For Immediate Release
Contact: Nichole L. Knight, nknight@chambermusicamerica.org 

New York, NYChamber Music America (CMA), the national network for ensemble music professionals, today announced the distribution of $601,750 through its two flagship commissioning grant programs: New Jazz Works, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Classical Commissioning, supported by The Mellon Foundation.

Together with this year’s previously announced grant programs, CMA has awarded over $1.4 million to the small ensemble music field in its 2022 fiscal year.

“I am honored that CMA is funding these 24 ensembles from all corners of the United States,” said Kevin Kwan Loucks, chief executive officer. “These commissioning grants and the boundary-breaking new works that will develop as a result, cap off a remarkable year of CMA championing the creativity and expansive range of today’s ensemble music ecosystem,” he added.

The 2022 New Jazz Works and Classical Commissioning grantees were selected by independent peer panels adjudicated in June and July 2022.

New Jazz Works

Supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

A total of $392,000 has been awarded to 12 ensembles through New Jazz Works, which provides grants to U.S. jazz ensembles to create, perform, and if desired, record new works. The new work may be composed by the ensemble leader or another member of the ensemble.

The 2022 New Jazz Works Grantees are:

dB-ish (Roxbury, MA)
Leader/Composer: Darren Barrett
Instrumentation: trumpet, saxophone, piano/keyboard, bass, drums

Steve Carrington Group (Bronx, NY)
Leader/Composer: Steve Carrington
Instrumentation: tenor/soprano sax/EWI, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, piano, guitar, keyboard/piano, bass, drums, percussion

Lorca Hart Quartet (San Francisco, CA)
Leader/Composer: Lorca Hart
Instrumentation: drums, piano, bass, tenor saxophone

säje (Tacoma, WA)
Leader/Composer: Johnaye Kendrick
Instrumentation: four voices, piano, bass, drums

Heidi Martin Ensemble (Takoma Park, MD)
Leader/Composer: Heidi Martin
Instrumentation: voice/piano/keyboards/guitar, voice, trumpet, tenor/soprano saxophone, guitar, piano/keyboards, bass, drums

Dave Meder/Psalmic Echoes Quartet (Denton, TX)
Leader/Composer: Dave Meder
Instrumentation: piano/voice, trumpet, piano, bass, drums

Elsa Nilsson – Band of Pulses (Brooklyn, NY)
Leader/Composer: Elsa Nilsson
Instrumentation: flute, piano, bass, drums

Caili O’Doherty Quartet (Jersey City, NJ)
Leader/Composer: Caili O’Doherty
Instrumentation: piano, saxophone, bass, drums

Diego Rivera Quintet (Lansing, MI)
Leader/Composer: Diego Rivera
Instrumentation: saxophones, trumpet, piano, bass, drums

Luciana Souza Trio (Los Angeles, CA)
Leader/Composer: Luciana Souza
Instrumentation: voice/percussion, guitar/voice, bass

Helen Sung’s “JazzPlasticity” (Forest Hills, NY)
Leader/Composer: Helen Sung
Instrumentation: piano/keyboards, saxophones/flute/bass clarinet, bass, drums, turntables

Samuel Torres Group (Brooklyn, NY)
Leader/Composer: Samuel Torres
Instrumentation: piano, drumset, bass, trumpet, saxophones, percussion, violins, viola, cello

 

Classical Commissioning

Supported by The Mellon Foundation

A total of $209,750 has been awarded to 12 ensembles through the Classical Commissioning program, which supports professional U.S.-based presenters and ensembles whose programming includes Western European and/or non-Western classical and contemporary music. Grants are provided for the commissioning and performance of new works by American composers.

The 2022 Classical Commissioning grantees are:

48 St. Stephen (Glen Carbon, IL)
Composer: Christopher Stark
Instrumentation: violin, piano

Aizuri Quartet (New York, NY)
Composer: Layale Chaker
Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello, clarinet (guest)

Akropolis Reed Quintet (Northville, MI)
Composer: Derrick Skye
Instrumentation: oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, bassoon

Amorsima Trio (Denton, TX)
Composer: Chaz Underriner
Instrumentation: violin, viola, cello

andPlay (New York, NY)
Composer: Julie Herndon
Instrumentation: violin, viola

Del Sol Quartet (San Francisco, CA)
Composer: Michael Gilbertson
Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello, plus ondes martenot (guest, performed by the composer)

Kahl & Nyce Duo (Kansas City, MO)
Composer: Yotam Haber
Instrumentation: saxophone, piano

Friction Quartet (Concord, CA)
Composer: Paul Mortilla
Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello, vocal quartet (guests), harpsichord (guest)

Longleash (Brooklyn, NY)
Composer: Igor Santos
Instrumentation: violin, cello, piano

Picosa (Chicago, IL)
Composer: Shawn Okpebholo
Instrumentation: flutes, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, plus electronics (guest)

Strobe (San Francisco, CA)
Composer: Kay Rhie
Instrumentation: oboe, violin, viola, cello

Whistling Hens (Lanham, MD)
Composer: Kate Soper
Instrumentation: clarinet, soprano

View CMA’s April 12 and July 25 press releases, which announced the 2022 Artistic Projects, Performance Plus, Presenter Consortium for Jazz, and Ensemble Forward grant recipients.

Chamber Music America, the national network of ensemble music professionals, was founded in 1977 to develop, strengthen, and support the chamber music community. With a membership including musicians, ensembles, presenters, artists’ managers, educators, music businesses, and advocates of ensemble music, CMA welcomes members representing a wide range of musical styles and traditions. In addition to its funding programs, CMA provides its members with consulting services, access to instrument and other insurances, conferences, seminars, and several publications including Chamber Music magazine and the weekly e-newsletter, Accent.  

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

 

 

The Mellon Foundation seeks to strengthen, promote, and defend the centrality of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse, fair, and democratic societies. To this end, its core programs support exemplary and inspiring institutions of higher education and culture.