· American Composers Orchestra/Derek Bermel
· Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Lisa Bielawa
· Green Bay Symphony/Jennifer Higdon, Daniel Kellogg, Philip Rothman
· St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Chen Yi, Lee Hyla, Fred Lerdahl
· Vermont Symphony/David Ludwig
· Westfield Symphony/Zhou Long
American Composers Orchestra/Derek Bermel 3 years
 Derek Bermel Photo: Tom LeGoff |
 Listen (excerpt):Derek Bermel's Id (MP3) |
American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is the only orchestra in the world dedicated to the creation, performance, preservation and promulgation of music by American composers. Founded in 1975 by composer Francis Thorne, conductor Dennis Russell Davies, composer Nicolas Roussakis and conductor/flutist Paul Lustig Dunkel, the orchestra was assembled from New York's top musicians with expertise in contemporary music, and held its inaugural concert on February 7, 1977 at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. To date, ACO has performed music by nearly 500 American composers, including more than 100 world premieres and newly commissioned works. In pursuit of its singular mission, ACO maintains an unparalleled range of activities including an annual concert series at Carnegie Hall, commissions, recordings, radio broadcasts, educational programs, and new music reading sessions. New initiatives include composer fellowships and special projects designed to serve and advance the field.
ACO is currently under the artistic leadership of conductor and Music Director, Steven Sloane, and composer and Artistic Director Robert Beaser. ACO's founding conductor, Dennis Russell Davies, became ACO's first Conductor Laureate in spring 2002.
Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Lisa Bielawa 3 years
 Lisa Bielawa |
| Listen (excerpt): Lisa Bielawa's Roam (MP3) |
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is one of the few professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Founded in 1996 by Artistic Director Gil Rose, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project strives to illuminate the connections that exist between contemporary music and contemporary society by reuniting composers and audiences in a shared concert experience. In pursuit of its mission BMOP has:
· produced 46 programs of contemporary orchestral music
· presented 37 world premieres, including 18 commissioned by the orchestra
· recorded 50 works and released 10 world premiere recordings
In just eight years, BMOP has established itself as one of Boston's most original and most consistently excellent musical groups. An eight-time winner of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Orchestral Music, BMOP has been presented by the Bank of America Celebrity Series, Tanglewood, and the Boston Cyberarts Festival, and in Sacramento, California by the Festival of New American Music.
In Boston, BMOP performs at Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall, and has also appeared at New York's Miller Theater, Winter Garden, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. BMOP recordings have been eleased by Albany, New World, Naxos, Arsis, Oxingale, and Chandos, and have been included in the Best CDs of 2003 by The New York Times and the Best CDs of 2004 by the Chicago Tribune and Time Out New York.
Green Bay Symphony/Jennifer Higdon, Daniel Kellogg, Philip Rothman 3 years
 Jennifer Higdon photo: Jeff Hurwitz |
| Listen (excerpt): Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra (MP3) |
 Daniel Kellogg |
| Listen (excerpt): Daniel Kellogg's Jasper and Carnelian (MP3) |
Also in 2005-2006, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris will give the premiere of a commissioned work for string orchestra and flutist Catherine Ramirez will premiere a commissioned work for flute and piano. He currently holds the post of Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Colorado at Boulder and resides in Colorado with his wife, pianist Hsing-ay Hsu Kellogg.
 Philip Rothman |
| Listen (excerpt): Philip Rothman's The Manhattan Chase (MP3) |
Philip Rothman's compositions have been performed by the Utah Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Lithuania, Juilliard Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, United States Military Academy Band, and numerous other ensembles.
Mr. Rothman's music has been heard at major venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and it has been broadcast on over 200 radio stations in America on NPR's Performance Today, on the syndicated radio program Indianapolis on-the-Air, and the McGraw Hill Companies' Young Artists Showcase.
The Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, currently in its 92nd season, is the third largest professional orchestra in the state of Wisconsin. The first ensemble to use the name "Green Bay Symphony Orchestra" gave its first concert in 1914 involving forty local musicians, with Alex Enna conducting. The concertmaster, William Larsen, took up the baton during the orchestra's second season. In 1966, Oleg Kovelenko became the ensemble's first full time conductor. When he left for a position in Indianapolis in 1972, Miroslav Pansky ascended the podium and served as as Music Director until his retirement in 1995. Shinik Hahm served as Music Director from 1995 to 2000. Bridget-Michaele Reischl took the podium in 2001 as our new music director and we look to her again as she leads the symphony into another exciting season.
The GBSO has grown to include a flourishing Youth Orchestra program. Over 200 young musicians from schools all around Northeastern Wisconsin receive excellent instruction in three separate ensembles: String Orchestra, Philharmonia, and Youth Symphony. The mission of the GBSO is to provide orchestral performances and music education experiences of the highest artistic quality for the enrichment of adults and youth from throughout Northeastern Wisconsin, and to enrich, serve, and shape the cultural life of our region's communities.
