American Composers Forum

2021 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert
2021-04-22 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, will host a special free online-only concert in honor of the 2021 NEA Jazz Masters—Terri Lyne Carrington, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Henry Threadgill and Phil Schaap. 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and actor Delroy Lindo will co-host this event, featuring recorded performances and tributes by acclaimed jazz musicians from all over the world including from iconic venues like Preservation Hall in New Orleans, and The Village Vanguard in New York.
With music director Miguel Zenón, the concert will include performances by NEA Jazz Masters Wynton Marsalis and Jason Marsalis (2011) and Dianne Reeves (2018), as well as Obed Calvaire, Avishai Cohen, Roman Filiu, Vince Giordano, Christopher Hoffman, Joe Lovano, Pedrito Martinez, Linda May Han Oh, Dan Nimmer, Danilo Pérez, David Virelles, Lizz Wright, and the SFJAZZ High School All Stars.
The event will also include video testimonials from NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock (2004), Charles Lloyd (2015), and Wayne Shorter (1998), as well as Jon Faddis, Michelle Kinney, Jason Moran, and James Mtume.
HOW TO WATCH
The 2021 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert will broadcast on Thursday, April 22 at 7pm CT| 5pm PT | 8pm ET from arts.gov and SFJAZZ.org,as well as the websites for All About Jazz and Jazz Near You, Berklee College of Music, BMI, The Carr Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Institute of Chicago, Jazz Journalists Association, JazzTimes, KKJZ, National Endowment for the Humanities,NPR Music, Smithsonian Jazz, Voice of America’s Khmer and Chinese services, WBGO, WDCB, and WRTI. The concert will also be available via radio broadcast on SiriusXM Channel 67, Real Jazz, in California on KCSM 91.1FM, and in Washington, DC on WPFW 89.3 FM.
To learn more, visit their website.

2021 Los Angeles Master Chorale’s annual High School Choir Festival
2021-04-23
The Los Angeles Master Chorale has proudly presented its annual High School Choir Festival since 1989, offering students a chance to deepen their exposure and understanding of the choral art through a year-long experience leading up to the celebratory Festival Day.
They’ll release this year’s festival video on their website and on social media. Thanks to the 26 partner schools, you’ll get to enjoy three brand new virtual choir performances by hundreds of talented high school students: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “Resilience” by Abbie Betinis (a ChoralQuest composer and McKnight fellow), and “Es Tu Tiempo” by Francisco Núñez.
Date & Time: Friday, April 23, 2021
Visit website for more information here.
2021 Participating High School Choirs
Arroyo High School,
Azusa High School,
Baldwin Park High School,
Bellflower High School,
Birmingham Community Charter,
California High School,
Crescenta Valley High School,
El Camino Real Charter High School,
El Monte High School,
Glendora High School,
Granada Hills Charter,
Hamilton High School,
Herbert Hoover High School,
Lakewood High School,
Marshall Fundamental Secondary School,
Mira Costa High School,
Montebello High School,
Palos Verdes Peninsula High School,
Paramount High School,
Ramon C. Cortines School of VAPA,
Rosemead High School,
Rubidoux High School,
Taft Charter High School,
Torres East L.A. Performing Arts Magnet School,
Van Nuys High School,
Venice High School

Neave Trio Gives Virtual Concert of Music by Women Composers, Presented by Asheville Chamber Music Series
2021-04-23 18:30 - 20:30, 2021-04-24 18:30 - 20:30, 2021-04-25 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Neave has performed at many esteemed concert series and at festivals worldwide, including Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 92nd Street Y, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Chamber Music Series (United Kingdom), and the Samoylov and Rimsky Korsakow Museums’ Chamber Music Series in St. Petersburg (Russia). The trio has also appeared frequently as soloists for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with orchestras across the country and held residency positions at Brown University, University of Virginia, San Diego State University as the first ever Fisch/Axelrod Trio-in Residence, and the Banff Centre (Canada), among many other institutions. In the fall of 2017, the Trio joined the faculty of the Longy School of Music of Bard College as Alumni Artists, Faculty Ensemble‑in Residence.

