FY 2008 Grant Awards: American Masterpieces:
Chamber Music

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Inc
Fernandina Beach, FL
$10,000
To support chamber music concerts by American composers and associated educational activities. Four concerts of chamber works by American composers, including Samuel Barber, Libby Larsen, and Peter Schickele, will take place during the summer festival.

American Brass Chamber Music Association, Inc. (aka American Brass Quintet)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support a multi-state performance tour by the American Brass Quintet and related residency activities. Each two- to three-day residency will include as many as seven performance and/or educational events based on the repertoire of American composers such as Joan Tower, Paul Moravec, Adam Schoenberg, Robert Dennis, Gordon Beeferman, and Shafer Mahoney.

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society of WI, Inc.
Madison, WI
$5,000
To support performances of American chamber music and residency activities. Six programs of works by composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Kevin Puts, and Paul Schoenfield will take place during the three-week summer chamber music festival.

Bargemusic, Ltd.
Brooklyn, NY
$7,500
To support American chamber music residency performances by the American String Quartet and guest artists. Concerts will take place on a floating barge at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and will include the works of composers George Chadwick, Charles Ives, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Henry Cowell, Amy Beach, Walter Piston, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Elliott Carter.

Boston Musica Viva, Inc.
Somerville, MA
$15,000
To support concerts of American chamber works, with associated educational activities. Two concerts will feature the early works of American composers, now Pulitzer Prize winners, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, John Harbison, Joseph Schwantner, and Steven Stucky.

Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Inc.
Brunswick, ME
$5,000
To support a residency by the Amernet String Quartet including performances of American chamber works. The highlight of the week-long residency will be a performance of Elliott Carter's String Quartet Number 5.

Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
Brooklyn, NY
$12,500
To support concerts and residency activities by composer Cedar Walton and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. Plans include performances by faculty and students, jazz clinics, panel discussions, and honors recitals.

Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support the Music Off the Shelves program. American chamber works by composers such as Zenobia Powell Perry, Margaret Bonds, and Amy Beach in conjunction with literary works by authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Kate Chopin will be presented in Brooklyn public libraries.

Cantus, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
$12,500
To support a multi-state series of vocal festivals and in-school residencies focused on American repertoire. Works by composers Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson, Leonard Bernstein, William Dawson, and Stephen Hatfield will be studied and performed during each day-long festival involving elementary, middle, and high school students.

Carnegie Hall Society, Inc.
New York, NY
$50,000
To support the Elliott Carter Centenary. A season-long celebration of the composer's 100th birthday will include concerts, public interviews with the composer, and residency activities at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support performances of American chamber music and associated educational activities. Serving as Season Composers, William Bolcom and George Tsontakis will participate in master classes, pre-concert composer chats, in-concert interviews, and lectures.

Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud, Inc.
St. Cloud, MN
$7,500
To support a performance of American chamber music and residency activities by the chamber ensemble eighth blackbird. Repertoire will include Steve Reich's Double Sextet and a suite by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe.

Columbia University in the City of New York (on behalf of Miller Theatre)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support Composer Portraits: American Masters at Miller Theatre and on tour. Plans include concerts each focused on a single American composer: Milton Babbitt, Leon Kirchner, and John Cage; composer discussions; radio and Internet broadcasts; and school presentations.

Copland House
Cortlandt Manor, NY
$7,500
To support chamber music performances and educational activities by the ensemble Music From Copland House. Repertoire will include works by composers such as Amy Beach, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, William Grant Still, John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Richard Danielpour, Alvin Singleton, Tania Leon, Lowell Liebermann, Paul Schoenfield, Jennifer Higdon, and Carlos Carrillo.

Cornish College of the Arts
Seattle, WA
$10,000
To support Drums Along the Pacific, a festival of American percussion chamber music and a tour. The four-day festival, focusing on the music of John Cage, Henry Cowell, and Lou Harrison, will be followed by tour concerts throughout the Northwest region.

Cube Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Chicago, IL
$7,500
To support American Masterpieces: Chamber Music from Coast to Coast. Three performances are planned with related residency activities involving students from the Merit School of Music and Northeastern Illinois University.

Da Camera Society of Texas
Houston, TX
$15,000
To support The New Americans, a performance and residency project. Plans include a series of three concerts and educational activities that will examine the works of living composers who have immigrated to the United States from Asia and Latin America in both the classical and jazz traditions.

Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle
Seattle, WA
$7,500
To support performances of a work by jazz composer and pianist Wayne Horvitz, with associated residency activities. These Hills of Glory by Horvitz, scored for string quartet and improviser, will be performed by the odeonquartet and violinist Carla Kihlstedt.

