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Richard Kessler Photo by Melissa Richard

After a seven-year tenure marked by numerous groundbreaking initiatives, Richard Kessler will be stepping down as executive director of the American Music Center in July 2004.

Kessler has accepted the position of executive director at the Center for Arts Education, an organization dedicated to the promotion and support of arts education in the New York City public schools. He was one of the three authors of the plan that created CAE under the auspices of the Annenberg Challenge to the Nation for Education Reform in 1996.

While Kessler was at the helm of the AMC, the organization developed internally, both in terms of staffing and financial resources, and became a focal point within the national new music community.

Probably the most public demonstration of the Center’s commitment to advocacy under Kessler’s watch was the launch of two websites dedicated to raising the profile of American music: NewMusicBox.org, currently celebrating its fifth anniversary, and NewMusicJukebox.org, an online library and listening room launched in 2002. In addition, the AMC established a nationwide professional development program in 1999 and created the American Music Center Collection of Scores and Recordings at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Grant-making programs administered by the Center awarded over $7 million to the field between 2002-04.

Kessler is widely credited within the industry for refocusing the AMC at a crucial time in its history and securing the financial foundation needed to support the organization’s mission. When he came on board in 1997, the AMC employed only three staff members and was faced with a record deficit. His first budget was approximately $1 million; this grew to almost $5 million in 2002. This year, following six straight years of surplus budgets, the Center has a staff of 14, a $300,000-plus cash reserve, and an endowment of over $3 million.

John Kennedy, chairman of the AMC’s Board of Directors, speaks highly of Kessler’s leadership abilities and his commitment to the field. “Richard has had an unfailing dedication to the AMC as the primary means to building the new music community, which has translated into the Center’s transformation from a little organization on the edge of disappearing into an admired leadership organization that others turn to. There are a litany of AMC programs and institutional accomplishments, but at the end of the day, Richard’s impact has gone beyond the AMC to help rejuvenate the status of new music.”

When Kessler accepted the executive director position at the AMC, he says he was motivated by what he saw as a “tremendous opportunity” to support and advance American music. “New music is a very complex field that cuts across disciplines and there was so much potential,” he recalls, “but I saw so much need not being addressed and a real opportunity to better position the AMC to address these needs.”

Speaking from the composer’s perspective, AMC member Harold Meltzer points to how Kessler “led the effort to transform what a music information center could do…so that the AMC became an essential part of the new music world. He has been truly passionate about new music, and composers, since his days as a performer. And this passion drove him to reconsider programs and initiatives in terms of what composers really need.”

Boosey & Hawkes President and AMC board member Jenny Bilfield echoes those sentiments, specifically mentioning the impact the web initiatives have had in connecting the national community. “Richard has led a transformation of how American composers are able to present their work to the world around them,” she notes, “…but these initiatives have come from a deeper place—Richard’s inherent respect for the craft and for the creators and for the broad definition of ‘American Music’ that he has embraced.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has been a significant source of support to the AMC during Kessler’s tenure. Catherine Maciariello, program officer for the performing arts at the Foundation, has observed the organization’s evolution under his stewardship. “The Center’s contributions to helping organizations understand how to engage composers productively, to exploring creative uses of technology, and to elevating the public conversation about contemporary arts are the direct results of Richard’s imagination and dedication,” she says.

The AMC board has already begun the task of seeking Kessler’s successor and expects to have a new executive director named by the time the board meets in October. Kennedy speaks confidently that the transition will be a smooth one, citing the dedication of the current staff and board: “There is great staff experience and continuity that will enable the AMC to just keep on doing what we do. Interestingly, the board is in a process of strategizing future plans and is also in an extremely engaged and healthy place. We are gratefully poised to make this a very positive transition.”

At the top of the board’s list is “a desire for someone with a passionate love for and knowledge of new music, and the ability to communicate that with zeal,” says Kennedy. “Composers and their music need all the advocacy we can get, and it seems implicit that the AMC’s chief executive should be a visible leader in this regard.”

