May The Force Be With You

I know that exciting new music performances happen around the country throughout the year—in fact, I’ve been earning frequent flyer miles trying to attend some of them—but April and May really do feel like a double contemporary American music month in New York City. In April, on the nights that I was in New York, it seemed like I was at a concert every single night. We’re only a week into May at this point, but it’s already been non-stop with events like the Look and Listen Festival this past weekend, the American Composers Orchestra’s Underwood New Music Readings at NYU Skirball’s Center today and tomorrow, and the New York City Opera’s VOX readings from morning to night this weekend which are also at Skirball. (A friend suggested to me that we all should have brought along a suitcase and just camped out there for the rest of the week.)

It’s more than just concerts, though. There’s something in the air every May. We here at the American Music Center celebrate the first Monday of every May with our Annual Awards Ceremony and Annual Meeting which this year honored eighth blackbird, Ralph Jackson, T.J. Anderson, and John Corigliano for their outstanding contributions to new American music. Next week, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Ceremonial will bring composers, authors, and visual artists together once again at its annual party. And later in the month there will be ceremonies for the BMI Student Composer Awards and the ASCAP Concert Music Awards which includes a presentation of the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. So it’s hard to not get caught up in a festive spirit surrounding new music.

I can’t help but wonder, though, with all this remarkable activity going on and with all the people attending all of these events, what can we do make a louder splash about new music among the general public? I noticed that a gala last night at the Metropolitan Opera House made it onto the front page of today’s New York Post due to the presence there of movie star Cameron Diaz. Perhaps we need to invite her to one of these new music events in May next year.