EastSide Arts Alliance
Oakland, CA
$12,500
To support performances and residency activities by jazz saxophonist and composer David Murray. The eight-week residency will include performances, workshops for young musicians, and lectures.

Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center/Lucy Moses School for Music & Dance (on behalf of Merkin Concert Hall)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support chamber music performances at Merkin Concert Hall of composer Elliott Carter's works, and related educational activities. In celebration of Carter's 100th birthday, the performance by the New York Woodwind Quintet and pianist Ursula Oppens will be preceded by an open rehearsal and a pre-concert discussion with the musicians and composer.

Friends of Chamber Music
Kansas City, MO
$10,000
To support performances of chamber works by American composers, with related educational activities. The works of composers Charles Wuorinen, Chen Yi, and William Bolcom will be featured in three concert presentations.

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival Operating Corporation
Southfield, MI
$10,000
To support performance and residency activities by American composers. In celebration of the festival's 15th anniversary, four composers, each turning 70 years old, will be featured including John Harbison, John Corigliano, Joan Tower, and William Bolcom.

Kerrytown Concert House, Inc.
Ann Arbor, MI
$7,500
To support Edgefest 2008, contemporary music and avant-garde jazz concerts with associated educational activities. The four-day festival will feature a roster of composer/performers that make use of traditional classical string instruments in contemporary and avant-garde jazz settings.

Kronos Performing Arts Assn. (aka Kronos Quartet)
San Francisco, CA
$22,500
To support a re-staged production of George Crumb's Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land) by the Kronos Quartet. Educational activities will include post-concert discussions, master classes, coaching sessions, school concerts, and open rehearsals.

Luzerne Music Center, Inc.
Lake Luzerne, NY
$7,500
To support A Celebration of American Chamber Music during the Luzerne Music Festival. Plans include concerts, residency activities, and recordings of American chamber repertoire including Andre Previn's Love Songs, Samuel Barber's Summer Music, David Baker's Roots II, Paul Schoenfield's Sparks of Glory, and William Grant Still's Trio.

Lynn University, Inc.
Boca Raton, FL
$10,000
To support the presentation of the chamber music theater work Aint I a Woman!, with associated educational activities. The work with text by Kim Hines for actress and chamber ensemble will focus on the life and times of four African American women: novelist Zora Neale Hurston, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, folk artist Clementine Hunter, and civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer.

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc.
North Adams, MA
$12,500
To support a festival of American chamber music featuring the residency of composer Steve Reich and Bang on a Can, the New York City-based ensemble. Concerts and recitals will be held in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's galleries and performance venues in North Adams.

Moab Music Festival, Inc.
Moab, UT
$7,500
To support a composer residency project with American composers William Bolcom and Derek Bermel. In addition to the chamber music of Bolcom and Bermel, programming will include works by John Adams, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, and Rebecca Clarke.

Monadnock Music
Peterborough, NH
$10,000
To support The American Century A to Z, a festival of American chamber music. Composers Joseph Schwantner and David Del Tredici, music writers Tim Page and Anthony Tommasini, soprano Bethany Beardslee, and mezzo-soprano DAnna Fortunato will participate in festival performances and activities at the Peterborough Town House.

Music of Remembrance
Seattle, WA
$7,500
To support performances of American chamber works commemorating the Holocaust. Concerts and education and community outreach programs will be held in Seattle and Los Angeles.

New York New Music Ensemble
New York, NY
$7,500
To support a concert program highlighting Elliott Carter's 1983 chamber work Triple Duo in celebration of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer's 100th birthday. The ensemble will tour the program with new works by other living American composers in California and Utah.

Opus 21
Kalamazoo, MI
$7,500
To support a chamber music residency in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The ensemble will present workshops and a public performance of music composed by American minimalist and post-minimalist composers including Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, Bill Ryan, Mark Dancigers, Richard Adams, and Dennis DeSantis.

Other Minds
San Francisco, CA
$10,000
To support a celebration of the life and works of American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger and her contemporaries. Performances will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Pro Musica
Joplin, MO
$5,000
To support a residency by the Parker String Quartet. The project will highlight repertoire by American composers Terry Riley, Samuel Barber, William Bolcom, and John Corigliano, and will include educational outreach events in schools and venues in Joplin.

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
San Francisco, CA
$7,500
To support Four Dreams: Recent American Chamber Music, featuring works by American composers Elliott Carter, John Thow, Mario Diaz de Len, and Dmitri Tymoczko. The concert will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and related educational events will occur at the School of the Arts, Lowell High School, and local universities in San Francisco.

