EarRelevant Staff | 7 OCT 2021 (updated 10 OCT 2021)
- Biden announces picks for NEA/NEH chairs
- Atlanta Chamber Players join consortium to diversify new music
- Demos wins American Prize in chamber music, GSU Women’s chorus in choral performance
Biden announces picks for NEA/NEH chairs
WASHINGTON, DC— President Joe Biden has announced Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as his choice to chair the National Endowment for the Arts. She is slated to become the first person of African-American and Mexican-American heritage to serve as the Endowment’s chair.
Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD
A graduate of UCLA, Dr. Jackson has served on the National Council on the Arts since 2013 when she was appointed by President Obama. She is a tenured professor in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, where she also holds an appointment in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
Biden has also named Dr. Shelly Lowe, head of the Harvard University Native Americans Program, to chair the National Endowment for the Humanities. ■
Atlanta Chamber Players join consortium to diversify new music
ATLANTA, GA— The Atlanta Chamber Players (Atlanta), Decoda (New York), Fifth House Ensemble (Chicago), Musiqa (Houston), and SOLI Chamber Ensemble (San Antonio) announce the creation of a new consortium aimed at increasing diversity in modern chamber music repertoire. Beginning this year, the Cross-Country Chamber Consortium will inaugurate a new annual Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Emerging Composer Commission.
Black, Latinx, and Indigenous voices have traditionally been under-represented in the world of contemporary classical music. This consortium will provide a broader platform for these emerging composers while giving the composers a valuable learning environment to fine-tune their new creations in various settings.
Winners will receive a $2500 cash award, a performance by each of the five Consortium members, a modest travel stipend to attend one of the concerts in the location of their choice, and the combined artistic and administrative support of the five chamber music ensembles.
Applications for the first round of this commission will be accepted in November of 2021, and the commissioned winner’s work performed in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Antonio during the 2022/2023 season. Applications will be judged blind by a panel representing the member organizations and joined by rotating guest judges. Application requirements and guidelines can be found here. ■
Demos wins American Prize in chamber music, GSU Women’s Chorus in choral performance
Nikitas Demos
ATLANTA, GA— Atlanta composer Nickitas Demos has been chosen winner of The American Prize in Composition for 2021, in the professional instrumental chamber music division, for “Frontlash” (2017), a 10-minute chamber work commissioned and premiered by the Unheard-of//Ensemble.
Another Atlanta composer, Robert Thompson garnered second place in the same category of the American Prize for his composition “Ninth Wave” for cello and electroacoustics. It marks the second time Thompson has scored a second place win in The American Prize chamber music category.
In the area of performance, the Georgia State University Women’s Chorus, directed by Jennifer Sengin, earned top honors in The American Prize’s Choral Performance, College/University Division (Larger Program). Sengin herself came in second place for competition’s Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting, College/University Chorus Division.
The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts recognizes and rewards performing artists, ensembles, and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in multiple areas of the performing arts. ■
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