrumentation: Bass, vibraphone, alto/tenor saxophones, trumpet, drums
Mike Holober and Balancing Act (Mount Kisco, NY)
Composer: Mike Holober | Instrumentation: Flute, soprano/alto/tenor saxophones, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, piano, bass, drums, voice
Piano Iberico (Brooklyn, NY)
Composer: Chano Dominguez | Instrumentation: Piano, bass, percussion/hand percussion (palmas), foot percussion, voice
Samuel Torres Group (Long Island City, NY)
Composer: Samuel Torres | Instrumentation: Percussion, piano, bass, two trumpets, alto/tenor/baritone saxophones, trombone
Vardan Ovsepian Chamber Project (Glendale, CA)
Composer: Vardan Ovsepian | Instrumentation: Piano, flute, viola, cello, double bass, percussion
CLASSICAL COMMISSIONING
Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Twelve grants totaling $231,550 have been awarded through the Classical Commissioning program, which provides support to U.S.-based professional classical and world music ensembles and presenters for the creation and performance of new chamber works by American composers.
2017 Classical Commissioning Grantees
Attacca Quartet (New York, NY)
Composer: Chris Rogerson |Instrumentation: Two violins, viola, cello
Boston Musica Viva (Boston, MA)
Composer: Sebastian Currier |Instrumentation: Soprano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, cello, piano, percussion
The Dorian Wind Quintet (New York, NY)
Composer: Billy Childs | Instrumentation: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
Ensemble Dal Niente (Chicago, IL)
Composer: Erin Gee | Instrumentation: Two sopranos, flute, clarinet, cello, bass, two percussion
Enso String Quartet (New York, NY)
Composer: Alyssa Weinberg | Instrumentation: Two violins, viola, cello, clarinet
Eurasia Consort (Seattle, WA)
Composer: Alice Shields | Instrumentation: Soprano, alto flute, recorder, Renaissance harp, ud, theorbo, percussion
Garth Newel Music Center (Hot Springs, VA)
Composer: David Biedenbender | Instrumentation: Violin, viola, cello, piano
Longleash (Brooklyn, NY)
Composer: Shawn Jaeger | Instrumentation: Violin, cello, digital/prepared piano
Momenta Quartet (Bronx, NY)
Composer: Alvin Singleton | Instrumentation: Two violins, viola, cello
NOVA Chamber Music Series (Salt Lake City, UT)
Composer: Morris Rosenzweig | Instrumentation: Two violins, viola, cello, clarinet, prepared piano
Spektral Quartet (Chicago, IL)
Composer: Tonia Ko | Instrumentation: Two violins, viola, cello
Zéphyros Winds (Las Vegas, NV)
Composer: David Sanford | Instrumentation: Flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, horn
Chamber Music America's commissioning programs are also supported by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Amphion Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, and the Chamber Music America Commissioning Endowment Fund.
RESIDENCY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
Funded by the Chamber Music America Residency Endowment Fund
The Residency Partnership Program supports ensembles and presenters in building awareness and appreciation for classical/contemporary, jazz, and world chamber music through community-based residencies that engage audiences beyond traditional concert settings. A total of $41,995 has been awarded to seven ensembles and two presenting organizations across the United States.
2017 Residency Partner Program Grantees
The 2017 grantees are:
- • Apollo Chamber Players (Houston, TX)
- • Great Falls Symphony with the Cascade Quartet (Great Falls, MT)
- • Lawler + Fadoul (New York, NY)
- • Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph (New York, NY)
- • The Playground Ensemble (Denver, CO)
- • Sonic Forest (San Francisco, CA)
- • Sylvan Winds (New York, NY)
- • Wendell Harrison Ensemble (Detroit, MI)
- • Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco's Bronx Music Heritage Center) (Bronx, NY) with the Garifuna Jazz Ensemble
PRESENTER CONSORTIUM FOR JAZZ
Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Presenter Consortium for Jazz supports consortiums of three U.S. presenters to collectively engage up to three professional U.S. jazz ensembles. Project grants totaling $156,000 have been awarded to five consortiums (15 presenting organizations), which will receive an additional $75,000 in general operating support.
This year’s grantees are:
• Walker Arts Center(Minneapolis, MN),
• Krannert Center for Performing Arts (Urbana, IL)
• Wexner Center (Columbus, OH)
Presenting The Bad Plus with Bill Frisell
• Western Michigan University Foundation
(Kalamazoo, MI)
• City of East Lansing/Summer Solstice Jazz Festival (East Lansing, MI)
• The Carr Center (Detroit, MI)
Presenting the Dafnis Prieto Sextet*
*Dafnis Prieto Sextet will perform Prieto's 2005 New Jazz Works commission, The Emotion Series: Taking the Soul for a Walk.
• Arts for Art (New York, NY),
• CapitalBop (Washington, D.C.)
• Pittsburgh Cultural Trust(Pittsburgh, PA)
Presenting the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir
• Nameless Sound (Houston, TX),
• Epistrophy Arts (Austin, TX)
• The New Quorum (New Orleans, LA)
Presenting the Wadada Leo Smith - Golden Quartet*
*Wadada Leo Smith - Golden Quartet will perform Smith's 2010 New Jazz Workscommission, Ten Freedom Summers.
• Acadiana Center for the Arts(Lafayette, LA)
• Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge/River City Jazz Masters Concert Series (Baton Rouge, LA)
• Banner Series @ McNeese State University
(Lake Charles, LA)
Presenting the Arturo Sandoval Sextet
For more information about CMA’s grant programs, including past grantees and projects, please visit:
www.chamber-music.org.
Chamber Music America, the national network for ensemble music professionals, was founded in 1977 to develop, support, and strengthen the chamber music field. With a membership of nearly 6,000, including musicians, ensembles, presenters, artist managers, educators, music businesses, and advocates of ensemble music, CMA welcomes members representing a wide range of musical styles and traditions. CMA provides its members with grant programs, consulting services, a national conference, professional development seminars, access to instrument and other insurances, and several publications, including Chamber Music magazine; the weekly Accent e-newsletter; and a member-driven website, www.chamber-music.org.
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end, the Foundation supports exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work.