ROCHESTER, N.Y.–A multidisciplinary Romeo & Juliet production that will be simultaneously broadcast to an outdoor audience, a program that engages the community in the creation and production of new music, and research on how alternative ensembles have shaped music-making to reach new audiences are among the projects awarded grants by the Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research.
Launched in 2013 at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, the center focuses on understanding and supporting the development of innovative ensemble models that can find success in the changing music world. Its grant program provides funding ranging from $500 to $2,000 for new initiatives, events, and research.
Present Music, a Milwaukee-based new music ensemble, received a new initiative grant to expand partnerships for its ComposeMilwaukee program. The community engagement project offers workshops by professional composers, with participants performing their work in public concerts in non-traditional concert venues.
In the research category, William Robin of Brooklyn was awarded a grant for his study of alternative ensembles in the production of contemporary classical music. He will examine archives and conduct interviews at Yale University and continue his observations and comparisons of ensembles in North Carolina.
Grant recipients in the event support category are:
Charlotte Symphony, Charlotte, N.C. The Symphony will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016 with a collaborative production of music and dramatic spoken word. Titled Romeo & Juliet, the production will feature a free outdoor plazacast of the concert.
Contemporaneous, New York City. The 21-member ensemble is planning ORBIT, an immersive concert experience in four neighboring art gallery spaces featuring works by female composers.
Dunya, Belmont, Mass. The musicians’ collective will present Othello in the Seraglio, a music drama featuring 16th- and 17th-century European and Turkish musical sources as well as original music, at the Oberon-American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., and Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.
Ensemble Dal Niente, Chicago, Ill. The contemporary music collective will present The Party, a five-hour presentation of premieres and multimedia works at the Mana Contemporary art center.
Intersection Contemporary Music Ensemble, Nashville, Tenn. The ensemble, which focuses on repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries for medium-sized ensembles, will present the concert Key of Intensity featuring the electronic ondes Martenot instrument and original choreography.
Inverted Space Ensemble, Seattle, Wash. The chamber ensemble will commission, perform, and display new graphic score works in collaboration with neighborhood art walks and a performance-retrospective on composer Earle Brown.
The Nouveau Classical Project, New York City. The ensemble, which has worked with fashion designers and artists to present new music, will produce the large-scale interactive art and music installation Mysterium Novum at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth, N.Y.
Now in its second year, the grants program has supported projects by Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, New Vintage Baroque, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and other groups and researchers.
The Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research is a division of the Orchestra Musician Forum at the Eastman School of Music. The Center’s research and programming emphasizes the 21st century evolution of the innovative ensemble, influenced by both the symphony orchestra and the chamber music traditions, with a focus on creative, artist-centered ensembles that reflect new models of artistic innovation, organizational relationships, and operational sustainability.
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