Richard Loyd, currently the AMC’s director of development, will serve as the interim executive director until a suitable candidate is found.

For Kessler, the return to the field of arts education is something of a homecoming. “I left performing to go into arts education because I believed I could do more good,” he explains. “The benefits of a broad and deep arts education can be profound. I feel the same way today.”

He expects that his passion for his work at the AMC will be directly applicable to the role he will take on leading an organization focused on education issues. “Honoring creativity and the creativity of others through arts education programs makes the world a better place for composers, so I really see them as connected.”

Kessler admits ambivalence about his decision to leave, stressing his appreciation for the work the AMC does. Still, he says that he will depart “knowing that the AMC today is positioned better than ever to move forward to the next vital stage of service to this community, where great things will be possible.”

The board, staff, and the composing community he has dedicated his career to for the past seven years wish him well. Composer John Harbison put it most eloquently: “Richard Kessler was as bold and fearless a leader for the American Music Center as he was a trombonist in his earlier incarnation. His strong insistent voice, like a brass fanfare, summoned the organization to innovation and risk. We will miss him.”

Elvin Jones, 1927-2004 Photo courtesy Carolyn McClair Public Relations

Elvin Jones, the innovative post-bebop drummer, died of heart failure on Tuesday, May 18, 2004, in New York. He was 76. Jones is probably best known for his contributions to the John Coltrane Quartet in the 1960s.

Jones continued to perform until a few weeks ago. Steven Bensusan, President of the Blue Note, said yesterday, “Elvin was a giant and we felt privileged to have him. May he rest easy.”

• Read the New York Times obituary by Peter Keepnews published this morning here.

So long, farewell… Dale Warland Singers bid adieu

The day is quickly approaching when the music community will be saying farewell to Dave Warland and his award-winning a cappella choral ensemble, the Dale Warland Singers. After 31 years of commissions and concerts, the ensemble will give their last performance May 30 in Minneapolis.

I Have Had Singing – A Choral Celebration! will survey the broad spectrum of works DWS has performed over the years including a reprise of Dominick Argento’s Walden Pond, selections from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and one of Dale Warland’s programming specialties, An Eclectic Mass, a collection of movements from the traditional mass written by a variety of composers.

Warland, music director since 1972, announced he would be stepping down last year. He plans to spend more time to teaching, guest conducting, recording, and composing.

The ensemble is probably most noted for its impact on new choral music repertoire through the commission of 240 works from composers such as Dominick Argento, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, Carol Barnett, Aaron Jay Kernis, Brent Michael Davids, Mary Ellen Childs, Augusta Read Thomas, Janika Vandervelde, George Shearing, Peter Schickele, Bernard Rands, Emma Lou Diemer, Alice Parker, and Frank Ferko.

The ensemble’s library of 20th century choral music holds more than 1,000 titles. It also includes hundreds of live concert recordings many of which are world premiere performances. The organization hopes to have the library catalogued and housed for public access.

2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has released a detailed report concerning the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. The survey measures participation in arts activities through attendance at live events, consumption of arts-related media, and personal participation in various art forms—including attendance at live events and at-home listening to classical, jazz, opera, and musical theater. The also includes demographic information of participation broken down by sex, race, age, income, and education level. Arts attendance was up in general, and rose with age, education level, and income.

Included among the many statistics and accompanying analysis offered (downloadable for free here), the extensive report also outlines the number of adults surveyed creating art. Composing music is up from 3.9 million in 1992, to a reported 4.7 million in 2002.

What’s in a name

The American Composers Forum Boston has changed its name to American Composers Forum New England. The change, according to the ACF, reflects the wider region the organization serves.

In addition, two composers have been chosen to participate, beginning in May, in ACF New England’s new Composer Residency, a collaboration with the newly formed New England Orchestra Consortium. Both composers will write a work for chamber orchestra or full symphony, to be premiered by multiple orchestras during the 2005-06 season. David Kechley, composer and chair of the music department at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., has been chosen for the full symphony category. Boston composer and Berklee College of Music professor Michael Weinstein was selected for the chamber music category.