PROGRAM
LOUISE FARRENC: Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 33
REBECCA CLARKE: Piano Trio (1921)
CECILE CHAMINADE: Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor, Op. 11 (1881)
Date & Time:

Friday, April 23, 2021 at 6:30pm ET | 7:30pm
Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6:30pm ET |7:30pm
Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2pm ET | 3pm

Get ticket information here.

Paul Klee : Painted Songs - Spring 2021 - Digital Revue
2021-04-23 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
A presentation of new premieres, features, live commentary and Q&A with Jonathan Posthuma, composer and creator of “Paul Klee : Painted Songs.”
Date & Time: Friday, April 23, 2021 at 7pm CT
Join live on Youtube here.
*Premieres*
“Fugue in Red” (No. 4b)
Kurt Hattenberger, saxophone
“Sealed Woman” (No. 65) and “The Billy Goat” (No. 66)
Susan Miranda, oboe
“Senecio” (No. 104) and “Revolution of the Viaducts” (No. 106)
Shannon Murphy, organ
“The Mask with the Little Flag” (No. 84) and “Tropical Twilight” (No. 85)
Ryan Schneider, tuba
“White-Framed Polyphonically” (No. 3b)
Drew Joseph Hosler, saxophone
“At the Core” (No. 98)
Wick Simmons, cello
*Features*
“Like a Window Pane” (No. 155)
Free improvisation with pre-recorded samples from a dozen of local Twin Cities musicians.
Support the artists featured in this event:
https://www.paypal.com/donate…
Support this ongoing project through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/paulkleepaintedsongs

UNA Opera: The Silver Fox
2021-04-23 19:30 - 21:00, 2021-04-25 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Chicago)
UNA Opera presents American composer Libby Larsen‘s (ACF’s co-founder, and a CQ and BQ composer) The Silver Fox. This mystical opera is based on the bayou legend of a young girl who transforms into a silver fox to use her magical powers.
The one-act performance will take place in the Norton Courtyard on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 7:30 p.m CT and Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2:00 p.m CT.*
UNA Students, you can register for a free UNA Student ticket by visiting tinyurl.com/silverfoxopera.
Learn more here.
*Masks/face coverings and social distancing will be required for attendees.

2021-04-24 - 2021-05-24
The Winston-Salem Symphony will present “The World Beloved” on demand for 30 days beginning Thursday, April 24, 2021 at 6:30pm CT | 7:30 p.m. ET Bluegrass stars Hank, Pattie & The Current join the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus to lend energetic bluegrass rhythms to the sacred liturgy in Carol Barnett’s (a charter member of ACF) The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass.
“The World Beloved” will stream on demand both on the Symphony’s Stage Pass and on Artarie, the world’s newest streaming platform for arts and culture. Artarie is available at artarie.com and as an app on iOS, Android, AppleTV, Roku, and FireTV.
For more information on how to stream the concert, please visit wssymphony.org.
This concert will be conducted by Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus Director Christopher Gilliam and will be performed at Reynolds Auditorium. Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass first premiered in 2007 and blends the classical mass, modern choral sophistication, touching poetry, and traditional bluegrass instrumentation into an exhilarating musical experience.