San Francisco Performances, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
$15,000
To support a festival celebrating the 100th birthday of American composer Elliott Carter. The performances and community educational events will take place in the Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Ltd.
Santa Fe, NM
$10,000
To support the American Composer Residency project. The chamber music festival will host composers Gunther Schuller, an NEA Jazz Master; Roberto Sierra; Joan Tower; George Tsontakis; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; and artistic director and composer Marc Neikrug.

Santa Fe New Music, Inc.
Santa Fe, NM
$7,500
To support Music and Word-American Masters. The ensemble will offer performances, workshops, and residency activities exploring the link between American chamber music and the inspiration from text and poetry.

Savannah Music Festival, Inc.
Savannah, GA
$10,000
To support All American Music, performances featuring chamber works by composers ranging from Aaron Copland and Charles Ives to Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. Guest ensembles and instrumentalists will participate in pre-concert talks with audience members.

Seal Bay Festival
Vinalhaven, ME
$5,000
To support a festival of American chamber music. Performances and educational workshops will feature American composers Sebastian Currier, Sally Lamb, Libby Larsen, and Barbara White.

Skaneateles Festival, Inc.
Skaneateles, NY
$7,500
To support I Love New York, a celebration of chamber music works by New York composers. Repertoire will include Spirituals by R. Nathaniel Dett; Five Portraits for Cello and Piano by Virgil Thomson; Corner in Manhattan by Michael Torke; Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6, by Samuel Barber; and three works by John Novacek: Barcarolle, Stephen Foster Fantasy for Piano Trio, and Four Rags for Clarinet and Piano.

Sphinx Organization, Inc.
Detroit, MI
$7,500
To support educational residencies by the Harlem Quartet. The ensemble will visit several New York public schools and perform in concert at Carnegie Hall.

Sylvan Winds, Inc.
New York, NY
$7,500
To support performances of 20th century American chamber music for wind instruments. In addition to performing works by composers such as Samuel Barber, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Walter Piston, NEA Jazz Master Gunther Schuller, and Chen Yi, the ensemble will conduct master classes, seminars, workshops, and outreach concerts.

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
$12,500
To support the presentation of chamber music concerts celebrating the legacy of contemporary American composers. Programs will be performed and curated by the university's ensembles-in-residence, Pacifica Quartet and eighth blackbird, and will feature guest artists Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran and the Nouveau String Quartet.

University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.
Lawrence, KS
$12,500
To support Quintessentially American: The Influence of Jazz on Classical Music. Performances by the Alexander String Quartet with Branford Marsalis, Calder Quartet, Harlem Quartet, and Imani Winds will be presented at the Lied Center in Lawrence.

University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
$10,000
To support American Sounds: A Year of American Chamber Music. The project will feature guest ensemble sfSound Group, a San Francisco-based ensemble, in week-long residencies, as well as performances by the Fine Arts Quartet, artist faculty, and student ensembles.

Virginia Arts Festival, Inc.
Norfolk, VA
$15,000
To support concerts of American chamber music. Programming will include works by composers Terry Riley, Christopher Rouse, Thelonious Monk, and John Cage featuring the Kronos Quartet, Orion and Miami String Quartets, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, violinist Ani Kavafian, pianist Andr-Michel Schub, and the Virginia Chamber Players.

Voices of Change
Dallas, TX
$5,000
To support a chamber music performance and educational outreach project. The seven-member ensemble and guest composers will present concerts and discussions in several Dallas public schools.

West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
Charleston, WV
$7,500
To support American chamber music performances by the Montclaire String Quartet and workshops by composer Darol Anger. Programming will include Street Stuff for String Quartet by Anger; Musica Celestis by Aaron Jay Kernis; Bagel on the Malecon by Lev Zhurbin (aka Ljova); and Black Angels by George Crumb, a native of Charleston.

Western Connecticut State University
Danbury, CT
$7,500
To support a residency by the Manhattan String Quartet. Concerts, lectures, workshops, and seminars will highlight works by American composers.

Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support O Beautiful! American Music, a concert program that combines early American music with new works by living American composers. Repertoire will include works by composers such as William Bolcom, Philip Glass, Bobby McFerrin, Lisa Bielawa, Meredith Monk, Tania León, Eric Salzman, and Robert Dennis.

Yale University (on behalf of Norfolk Chamber Music Festival)
New Haven, CT
$7,500
To support the Virgil Thomson Project of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Concerts, workshops, and a symposium will be presented by artist faculty, student ensembles, and composers.

Zeitgeist
St. Paul, MN
$5,000
To support Reflections, a concert program of American chamber music. Works by American composers John Cage, Terry Riley, and Frederic Rzewski will be featured in performances and discussions presented at the ensemble's Studio Z in St. Paul, with subsequent performances at St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and New York Mills (MN) Regional Cultural Center.

Number of Grants: 53          Total Amount: $560,000

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506