Based on post-party buzz, it was a great night. The AMC’s 2004 Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony, held May 3 at the American Airlines Theater in New York City, served as both an opportunity to honor the accomplishments of composers and performers in the field and reconnect with colleagues.

• A complete list of award winners and background on the event.
  

  2004 Pulizer Prize-winner Paul Moravec greets ASCAP’s Vice President & Director of Concert Music Fran Richard

  A Night to Celebrate: Incoming AMC Board President James Undercofler, AMC Letter of Distinction recipients Vivian Perlis and Dave Brubeck, AMC Board Chair John Kennedy, and AMC Executive Director Richard Kessler.

  NEA Chairman Dana Gioia expresses his appreciation for the work of American composers and reports on the Endowment’s activities to open at the 64th Annual Meeting of the AMC.

  Letter of Distinction recipient George Perle, just a few days shy of his 89th birthday, takes the opportunity to make a few jokes. The gathered crowd, including James Undercofler, appreciated the anecdotes.

  Matt Haimovitz, recipient of the AMC Trailblazer Award, demonstrates his adventurous programming and gets a little political performing Jimi Hendrix’s version of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

  ASCAP’s Fran Richard congratulates Founders Award winner Ornette Coleman and Letter of Distinction recipient Joseph Jarman of the Art Ensemble of Chicago after the ceremony.

  Rediscovered jazz bassist/composer Henry Grimes was on hand for the festivities.

  Letter of Distinction honoree Dawn Upshaw catches a moment with fellow honorees Dave Brubeck and Matt Haimovitz.

  George Perle gets warm congratulations from his wife as well as (at back, l to r) AMC board members Augusta Read Thomas, Matthew Sigman and James Undercofler.

  Composers enjoy the post-ceremony reception (l to r) Carl Stone with Bill Duckworth and Nora Farrell — Alvin Singleton and Ingram Marshall

Composers Steven Burke and Harold Meltzer are among the 28 winners of the 108th annual Rome Prize Competition. Rome Prize is a residential fellowship lasting from six months to two years. American artists and scholars from all over the United States compete for the award—which provides room and board, a stipend, and studio, to live and work at the Academy facilities in Rome.

Steven Burke—Frederic A. Juilliard / Walter Damrosch Rome Prize Fellowship Winner Steven Burke holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Yale University, and Cornell University. He has studied with Jacob Druckman, Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra, Martin Bresnick, Lukas Foss, Donald Erb, Stephen Dembski, Joel Naumann and Chester Biscardi. Among Burke’s recent honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Robbins Prize, and fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He has received commissions from the National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Jerome Foundation, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, the Peabody Trio and the Albany Symphony. He received a joint commission from the Seattle Symphony and the ASCAP Foundation for a work, Clockwise, in memory of Jacob Druckman. His music is published by Carl Fischer and recorded on CRI. A concert of his music was recently presented by Ensemble X, directed by Steven Stucky, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City.

“Having a year to really just work on music is a dream come true,” says an audibly thrilled Burke. “I can’t even imagine what will happen. Living in New York, it’s very difficult to get time to compose. You have to do so many things just to earn a living, so just to have that year is an unbelievable thing.”

The composer plans to use the time to complete a Fromm Foundation commission for the Sequitur ensemble and a concerto for horn and violin for the Camerata Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro. Once that work is out of the way, Burke is hopeful he’ll be able to turn to “one thing I’ve been wanting to do since day one—write a really substantial piece for orchestra. That just hasn’t happened in my life and that’s something I’d really like to do.”