Great Falls Symphony's 62nd Live Concert Series - 2020-2021 Season
2021-04-24 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-04-24 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Denver)
Great Falls Symphony announces their 100% FREE concert season this year until May 2021. “All of us at the Great Falls Symphony are fully committed to fulfilling our mission to infuse cultural vibrancy into the Great Falls community through transformative music events and education programs.”
All live performances will be FREE of charge, but need to be picked up in advance at the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts box office. Two performances are offered during each GFSA concert in order to accommodate two smaller, socially distanced live audience. Venue location will vary – detailed information can be found at gfsymphony.org.
All performances will be recorded and broadcast later on the KRTV app so patrons can enjoy a virtual concert experience.
Virtual concerts will be broadcast to the general public one week after each live performance date. See schedule here.
See the upcoming schedule:
Fri OCT 9, 7:00pm “Native Views” Cascade Quartet
Sat NOV 7, 3:00pm “Vistas” *PREVIEW Thu NOV 5
Sat NOV 7, 7:30pm EVOCATIVE MUSIC OF OPEN SPACES
Fri NOV13, 7:00pm “Innovators” Chinook Winds
Sun NOV 22, 3:00pm FallConcert Youth Orchestra AND Sinfonia
Sun DEC 6, 3:00pm “Christmas” *PREVIEW Thu DEC 3
Sun DEC 6, 7:30pm HOLIDAY MUSIC FAVORITES
Sat JAN16, 3:00pm “Virtuoso” *PREVIEW Thu JAN 14
Sat JAN16, 7:30pm FEATURING Dorian Antipa, BASSOON
Fri JAN 29, 7:00pm “ViolaPower” Cascade Quartet
Sat FEB 13, 3:00pm “Heart Strings” *PREVIEW Thu FEB 11
Sat FEB 13, 7:30pm FEATURING Luis Angel Salazar, VIOLIN & Alyssa Roggow, VIOLA
Fri FEB 19, 7:00pm “Greatest Hits” Chinook Winds
Fri MAR 12, 7:00pm “Voices” Cascade Quartet
Sun MAR 28, 3:00pm SpringConcert Youth Orchestra AND Sinfonia
Sat APR 24, 3:00pm “Testament” *PREVIEW Thu, APR 22
Sat APR 24, 7:30pm FEATURING Supaman
Fri MAY14, 7:00pm “Together Again”

Music of The Unsung America: One Night Two Premieres
2021-04-24 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Music of the Unsung America, a new concert and conversation series featuring Black artists of history and today that explores the deep roots and extraordinary range of music created and performed by Black musicians, reveals a beautiful truth about our history. “Music of The Unsung America: One Night Two Premieres” will occur at the Historic St. Agnes Episcopal Church in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6pm CT | 7pm ET.
Visit website here.
The program:
The performance will culminate in an audience talk-back with conductor-composer, Joseph Jones, discussing his life, music, and journey in the arts. Tickets for the in-person performance can be purchased in advance for $10 on Eventbrite using this link, https://tinyurl.com/TwoPremiereOneNights; tickets at the door are $15. Music of the Unsung America will also stream the performance virtually. At home viewers can register for the “virtual experience” online using this link, https://tinyurl.com/TwoPremieres. For more information, visit www.americaunsung.org or on Facebook @ Music of The Unsung America.
The New Canon Chamber Collective string orchestra and chamber choir, featuring some of the best and brightest performing artists in South Florida, will perform the concert under the baton of Joseph Jones. The New Canon Chamber Collective Ensemble roster includes Vocalists, Christine Jobson, soprano; Christine Jobson Soprano- Soloist; Erica Williams, Soprano; Isis Roberts, Mezzo; Jania Harden, Mezzo; Andres Lasaga, Tenor; Albert Lee, Tenor; Angel Refuse, Bass – Soloist; Rohan Smith, Bass; Instrumentalists: Chelsea Sharpe, Violin; Victoria Joseph, Violin; Lakeisha Frith, Violin; Sheena Gutierrez, Violin; Vishnu Ramankutty, Viola; Alexandra D’Amico, Viola; Chava Appiah, Cello; Benjamin Bush, Cello; Portia Dunkley, Double Bass; and Kevin Wayne Bumpers, Piano.
Music of the Unsung is an annual multi-event concert and conversation series that features a wide spectrum of Black musicians from the classical arts for and from the South Florida community, including Joseph Jones and Dwight Banks’ works. Working with the American Composers Forum (ACF) – as part of their ACF I connect program – Music of the Unsung launched a call for scores to identify Jones and Banks for this opportunity. ACF is offering creative and administrative support for the development and launch of the full series over the next year. As a 2019 Knight Arts Challenge winner with lead funding from the John S. and James L Knight Foundation, Music of the Unsung America was launched by double bassist and entrepreneur Portia Dunkley. The mission of Music of the Unsung is to address the need for more diverse representation in South Florida in classical music arts. In 2021, Portia Dunkley co-founded, with AngelRefuse’, The New Canon Chamber Collective Inc., a non-profit, South Florida-based chamber ensemble, to further this mission.
The New Canon Chamber collective is committed to social justice by creating an artistic platform that truly prioritizes building community through the classical music arts and genuinely reflects the rich cultural landscape of South Florida.