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Chen Yi, Lee Hyla, Fred Lerdahl 3 years
 Chen Yi |
| Listen (excerpt): Chen Yi's Sparkle (MP3) |
Chen has served on the composition faculty of Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and has been composer-in-residence with the Women's Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and Aptos Creative Arts Center in San Francisco, supported by Meet The Composer's New Residencies program.
 Lee Hyla |
| Listen (excerpt): Lee Hyla's Trans (MP3) |
He has received commissions from the Koussevitsky, Fromm, Barlow, and Naumburg Foundations, Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, Concert Artist's Guild, and is the recipient of two Meet The Composer Commissions. He has also been the recipient of the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Rome Prize.
 Fred Lerdahl |
| Listen (excerpt): Fred Lerdahl's Quiet Music (MP3) |
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Lawrence University in 1999. Among his many honors are the Koussevitzky Composition Prize, the Composer Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Naumburg Recording Award, and the Martha Baird Rockefeller Recording Award.
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, now in its 47th season, is the nation's only full-time professional chamber orchestra and is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners - Roberto Abbado, Joshua Bell, Douglas Boyd, Nicholas McGegan and Stephen Prutsman - the 35 virtuoso musicians present more than 150 concerts and educational programs each year, and reach over 74,000 listeners each week on public radio stations nationwide. The SPCO has released 64 recordings, commissioned 105 new works, and premiered 52 additional compositions. The SPCO has earned the distinction of 12 ASCAP awards for adventurous programming. Renowned for its artistic excellence and remarkable versatility of musical styles, the SPCO tours nationally and internationally, including performances in premier venues in Europe, Asia and South America. Launched in 1995, the SPCO's award-winning CONNECT education program reaches 6,000 students annually in 17 Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools.
Vermont Symphony/David Ludwig 3 years
 David Ludwig |
His works have been performed in such major venues in the United States as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kimmel Center, and the Library of Congress, and have been heard in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
From its beginning in 1935, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra had a unique mission: rather than perform in one concert hall and tour occasionally, the VSO would travel all over Vermont and perform in gymnasiums, armories, churches, and on hillsides, wherever an audience could be found. The first musicians, who made their livings as barbers, lawyers, mail carriers, doctors, and farmers, came from across the state to rehearse and perform. Today's VSO is a fully professional organization of auditioned musicians from Vermont and the region.
The VSO commemorated its first fifty years and dramatized its mission by bringing music to every one of the state's 251 cities and towns. The "251 Project" brought small ensembles and full orchestras to community centers, giving many Vermonters a chance to hear their orchestra for the first time, and garnering international press coverage.
While the orchestra has grown, much of its operation stays the same. The Vermont Legislature, which in 1939 allocated $1,000 for a VSO performance at the World's Fair in New York City, is still an important funding source. Volunteers remain crucial, generating enthusiasm and awareness, selling tickets, raising funds, accommodating musicians in private homes, and remaining integral to the production of concerts. The musicians still travel many hours, often in bad weather, to rehearsals and concerts.
2005/2006 marks the VSO's 71st anniverary season and its sixth season under the leadership triumvirate of Music Director Jaime Laredo, Associate Conductor Anthony Princiotti, and Chorus Director Robert De Cormier.
Westfield Symphony/Zhou Long 1 year
 Zhou Long |
| Listen (excerpt): Zhou Long's Poems From Tang (MP3) |
His creative vision has resulted in a new music that stretches Western instruments eastward and Chinese instruments westward, achieving an exciting and fertile common ground. He is the recipient of the 2003 Academy Award in Music, a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
The Westfield Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1983 by a group of Westfield (NJ) citizens who believed that the expression of history and culture through the performance of symphonic music adds value to the quality of community life. Its mission is to promote the world's legacy of symphonic and operatic music, involving audiences in a diversity of professional musical experiences including performance, education and mentoring. Led by Music Director David Wroe, it has been recognized by the NJ State Council on the Arts as a "Distinguished Arts Organization" and is the Resident Orchestra of Union County and the Union County Arts Center.
The Westfield Symphony's 65 professional musicians perform a five-concert subscription season along with popular community concerts for July 4th and New Year's Eve. In addition, the Symphony sponsors educational programs for lower-, middle-, and high-school students. Educational projects include The Caravan Program (an in-school, mini-concert with narration and audience participation) and Music Pathways (a series of school assemblies and workshops).
Other outreach programs include pre-concert lectures and collaborations with New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Umoja Dance Group, Arbor Chamber Music Society, Princeton ProMusica, Montclair State University, Westfield Bach Festival and Westfield Young Artists Cooperative Theatre. During its history, the Westfield Symphony has twice appeared at Carnegie Hall, accompanied such renowned artists as Leon Fleisher, Earl Wild, Shlomo Mintz, and Eugene Istomin and presented eleven premieres of contemporary music as well as performances of pillars of the symphonic repertoire.