Harold Meltzer is also elated by the recognition. “God, I’m almost a composer,” he jokes, though in actuality his busy schedule will keep him flying back and forth for performances of his work state-side during his year residence in Rome. Otherwise, he’s charted out an ambitious plan of four pieces to complete: a work based on fortune cookie texts for the Delaware Symphony; Toccatas, for harpsichordist Jory Vinikour; a guitar work for Eliot Fisk; and a violin-piano duo for the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. If there’s any time left over, Meltzer, too, is dreaming of starting a piece for orchestra.

Both Burke and Melzter have also picked up Guggenheim Fellowships and Charles Ives Fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in recent years. Melzter points to the work he has had to submit to the jury panels. “I’ve been lucky that my recent works sound like me, but are different from each other. They have my identifiable print as a composer, but not in a limiting way.”

Harold Meltzer—Samuel Barber Rome Prize Fellowship Winner Harold Meltzer has received a number of composition awards, including a 2004 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from ASCAP and NACUSA, and residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, VCCA, and Ragdale. Recent commissions have come from the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, Concert Artists Guild, Meet The Composer, the National Flute Association, guitarist Eliot Fisk, harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. After graduating from Amherst College, he studied law at Columbia University before earning degrees in music from King’s College, Cambridge and the Yale School of Music. His music is recorded on the Albany and CRI labels, and is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and Urban Scrawl Music Company (ASCAP). Harold Meltzer is also the Artistic Director of the New York ensemble Sequitur.

In an odd coincidence, Burke and Meltzer know each other well. “Harold is a very dear friend of mine,” says Burke. “And the odds that two of us would be there together is just simply amazing to me. So really in every way this is such a dream that it’s hard to accept as a real thing to me right now.” Meltzer’s wife and young children will be accompanying him to Italy, and his daughter, he says, has already started taking her first Italian lessons. Burke says he will have to add to his stable of Italian musical terms and phrases before attempting conversation.

In making the award’s announcement, Adele Chatfield-Taylor (FAAR’84), president of the American Academy in Rome, spoke to the larger impact of the annual awards. “For over a century, our juries have searched the country for the best artists and scholars they can find, from a pool of candidates who apply to live in and learn from Rome. It would be difficult to imagine a more important time for international cultural exchange. We believe the Rome Prize Fellows will make real contributions to global culture before they are through.”

The Rome Prize is awarded annually through an open competition that is juried by leading artists and scholars in the different fields. This year’s jury for music composition included Robert Beaser (FAAR’78) artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra and chairman of the Composition Department at The Juilliard School; Derek Bermel (FAAR’02) composer; Tania León, composer, conductor and professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York; Steven Stucky, composer and professor of music at Cornell University; and John H. Thow (FAAR’78) composer and professor at the University of California.

Established in 1894 and chartered by an Act of Congress in 1905, Rome Prizes were awarded to artists and scholars in the fields of architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, musical composition, visual arts, ancient studies, medieval studies, Renaissance and early modern studies, and modern Italian studies. Winners come from ten states across the nation.

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music has announced its 42nd anniversary season, which will run August 1 through August 15, 2004 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium and Mission San Juan Bautista in California. So far, the confirmed featured composers participating are John Adams, Clarice Assad, Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, David Little, Kevin Puts, Gregory Smith, and Julia Wolfe. Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen, James MacMillan, Christopher Rouse, and Mark-Anthony Turnage have also been invited.

World Premiere
Clarice Assad: Violin Concerto featuring Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

U.S. Premiere
Julia Wolfe: My beautiful scream featuring the Kronos Quartet

West Coast Premieres
David Little: SCREAMER! – a three-ring blur for orchestra Gregory Smith: Mr. Smith’s Bowl of Notes

KRONOS QUARTET UNDER 30 PROJECT

The world premiere of composer Felipe Pérez Santiago‘s new work, CampoSanto, will be given at Dinkelspiel Auditorium on April 16, 2004. CampoSanto is the second commission from the Kronos: Under 30 Project, a collaboration of the Kronos Quartet, Stanford Lively Arts at Stanford University, and the American Music Center. Felipe Pérez Santiago, a Mexican-born composer working in Rotterdam, Holland, was selected out of more than 160 composers from 21 countries. Alexandra du Bois was awarded the first commission in 2002.

