League of American Orchestras & New Music USA Announce 12 New Music Alive Residencies

Twelve orchestras and composers have been selected to receive Music Alive: New Partnerships grants of $7,500 each, the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA announced today.

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NewMusicBox Staff

League-NMUSA2
Twelve orchestras and composers have been selected to receive Music Alive: New Partnerships grants of $7,500 each, the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA announced today. Matching composers and orchestras who have not previously worked together, the program will support a series of one-week residencies between 2014 and 2016, each culminating in the performance of an orchestral work from the composer’s catalog. Orchestras with operating budgets of approximately $7 million and below were eligible to apply.

“These new Music Alive residencies provide communities across the country with invaluable opportunities to hear the music of our time while connecting in-person with these talented composers,” said League President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “Supporting orchestras in their commitment to perform the works of living American composers has always been an institutional priority for the League, with programs such as Ford Made in America and the ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming historically playing an important role at the organization.”

“Through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and our other funders, we are delighted to be continuing our support of collaborations between composers and orchestras,” commented Ed Harsh, President and CEO of New Music USA. “Through Music Alive and in many other ways, New Music USA supports the dynamic, sustained relationships between individual creative artists and orchestras that are essential to a healthy musical ecology.”

The composer/orchestra partnerships are:

Clarice Assad and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra
Douglas J. Cuomo and the Grant Park Music Festival (Chicago, Illinois)
Annie Gosfield and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (New York)
Takuma Itoh and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (Arizona)
Jingjing Luo and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (New Jersey)
Missy Mazzoli and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra (Colorado)
Rick Robinson and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston, Texas)
Carl Schimmel and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (New Orleans)
Laura Schwendinger and the Richmond Symphony (Virginia)
Derrick Spiva and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Sumi Tonooka and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (Sioux Falls)
Dan Visconti and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (Little Rock)

Forty-four orchestras and 219 composers applied for the program and two artistic panels selected the twelve grantees. Each residency will include a performance of a work by the composer, as well as individually tailored events, enabling the composers to reach new audiences, interact with youth, and take part in community-centered activities.
Now in its 14th year, Music Alive supports composer residencies in the concert halls and communities of orchestras throughout the country by providing funding, administrative support, and resources for both short and multi-year orchestra-composer collaborations. In addition to the new Music Alive: New Partnerships program, Music Alive also currently supports a three-year residency program for five composers and orchestras, most recently announced in 2013. Since 1999, there have been 127 Music Alive orchestral residencies; that number includes 78 individual orchestras and 110 individual composers (several orchestras and composers have participated multiple times). Music Alive programs help orchestras increase new music opportunities for audiences, artists, and administrators; identify model practices for sustained partnerships between artists and communities; help orchestras fully and comprehensively achieve their missions; and enrich orchestral repertoire with fresh and inventive music of our time.
Funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, and The Amphion Foundation. More information on Music Alive is available on the New Music USA website.

(—from the press release)