The Albany Symphony 2020/2021 SEASON RE-IMAGINED!
2021-04-24 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
The Albany Symphony unveiled its reimagined 2020-2021 season, which will include world premieres and concertos with brilliant soloists, as well as iconic masterworks. Curated by conductor David Alan Miller, the season brings to life an array of new and recent works by a panoply of living composers forging new ways to create art reflecting our time and place, with major masterpieces by Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and others, and dazzling solo performances by artists including Inon Barnatan, Melissa White, Karen Hosmer and Grace Shryock.
The newly reimagined season will be presented virtually. As restrictions are lifted, live audiences will be invited back into the concert hall. All concerts will be performed live, in real time, on Capital Region stages, by Albany Symphony musicians conducted by Music Director, David Alan Miller.
The season kicks off on Oct. 24 at 7:30pm EDT, with a program featuring Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. Michael Daugherty is a BandQuest composer.
Performances run through June 2021. Find the schedule here and below.
ROMANTIC BRAHMS – Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Narrator; SIR WILLIAM WALTON: Facade; TYSON DAVIS (a NextNotes creator): (new work) JOHANNES BRAHMS: Serenade No. 1
RACHMANINOFF’S THIRD – Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Inon Barnatan, Piano; OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Trittico Botticelliano; CARLOS BANDERA: (new work); SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 (chamber orchestra version)
HAYDN & SCHUBERT – Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Melissa White, Violin; FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 46; GEORGE TSONTAKIS: Violin Concerto No. 2; TANNER PORTER: (new work) FRANZ SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 5
AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL–TRAILBLAZE! – Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Brasil Guitar Duo; NINA SHEKHAR: (new work); CLARICE ASSAD: Folk Tales, Double Guitar Concerto; MOLLY JOYCE/CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS: Songs; ALEXIS LAMB: (new work)
For more information, and to watch the concerts, subscribe and get tickets on their website: www.albanysymphony.com.

Coshocton Community Choir presenting virtual spring concert
2021-04-25 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
The Coshocton Community Choir will present a spring concert virtually via its YouTube channel on Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2pm CT | 3pm ET
This concert will feature Rene Clausen’s (a CQ composer) arrangement of the familiar hymn, “Nearer, My God to Thee,” John Ness Beck’s rhythmic “Psalm 46” and will conclude with Paul Christiansen’s arrangement of the hymn “On Our Way Rejoicing.”
Watch on their Youtube channel here.

PRECIOUS GEMS
2021-04-25 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Chicago)
The UNL Campus Bands will perform a two-part concert titled, “Precious Gems” featuring the music of Blackshaw, Boysen, Goldman, Holsinger, Thomas, Ticheli, Tschenekov, Williams, Whitacre, and others on Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2:00 pm CT. The event will be webcast live from Kimball Recital Hall. The bands take the names of Directors of Band Emeriti.
The first half of the program presented by the Donald A. Lentz Concert Band will open with Clifton Williams’s Variation Overture and use as its centerpiece 2 different approaches to folk song settings for band with performances of Three Ayres from Gloucester by Hugh M. Stuart and Frank Ticheli’s popular Cajun Folk Songs. Members of the band will improvise during David Weirich’s Diamond Joe’s Riviera Club and close with On the Mall by Edwin Franko Goldman.
Following a 30 minute intermission, the Jack R. Snider Concert Band will take the stage and open with A Walk in the Morning Sun by Pierre LaPlante before transitioning into Andrew Boysen’s picturesque Urban Scenes. The rest of the program takes us to Australia with Jodie Blackshaw’s (a BandQuest composer) Belah Sun Woman and then drops us off on what sounds like the streets of New Orleans with Omar Thomas’s Sharp Nine.
Both bands are under the direction of Assistant Director of Bands, Douglas W. Bush who shares conducting duties with Conducting Associates Joshua P. Cutting, Matt Smoot, and Scott Walker
No in-person audience.
See the program here.
See program notes here.
Watch the event here.

