Chamber Music America Awards More than $1,371,000 to the Small Ensemble Music Field

For Immediate Release
Contact: Orchid McRae, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, omcrae@chambermusicamerica.org

New York, NY—Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network for ensemble music professionals, has announced the distribution of $1,370,287 through its six grant programs to support the work of 74 ensembles and presenters across classical and jazz fields.

The 2023 grantees, reflecting a broad spectrum of sounds and stages, were selected by independent peer panels adjudicated in December 2022, March 2023, and June 2023. Individual awards, from $10,500 to $37,000, will be used to support projects in communities across 39 cities in 20 states.

“On behalf of CMA, I am honored to support such a diverse cohort of artists and ensembles who are committed to serving their communities through artistic innovation and equitable musical practices,” says Kevin Kwan Loucks, CEO of Chamber Music America. “Through these longstanding grant programs that support the creation of new works and the engagement of unique mentorship opportunities, CMA continues to foster the next generation of the industry—building on our organization’s 47-year history of supporting promising artists and arts makers. I’d like to thank our generous funders in aiding this work, and I look forward to watching the development and future successes of the 2023 grantees.” 

The grant programs—New Jazz Works, Performance Plus, and Presenters Consortium for Jazz supported by The Doris Duke Foundation; Classical Commissioning, supported by The Mellon Foundation; Artistic Projects, supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation; and Ensemble Forward, supported by the New York Community Trust—and grantees are outlined below.

A selection of images of the 2023 grantees can be found here.

Awards have been granted to 14 ensembles through New Jazz Works, which provided $479,000 (total) to United States 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 2023 New Jazz Works Grantees are:

• Aimée Allen Trio
• Emilio Solla y La Inestable de Brooklyn
• Gabriel Vicéns Sextet
• Grant Richards Sextet
• Jimmy Greene Quintet
• Jonathan Powell and Mambo Jazz Party
• Le Boeuf Brothers
• Manuel Valera
• Miguel Zenon & Golden City
• Patrick Cornelius
• Ryan Cohan Ensemble
• Silvano Monasterios
• Somi Kakoma
• The Vanity Nonet

Grants have been awarded to 11 ensembles through the Classical Commissioning program, which supports professional presenters and ensembles, based in the United States, whose programming includes Western European and/or non-Western classical and contemporary music. Awards, $198,750 in total, were provided for the commissioning and performance of new works by American composers.

The 2023 Classical Commissioning grantees and commissioned composers are:

• Balance Campaign with Jeffrey Mumford
• Byrne:Kozar:Duo with Marti Epstein
• Decoda with Nina Young
• Ensemble for These Times with Niloufar Nourbakhsh
• InfraSound with Susan Botti
• Khemia Ensemble with Anuj Bhutani
• newEar with Susan Kander
• NEXUS Chamber Music with Paul Wiancko
• Roomful of Teeth with Christopher Cerrone
• Shepherdess Duo with Mary Kouyoumdjian
• The New Consort with Jonathan Woody

$193,200 has been awarded to support 12 women-led jazz ensembles by connecting them with experienced artist-educators for evaluative listening sessions and recording projects.

The 2023 Performance Plus Grantees and coaches are:

• • Astrid Kuljanic and Mat Muntz with coach Laurie Antonioli 
  • Aubrey Johnson Group with coach Billy Childs 
  • Cocomama with coach Michele Rosewoman 
  • Gabriela Martina featuring Angelina Mbulo with coach Frank Carlberg 
  • JAZZphoria with coach Frank Martin 
  • Jenny Hill and Liquid Horn with coach Jerome Harris 
  • La Banda Ramirez with coach Hector Martignon 
  • Monica Shriver Quartet with coach Rahsaan Barber 
  • Monika Herzig’s Sheroes with coach Lenny White 
  • Sounds of A&R with coach Thelonious Sphere Monk III 
  • Star n the Knight with coach D’Vonne Lewis 
  • The Sofia Goodman Group with coach Pascal Le Boeuf 

Five grants totalling $151,675 have been awarded to 15 presenters that work together in groups of three to engage a jazz ensemble for concerts in their respective communities.

The 2023 Presenter Consortium for Jazz grantees are:

• Arts for Art; Ars Nova Worshop; and CapitalBop, presenting Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
• TransArt; EastSide Arts Alliance; and Arts & Education Continuum, presenting Craig Harris and Harlem Nightsongs
• Stanford Jazz; Outpost Productions, Inc.; and The Jazz Salon, presenting Dafnis Prieto Ensemble featuring Luciana Souza
• Nameless Sound; Epistrophy Arts; and The New Quorum, presenting Myra Melford’s Fire & Water Quintet
• Elastic Arts; Hallwalls, Inc; and Trinosophes Projects, presenting Trio Imagination

Grants totalling $247,662 have been awarded to 14 New York City-based projects comprising performances, recordings, new compositions, and residencies, among other artist-generated ideas. The projects funded through this program represent the artistic visions, concepts, and priorities of the applicants, regardless of musical genre or style.

The 2023 Artistic Projects grantees are:

• Afro-Andean Funk
• Ali Bello & The Latin Jazz Liaisons
• Annette A Aguilar
• ARKAI
• The Folklorkestra
• Jenifer Wharton’s Bonegasm
• KOE
• Jay Rodriguez Sierra Muthaflower
• RighteousGIRLS
• Stephanie Chou Project
• TAK Ensemble
• THISTLE
• Unheard-of Ensemble
• Volker Goetze Quartet

Grants totalling $100,000 have been awarded to eight New York City-based ensembles to engage with an established chamber music mentor.

The 2023 Ensemble Forward grantees and coaches are:

• Bergamot Quartet with Dan Trueman
• InfraSound with Darian Donavan Thomas
• Luminae Trio with Andrew Yee
• Ocelot with Wadada Leo Smith
• Quartet Salonnières with David Salness
• Trio Fadolín with Kinan Azmeh
• Tropos with Darius Jones
• Uptown Winds with Mark Dover

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 its quarterly publication, Chamber Music magazine.  

The mission of the The Doris Duke 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 “believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.”

Howard Gilman believed in the power of the arts to transform lives. The Howard Gilman Foundation honors his legacy by supporting the most robust, innovative, and promising performing arts organizations in New York City.

A public charity, The New York Community Trust connects past, present, and future generous New Yorkers with vital nonprofits working to make a healthy, equitable, and thriving community for all. It is a public grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the lives of residents of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island.