Sarah Kirkland Snider official site

Deemed “one of the decade’s more gifted, up-and-coming modern classical
composers” (Pitchfork), composer Sarah Kirkland Snider writes music of direct expression and vivid narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times), “haunting” (The Los Angeles Times), and “strikingly beautiful” (Time Out New York). With an ear for both the structural and poetic, Snider’s music draws upon a variety of influences to render a nuanced command of immersive storytelling.

Snider’s works have been commissioned and performed by some of the most prestigious orchestras, ensembles, and soloists throughout the world, including the San Francisco, Detroit, Indianapolis, and North Carolina Symphonies, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, and the American Composers Orchestra; violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, percussionist Colin Currie, and vocalist Shara Nova (formerly Worden); Ensemble Signal, The Knights, yMusic, and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. Her music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at festivals including BAM Next Wave, Aspen, Ecstatic, Sundance, NY Festival of Song, and Zurich’s Apples & Olives. Penelope, her song cycle for mezzo and orchestra (or chamber ensemble), has been performed over forty times in the United States and Europe.

The 16/17 season will feature premieres and performances including the US premiere of Unremembered, inspired by the poems and illustrations of writer/visual artist Nathaniel Bellows, with Padma Newsome, Shara Nova, and D.M. Stith on the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s acclaimed Liquid Music series, followed by tours of the work in the US and Holland. Additional highlights include the world premieres of a new work for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and a collaborative commission for female vocalist and string orchestra, and a performance of her large orchestral work, Hiraeth, by the North Carolina Symphony at the Kennedy Center. Premieres of commissions set for future seasons include Requiem for the Endangered, a mass for Trinity Wall Street Choir and NOVUS; and The Living Light, an opera co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and Opera Cabal.

New Amsterdam Records has released two critically-acclaimed full-length albums by Snider: Unremembered (2015), an hour-long, thirteen-part song cycle for seven voices, chamber orchestra, and electronics, and Penelope (2010), a J. Paul Getty Center-commissioned song cycle with lyrics by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. Unremembered was named one of the Top Five Albums of the Year by The Washington Post and The Nation. Penelope was named No. 1 Classical Album of 2010 by Time Out New York and was one of NPR’s Top Five Genre-Defying Albums of 2010.

In addition to her work as a composer, Snider is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of New Amsterdam Records, a Brooklyn-based independent record label. She has an M.A. and A.D. from the Yale School of Music and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Photo Credit: Willy Somma

D.M. Stith official site

David Stith comes from a musical family: his father is a college wind ensemble director and former church choir director; his grandfather is professor emeritus in the music department at Cornell University; his mother is a pianist; his sisters sing opera, play piano, tap dance, play timpani and are excellent soft ball players. David Stith grew up dreading the family ensemble’s appearances in church, preferring instead to draw mazes on the blank sides of church bulletins during services. In fifth grade, a harrowing performance of Phantom of the Opera at a school assembly (accompanied by his mother on piano) nearly turned him off to music for good. He started a noise band in high school, called Starchild (or Starchildren, or The Pool –they never did quite decide); but they preferred painting their guitars to playing them. David wrote a lot of bad poetry during this time.

In college, David attempted writing a novel and a children’s book, illustrating his work with original woodcut prints. His pursuit of writing and illustration brought him from Rochester to Brooklyn, where he took up work as a graphic designer. While in Brooklyn, David befriended Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and soon after began facilitating, in small technical ways, the recording of her album Bring Me The Workhorse. This, in turn, spurred David to begin writing and recording songs of his own. It was a casual, private affair. He spent countless days stored away in his bedroom, sketching folk songs with epic electronic gestures, a rekindling of passions for his first familial love: music.

It was no grand injunction that encouraged David to return to music. He writes songs for the same reasons he enjoys a good conversation: it’s just natural. His songs come out of a knock- about life, pressed by the urge to overcome insecurities, to probe questions, to revisit dreams and visions.