Kaufman Music Center – Solar Flare: Luna Composition Lab
2021-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Date & Time: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 6pm CT | 7pm ET
FREE concert streamed on Facebook & YouTube
Young musicians from Kaufman Music Center premiere works by the 2020-21 Luna Composition Lab Fellows: Vera Gjaja, Alisha Heng, Jordan Millar, Zola Saadi-Klein, Azalea Twining and Marina Zurita McKinnon. A national mentorship program founded by 2018 Grammy nominee Missy Mazzoli and 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Reid with Kaufman Music Center in 2016, Luna Lab is “changing the playing field by providing mentorship and exposure to teen-age female, non-binary, and gender nonconforming composers” (The New Yorker). This virtual performance may be streamed from Merkin Hall if circumstances related to the COVID-19 situation permit.
Thank you to Luna Lab’s Supporters.

Wind Symphony Concert
2021-04-27 20:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago)
On Tuesday, April 27 at 8:30pm CT | 7:30pm MT, the CMU Wind Symphony will present its final concert of the season in the Moss Performing Arts Center Robinson Theatre. It will also be the last time director Calvin Hofer will lead the ensemble. He is retiring from his position as Director of Bands for the music department. A free retirement reception will take place before the concert at 6pm in the academic quad area outside of Moss to celebrate his tenure at CMU.
Pieces to be performed will be some of Hofer’s favorites over the years: “Forefathers” by Jack Stamp, “Symphony for Brass and Percussion” by Alfred Reed, “BREATHE” by Alex Shapiro (a BQ composer), “La Fiesta Mexicana” by H. Owen Reed, and “Havana Nights” by Randall Standridge.
Tickets for the concert are available at coloradomesa.edu/tickets.

Kaufman Music Center – Performance as Process with Conrad Tao
2021-04-28 10:06 - 11:06 (America/Chicago)
Date & Time: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 9:06am | 10:06 am ET
Performance as Process events are streamed on Kaufman Music Center’s Facebook page.
2020-21 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence Conrad Tao is a pianist, composer, Avery Fisher Career Grant winner and alumnus of Special Music School. A series of eight FREE monthly digital Performance As Process events on Thursday evenings from September through April invites audiences into his creative practice as he develops programming for his May 6 Ecstatic Music performance in Merkin Hall. Streamed from his home in Manhattan, these events will give the audience a deeper look into his work in piano, electronics, composition and improvisation as the program for his May concert comes into focus.
Get tickets here.

Composer to Composer Talk with Tania León and Angélica Negrón
2021-04-28 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Free event, registration highly encouraged.
Registrants will receive links to listen to the featured works in advance of the event.
Join on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 4pm CT | 5pm ET for a new Composer to Composer Talk with Tania León (a BandQuest composer) and Angélica Negrón (a friend of ACF) about León’s work Carabalí for orchestra, from 1991, hosted by ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel.
James Melo writes in the note for the piece, “The title Carabalí refers to a people of West Africa who rebelled against slavery, and whose saga continued through the cimarrones in the Caribbean region. The quiet and introspective character of much of the piece belies something that stirs much more deeply below the surface in preparation for the final outburst, a carnavalesque frenzy that seems to release all the energy accumulated in the previous sections. The trumpets’ calls at the end acquire a heroic and defiant urgency.”
Join for this one-hour conversation, during which the composers will guide us through the music – complete with listening examples.
Learn more and register here.

Performance as Process with Conrad Tao
2021-04-29 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
A series of eight FREE monthly digital Performance As Process events on Thursday evenings from September through April will invite audiences to Conrad Tao’s, 2020-21 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence, creative practice as he develops programming for his May 6 Ecstatic Music concert in Merkin Hall. Streamed from his home in Manhattan, these events will give the audience a deeper look into his work in piano, electronics, composition and improvisation as the program for his Merkin Hall debut comes into focus.
Performance as Process events will be streamed on Kaufman Music Center’s Facebook page at 6pm CDT / 7pm EST on September 24, October 29, November 19, December 17, January 28, February 25, March 25 and April 29.

Kaufman Music Center – Fast Forward: ComposerFest
2021-04-29 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Date & Time: Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 6pm CT | 7pm ET
Virtual performance filmed in Merkin Hall Young musicians from Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School and Lucy Moses School perform music by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Samuel Coleridge Taylor and Joseph Bolougne, Chevalier de Saint-George.
Learn more and get tickets here.

Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Jeremy Jordan Perform Americana - Live Online - Presented by Adelphi University
2021-04-29 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
Violinist Kristin Lee and pianist Jeremy Jordan join forces for a virtual recital presented by Adelphi University. The program, entitled Americana, showcases a broad spectrum of illustrious composers and the American musical styles which influenced them, as well as their own musical styles which influenced generations of composers to come. This concert will be streamed LIVE from the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center, and tickets are available for $10. A link with a special access code to watch the livestream will be delivered in the order confirmation email. The performance will not remain online for later viewing.
Date & Time: Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 6:30pm CT | 7:30pm ET
Learn more and register here.
A native of Seoul, Korea, Kristin Lee emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge for Kristin from bullying and racism – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and feels the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of America, Lee was compelled to select this repertoire to express her pride of the country she now calls her own, and offers this program that has a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.
The repertoire for this performance includes Jeremy Jordan’s Fish Me a Dream; Jonathan Ragonese’s Non-Poem No. 4; Harry Burleigh’s Four Southland Sketches; Patrick Castillo’s Cirque for solo violin; Amy Beach’s Romance; George Gershwin’s But Not for Me (arr. Jeremy Jordan); James Louis “JJ” Johnson’s Lament (arr. Jeremy Jordan); Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer (arr. Jeremy Jordan); Florence Price’s Adoration; and John Novacek’s Four Rags.
Lee and Jordan have recorded a corresponding album featuring several of these works that will be released in the future.

The Power of Band Music Panel
2021-04-30 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
We already know how influential the experience of playing in a band can be for a kid, college student, or adult. The opportunities to be part of a community, to make music together, and to perform for others have a tremendous impact on each individual. But what about the composer/music creator?
What if the piece you were playing was written by someone in your community? What if it was written by someone who looks like the people playing the music (i.e. the same race)? What if your band members were invited to share their own stories as part of creating a new work? Imagine what that impact could be.
Join panelists Jasmine Britt, Music Faculty, Grand Street Campus High Schools and Associate Director, NYC Dept. of Ed. “All City” Concert Band, Jennifer Jolley, composer, blogger, professor, Weston Sprott, Dean, Preparatory Division, The Juilliard School and Trombonist, The Metropolitan Opera, and Jonathan Villela, Graduate Teaching Assistant, UT-Austin Bands, who lead the field in programming and commissioning band music in a variety of education and community settings. The panel, moderated by ACF’s CEO Vanessa Rose, will discuss different ways to approach music by diverse living artists and build context for why it matters.
Date & Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 at 3pm CT
Register in advance for this meeting here.
If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Laura Krider (lkrider@composersforum, 612.314.9228) at least 48 hours before the event.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Gabriela Lena Frank Lecture: Forging a Composer’s Path in 2021 and Beyond
2021-04-30 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
The arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 was devastating to the performing arts. An urgent call rang loud and clear to artists from all walks of life: adapt and create new models or risk losing livelihoods that took years to build.
Gabriela Lena Frank, a composer born with high-moderate/near-profound hearing loss, describes her creative experience and process. Her music often reflects not only her own personal experience as a multi-racial Latina, but also refract her studies of Latin American cultures, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.
Lecture followed by Q&A moderated by Professor Mark Russell Smith, Director of Orchestral Studies, University of Minnesota.
Date & Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 at 4pm CT
Sponsored by the School of Music at the University of Minnesota.
Photo Credit: Mariah Tauger Register for free here.

Hot & Cool Jazz: Taylor Eigsti
2021-04-30 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
On International Jazz Day 2021, please Wilton Libary’s first Hot & Cool jazz concert since their 2019-2020 season was interrupted after the smashing two-set concert of Brubecks Play Brubeck in January 2020!
They will broadcast a spectacular concert performed by pianist Taylor Eigsti and recorded in front of a live [socially distanced!] audience last winter at Millstone – then the long-time home of jazz legend Dave Brubeck (a BQ composer). Indeed, Taylor works his magic on Dave’s grand piano in the dramatic two-story music room where Dave composed so much of his famous music. As a bonus, Wilton resident Chris Brubeck, an award-winning composer and superlative trombonist and bassist, will also sit in and jam with Taylor on a few tunes. This will be a very special one-time concert broadcast that you won’t want to miss since the recording will not be accessible after this special evening.
Date & Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 at 6pm CT | 7pm ET
Learn more and register here.