Kronos has also announced a call for scores for the Kronos: Under 30 Project/#3. Created to celebrate the Kronos Quartet’s 30th anniversary, the Under 30 Project is a commissioning and composer-in-residence program for composers under 30 years of age. The program will support the creation of new work by young artists, helping Kronos develop lasting artistic relationships with the next creative generation.

A LITTLE ELLIOTT CARTER WITH THAT PRADA HANDBAG?

Some fun news from the folks at Boosey & Hawkes: On Thursday, May 6 (7 pm), a concert of music by Elliott Carter will be given at Prada Soho. Chamber works by the composer will be performed with film interludes by Frank Scheffer, whose new documentary on Carter, “A Labyrinth of Time,” receives its world premiere the previous evening as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. The Prada Soho concert is presented by the Tribeca Film Festival, in association with the Fondazione Prada. The program includes Con leggerezza pensosa, Figment No. 1, Figment No. 2, Gra and Hiyoku, along with the Piano Sonata and Duo for Violin and Piano. These works will be performed by: Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima (clarinet), Rolf Schulte (violin), Fred Sherry (cello), Christopher Oldfather and Charles Rosen (piano).

NEW MUSIC FOR EARTH DAY

In what may well be an Earth Day first, Nathan Currier’s oratorio Gaian Variations, will be performed at Lincoln Center by an entourage that includes the Brooklyn Philharmonic with Harold Rosenbaum conducting, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Canticum Novum Singers, soloists Elizabeth Keusch, Marietta Simpson, John Aler, Kevin Maynor, Emma Tahmizian, Judith Lynn Stillman, Anne Akiko Meyers, and the Shanghai Quartet, plus dancers and an actor.

The work takes as its inspiration the idea of the Earth as a living organism. Most of the movements are vocal settings of words by James Lovelock, author of the GAIA hypothesis. The libretto intertwines selections from Lovelock’s writings with texts by Loren Eiseley, which recount the origins of the idea of a living earth within a western scientific framework, centering on James Hutton in the late 18th century.

The concert is a benefit for Earth Day, presented by Earth Day Network of Washington, DC. All proceeds will benefit Earth Day Network’s charitable activities.

The ASCAP Foundation has announced the winners of the 2004 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards from among 500 submissions. The winning composers share prizes of approximately $40,000.

The 2004 Morton Gould Young Composer recipients are (listed with their current residence, and places of origin):

Randall Bauer of Princeton, NJ
Kyle Blaha of Rochester, NY (Belleville, IL)
Michael Djupstrom of Ann Arbor, MI (St. Paul, MN)
Avner Dorman of New York, NY (Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Kenneth Froelich of Bloomington, IN (Chester, PA)
Judd Greenstein of New Haven, CT (NY)
Yotam Haber of New York, NY (The Netherlands
Vincent Chee-Yung Ho of Los Angeles, CA (Alberta, Canada)
Takuma Itoh of Houston, TX (Menlo Park, CA)
Vera Ivanova of Rochester, NY (Moscow, Russia)
Jonathan Keren of New York, NY (Israel)
Caroline Mallonee of Baltimore, MD (Durham, NC)
Paula Matthusen of Brooklyn, NY (Tempe, AZ)
John Mayrose of Durham, NC (Shelby, NC)
Sean McClowry of New York, NY (Rockford, IL)
Nathan Michel of Princeton, NJ (Charleston, SC)
Karola Obermueller of Cambridge, MA (Seeheim, Germany)
Daniel Ott of New York, NY (Neptune City, NJ)
Norbert Palej of New York, NY (Krakow, Poland)
Joshua Penman of Ann Arbor, MI (Brookline, MA)
Huang Ruo of New York, NY (Hainan Island, China)
Wonhee Shin of Cincinnati, OH (Seoul, Korea)
David Stovall of New Haven, CT (Fairfax, VA)
Wang Xi of Ithaca, NY (Shanghai, China)
Zhou Tian of Philadelphia, PA (Hangzhou, China)