Photo Credit: Ethan Hill

Shara Nova official site

Born in “The Diamond state” of Arkansas to a family of musical traveling evangelists, Shara Nova moved across America throughout her youth, then went on to study classical voice at The University of North Texas. In New York, she began composition lessons with Padma Newsome and assembled her chamber pop band, My Brightest Diamond in 2001, subsequently releasing four albums on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Nova has received composer commissions from yMusic, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Brooklyn Rider, Nadia Sirota, So Percussion and Roomful of Teeth. She has performed with the San Francisco, Indianapolis, North Carolina Symphony among others. Many artists have sought out Nova’s distinctive voice, including David Lang, David Byrne, The Decemberists, Bryce Dessner, Steve Mackey, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Sufjan Stevens and Matthew Barney. Nova’s latest project, a baroque opera titled You Us We All (2015), made its U.S. debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Padma Newsome official site

Padma Newsome was born in Alice Springs, Australia in 1961. He trained as a concert violist in Sydney, touring throughout Australia, China and the Pacific. In the mid 1980’s, he left classical performance to spend six years on an ashram in New South Wales where he taught yoga, studied Indian classical music and participated in the centre’s musical activities. Newsome began formal studies in composition in the 1990’s at the University of Adelaide and continued at Yale University on a Fulbright scholarship. His musical palette expresses colors of the modernist avant-garde, folk music from India and chamber music remnants along with energy of the pop/rock world. He composes for traditional large and small ensemble, the electro-acoustic medium, improvised chamber ensemble and music for dance, theatre and film. Padma resides in Mallacoota, Australia, where he mentors, teaches, conducts the Mallacoota Choir and is a leading light for regional community music projects.

Padma Newsome is the musical director and composer for Clogs, a new and improvising ensemble that has toured throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada. His repertoire for Clogs infuses contemporary classical music with the traditional rhythms and harmonies of folk music, driving energy of rock and ample room for improvisation. The ensemble was awarded the prestigious CMA/NEA Special Commissioning Award in 2003 in recognition of its achievements in the field of new and improvised chamber music, and has also received several residency grants from Chamber Music America. Clogs has released 5 albums and two EPs featuring Newsome’s compositions,: Thom’s Night Out (2001), Lullaby for Sue (2003), Stick Music (2004), Lantern (2006), Veil Waltz (2009) on the Brassland/USA and Southern Records/Europe labels. Their 5th album, “The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton” was released in 2009. The record features Newsome’s new songs for Clogs with guest vocalists Matt Berninger of the National, Sufjan Stevens, and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. The music was composed during his residency in Ischia, Italy, made possible by a Commissioning and Residency award from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University in 2004/5. In 2012, Clogs in collaboration with the Mallacoota Community Choir, released a 3 song EP, “The Sundown Song”.

In addition to his work with Clogs, Newsome is an orchestrator/arranger/violinist/ keyboardist with American rock band, The National. With the release of Boxer in 2007, The National became synonymous with a kind of gritty rock, fused with dark orchestrations.  The 2010 release, “High Violet”, featuring Newsome’s (et al) BloodBuzz Ohio, rose to critical acclaim and is their most popular record to date. In his role as orchestrator/arranger, Padma has also mentored various “Indie” rock artists, such as Shara Worden and Johnny Rogers. His recent collaborations include: Daniel Helin (Belgium), Zachary Miskin (France) and The Devastations (Australia).

As a concert violist, he has performed with Sydney new music ensemble, the Seymour Group, Goossens String Quartet, Adelaide’s Fresh Air, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, working under numerous conductors such as Sir Christopher Hogwood, Zdenek Macal, Sir Charles Makkerras, and Stuart Challender. He has performed throughout China, Fiji, the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Russia, Turkey, and Australia in venues ranging from the Sydney Opera House, Madison Square Gardens, Hollywood Bowl, The Famous Spiegeltent (Sydney Festival), Brighton Festival Dome, Royal Festival Hall for the London Jazz Festival, The Royal Albert Hall, Toronto Opera House, MusicNOW Festival in Cincinnati, to New York City’s Merkin Hall, Weill Hall Carnegie Hall, CBGB’s, The Knitting Factory, and Bowery Ballroom, to name a few. He has played at numerous festival’s in Europe and the United States, including: Glastonbury, Bonaroo, Pitchfork, SXSW, Austin City Limits, and Sasqwatch.

Newsome’s music has been performed by ensembles such as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Melbourne, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Players, Locrian Chamber Players and Clogs, and by soloists including clarinetist Evan Ziporyn (Bang on a Can), guitarist Bryce Dessner, violinists Katie Lansdale and Jennifer Choi, jazz cellist Erik Friedlander, The Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, and violists Paul McMillan and Georgina Grosvenor.