ACF | create Application Information Session
2021-04-30 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
Information session regarding 2021 ACF | create Application Process with Billy Lackey, ACF VP of Artist Services.
Are you a music creator living in Minnesota of five boroughs ofNew York City seeking funding for a commission? Or are you an ensemble seeking funding to commission a composer who lives in Minnesota of five boroughs of NewYork City? Five music creators will be awarded up to $8,000 for the composer or primary artist’s time to create the work, and up to $3,000 to help with production and promotion support.
Date & Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 at 6:30pm CT
Register here.
Application deadline is 11:59PM Central on Monday, May 10, 2021.
For complete information and the application, click here.

Whitewater Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Orchestra
2021-04-30 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Department of Music Whitewater Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra will release their final concert virtually and for viewing through May 13.
The Whitewater Symphony Orchestra is the flagship orchestra at UW-Whitewater. WSO is a full orchestra and includes woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. In addition to performing 2-3 concerts each semester, the Symphony Orchestra tours semi-annually. Repertoire selections focus on standard symphonic masterworks, but include a variety of works from the classical period to modern day. Each year student concerto soloists are selected to perform with the orchestras through the annual concerto competition and members of the music faculty at UW-Whitewater make guest solo appearances with the orchestras.
Date & Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 at 7:30pm CT
Get tickets here.

AMERICA AWAKENS
2021-04-30 20:00 - 2021-05-02 23:00 (America/Chicago)
Spring is in the air, the light of awareness is dawning, change is within reach, growth is on the horizon, and pride lends a bounce to one’s step. Please join Maestro Wes Kenney and the Fort Collins Symphony for an evening of American composers and themes. This streamed virtual concert features two of Aaron Copland’s compositions–the enduring American anthem, Appalachian Spring, and a coming-of-age story, The Tender Land Suite– and the gospel/jazz/blues-inspired Church Street Serenade by composer Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer). Pre-recorded at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, this concert is available to stream at your leisure over the weekend of Friday, April 30, 2021 at 8pm CT | 7pm MT – Sunday, May 2, 2021 at 11pm CT | 10pm MT.
Tickets are available for $25 per device (Smart TV, computers, iPads, etc.). View this concert at your convenience. Sales for the webcast will end at 2:00 p.m. MT on Sunday, May 2nd.
The America Awakens concert is dedicated to the memory of Leabelle R. Schwartz
This concert is made possible thanks to: Roberta Mielke . Dr. Peter Springberg
Get tickets here.

VOX Femina Los Angeles presents I Dream A World
2021-05-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
“I dream a world where man no other man will scorn, where love will bless the earth and peace its paths adorn.”
​Centered around the beautiful words of Langston Hughes’ poem imagining a world of justice and equality, VOX presents its second digital concert of the season, I Dream A World. Travel with us through newly created pieces and past performance videos; alongside refugees on their journey to find home with the Farsi-language piece From Behind the Caravan: Songs of Hâfez by Abbie Betinis (a ChoralQuest composer and McKnight fellow); and to distant shores in our collaboration with the Nā Wai Chamber Choir of Hawaii. Until it’s safe to actually visit these places, join us and enjoy this concert from the comfort of your own home.
Date & Time: Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 12pm CT | 10am PT
Culver City residents receive 25% off general admission tickets with the coupon code “Culver City”.
Tickets available here.

ACF | create Application Information Session
2021-05-01 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Information session regarding 2021 ACF | create Application Process with Billy Lackey, ACF VP of Artist Services.
Are you a music creator living in Minnesota of five boroughs ofNew York City seeking funding for a commission? Or are you an ensemble seeking funding to commission a composer who lives in Minnesota of five boroughs of NewYork City? Five music creators will be awarded up to $8,000 for the composer or primary artist’s time to create the work, and up to $3,000 to help with production and promotion support.
Date & Time: Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 1pm CT
Register here.
Application deadline is 11:59PM Central on Monday, May 10, 2021.
For complete information and the application, click here.