The following composers received Honorable Mention:

John Arrigo-Nelson of East Setauket, NY (Providence, RI)
Nathan Brock of San Diego, CA (Boston, MA)
Mathew Fuerst of New York, NY (Covina, CA)
Daniel Highman of Bloomington, IN (San Mateo, CA)
Angel Lam of Baltimore, MD (Hong Kong, China)
Jacob Rundall of Urbana, IL (Eau Claire, WI)
Katharine Penland Soper of Berkeley, CA (Ann Arbor, MI)

The youngest ASCAP Foundation composer winners range in age from 9 to 18:

Athena Adamopoulos, age 17 (NY)
Kit Armstrong, age 11 (CA)
Peter Asimov, age 12 (NY)
Julia Scott Carey, age 17 (MA)
Sebastian Chang, age 15 (CA)
Roy Femenella, age 9 (NY)
Jay Greenberg, age 12 (CT)
Karen Hakobyan, age 18 (UT)
Alice Hong, age 11 (NC)
Geoff Knorr, age 18 (GA)
Christopher Lim, age 15 (NY)
Tudor Dominik Maican, age 15 (MD)
Max Schreier, age 18 (MA)
Natasha Sinha, age 13 (MA)
Conrad Tao, age 9 (NY)

The following composers received Honorable Mention:

Preben Antonsen, age 12 (CA)
Zachary Bernstein, age 16 (WA)
Sasha Clynes, age 13 (NY)
Jade Conlee, age 11 (UT)
William David Cooper, age 17 (MI)
Michael Foumai, age 16 (HI)
Farhad Hudiyev, age 18 (MN)
Kevin Kim, age 14 (NJ)

The 2004 ASCAP composer/judges were: Eve Beglarian, David Lang, Paul Lansky, Chris Theofanidis, Ezequiel Vinao, and Zhou Long.

Established in 1979, the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer program grants cash prizes to young Concert Music composers up to 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition. These composers may be American citizens, permanent residents, or students possessing US Student Visas.

It has been just about a year since the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI) label ceased operations. During the early months of 2003 when the news was announced, then-CRI Executive Director John G. Schultz and New World Records’ former Managing Director Paul Marotta announced that New World, another not-for-profit recording label, would be taking over the administration of the archive. Since that time, however, composers with recordings on the now-defunct CRI have been left wondering what’s going to happen to their discs.

In an interview this morning, Paul Tai, director of Artists and Repertory at New World, acknowledged that there had been delays—mainly the need for CRI to file the necessary petition with the New York State Attorney General’s office, which must sanction the merger between the two non-profits—but that the appropriate paperwork was submitted on March 29, 2004, and hopes are that approval will come through in the next couple of months.

“We are hoping for a fall rollout” of the CRI catalog via New World, says Tai, “but we can’t go on record until we’ve heard from the attorney general. At the moment, we’re not legally responsible for that archive. It’s in limbo.”

That’s not to say that the discs are sitting in a storage shed somewhere, however. The recordings are in-house at New World, the label just hasn’t yet acquired the legal rights to do anything with them publicly. New World reports it has been working over the past year to make sure their collection is complete and is getting things organized and digitized for future distribution.

New World is now hopeful that it will be able to make the entire back catalog available on an on-demand basis, custom burning discs as they are ordered by the customer (similar to how the Smithsonian distributes the Folkways Recordings). This strategy, of course, is attractive because it will allow New World to avoid the costly production and storage of excess inventory. In addition, about 15 discs from the CRI catalog are slated for reissue on the New World label over the next few years. Tai couldn’t disclose exact titles at this time. He also acknowledges that “clearly we can’t reissue everything that was on CRI or else we’ll end up in the same [financial] boat.”

“This delay has been difficult for everybody,” says Tai. “But we are actively planning at this point.”