He is the recipient of six consecutive ASCAPLUS Awards, winner of 2008 Plug Awards, (Best Song, w/ The National),  the 2004/05 Fromm Music Foundation Commissioning and Residency Award, and an Artists Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism (formerly CT Commission on the Arts). Other grants include: Australia Council for the Arts, Vermont Arts Council, Fulbright Post-graduate Award, Symphony Australia, Arts SA, Mallacoota Arts Council, Helpmann Academy, CMA Residency Partnership Program (with Clogs) and numerous private commissions.

Since moving to Mallacoota in 2004, Padma has become increasingly involved in community art and music projects. Working around East Gippsland, he has conducted community choirs, written and collaborated with local musicians, dancers, and artists, participated with workshops and performances in the Mallacoota Festivals, Bruthen Blues Festivals, Gippsland Choir Festivals, The Shearwater Festival, and the Millenium Chorus (as mentor and choir director), and conducts music workshops and training on a regular basis.

Newsome was educated at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Adelaide University, and Yale University. His teachers have included Dr. Martin Bresnick, Dr. Joseph Schwanter, Pundit Ashok Roy, Alexandru Todicescu, Dr. Graeme Koehne, Eleanor Havda, and Dr. Evan Ziporyn.

Photo Credit: Rachel_Mounsey

The Knights official site

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians, dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they inspire listeners with vibrant programs that encompass their roots in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery. The orchestra has toured and recorded with renowned soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Gil Shaham, and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Vienna Musikverein.

Growing from a series of informal chamber music parties in friends’ living rooms, The Knights are led by Artistic Directors and brothers, Colin and Eric Jacobsen. The Knights are committed to creating unusual and adventurous partnerships across disciplines; they perform in traditional concert halls as well as parks, plazas, and bars, all in an effort to reach listeners of all backgrounds and invite them into their music-making. Since incorporating in 2007, the orchestra has toured consistently across the United States and Europe.

In 2015, The Knights launched a partnership with BRIC with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As part of that initiative, The Knights performed with master violinist Gil Shaham on a North American tour, and on Shaham’s Grammy-nominated recording of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. This partnership has been continued, as The Knights’ launch their first Brooklyn Home Season in 2016-17, in residence at BRIC. Each residency includes evening performances, family concerts, and engagement programs for local audiences, families, and public school students. The residencies allow The Knights to incubate their artistry and explorations at home, expanding connections within communities through music, before representing the best of Brooklyn around the globe. October saw the orchestra’s Opening Weekend, with a musical program featuring Master Peter’s Puppet Show, a multimedia concert with visual artist Kevork Mourad. December’s concerts celebrated a Brooklyn Schubertiade, showcasing local artists in an intimate salon evening of art, poetry, and music, where Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon read the world premiere of a new poem, set to music by The Knights. February’s program highlights the world premiere of a new work by Andy Akiho, winner of the 2015 Rome Prize; and April showcases mainstays of classical canon alongside new Brooklyn composers, including works by Haydn, Mozart, and Gabriel Kahane.

In addition, Spring 2017 will see the release of The Knights’ new album featuring Yo-Yo Ma on works by Osvaldo Golijov, Dvorak, and Sufjan Stevens. In March, the orchestra will debut at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where the orchestra will help launch the inaugural SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras, co-presented by Washington Performing Arts and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Directly following the Kennedy Center appearance, The Knights travel to Europe for a residency in Aix-en- Provence, France, and performances throughout Germany including a concert at Hamburg’s brand-new Elbphilharmonie.

The Knights are proud to be known as “one of Brooklyn’s sterling cultural products…known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory” (The New Yorker). The unique camaraderie within the group retains the intimacy and spontaneity of chamber music in performance. Through the palatable joy and friendship in their music-making, each musician strives to include new and familiar audiences to experience this important artform.

Nathaniel Bellows official site

Nathaniel Bellows was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Middlebury College and Columbia University. He is the author of a novels, On This Day, Nan, and a collection of poems, Why Speak?, along with numerous short stories and poems. He also works in the fields of visual arts and music and lives in New York City.