New Music News Wire
ICM Sells Classical Music Division
International Creative Management, which represents actors, writers, and musicians, is selling its classical music division, known as ICM Artists. A group of eight colleagues, led by ICMA President and Chief Executive Officer David Foster and Executive Vice President and Managing Partner Byron Gustafson, and Newsweb, a privately held Chicago-based printing and media company, put up the financing. The purchase price has not been disclosed. According to the ICMA website, the classical roster includes conductors Marin Alsop and Robert Spano, composers Osvaldo Golijov and Krzysztof Penderecki, and new music ensembles eighth blackbird and Ethel.
Kernis Signs New Three-Year Contract with the Minnesota Orchestra
Composer Aaron Jay Kernis, the Minnesota Orchestra’s new music advisor since 1998, has signed a new three-year contract extending his tenure through the 2008-09 season. In addition to composing music for the orchestra, Kernis serves as chairman of the orchestra’s Composer Institute and Reading Sessions and advises the orchestra in the commissioning and support of other contemporary music which appears on its subscription concerts and educational programs.
Art of the States Goes Indie
After 13 years, Art of the States, WGBH Radio Boston’s international service of contemporary American music, has broken away to become an independent project, though still produced in association with WGBH. As of June 30, 2006, Executive Producer Joel Gordon and Producer Matthew Packwood began producing Art of the States under the auspices of Musica Omnia, a classical music non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Art of the States began as a musical exchange program with broadcasters of the European Broadcasting Union. Today, it stands as an ever-expanding resource that local and international broadcasts and music enthusiasts can turn to for new and lesser-known music from the United States. Art of the States currently distributes radio programs to 50 countries worldwide and maintains an educational website at artofthestates.org.
Bush Nominates Six to NEA’s National Council on the Arts
President Bush has nominated six new members to serve on the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts. The council reviews and makes recommendations to the NEA Chairman on grant applications, funding program guidelines, and national initiatives.
The nominees are:
- Ben Donenberg, theater producer and arts educator, Los Angeles, CA
- Chico Hamilton, NEA Jazz Master percussionist, New York, NY
- Joan Israelite, local arts agency executive, Lee’s Summit, MO
- Charlotte Kessler, arts patron, New Albany, OH
- Bret Lott, author, Baton Rouge, LA
- Frank Price, film industry executive, Pacific Palisades, CA
The nominations will be sent to the Senate when it reconvenes later this month.
FCC Discussing Media Consolidation
The Federal Communications Commission is currently reviewing major broadcast ownership rules and is holding six official hearings across the country to discuss the issue. While large media companies are lobbying for deregulation, public opinion appears to be largely against the move. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein wrote an editorial which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle over the weekend outlining what’s at stake. If you are concerned about this issue, you can lean more and file a comment with the FCC here.
—edited by Molly Sheridan