FY17 Art Works (Part 1)

Grants to Orchestras

Application Deadline of February 18, 2016
Award Announced December 13, 2016

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Albany Symphony (NY), $15,000

To support the American Music Festival. Under the direction of Music Director David Alan Miller, the festival will take place at the Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York. The theme of the festival will celebrate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal by exploring connections between communities. The centerpiece of the festival will feature world premieres of commissioned works by Katherine Balch and Reena Esmail, as well as works by Christopher Theofanidis, Steven Stucky, and many other composers. Other activities may include a composer reading session, chamber music programs, a symposium on the Canal’s historical significance, and a songwriting project.

American Composers Orchestra, $25,000

To support the Emerging Composers Project. Activities will include Orchestra Underground concerts at Carnegie Hall featuring premieres and newly commissioned works. Other project plans include the Underwood New Music Readings serving emerging composers and the EarShot New Music Readings for composers in collaboration with Berkeley Symphony, Columbus Symphony, and New York Philharmonic.

Apollo’s Fire, $35,000

To support a 25th anniversary festival of concerts featuring symphonic music of Beethoven on period instruments. Programming will include performances of Symphony No. 5 and the Violin Concerto with American soloist Noah Bendix-Balgley, concertmaster at the Berlin Philharmonic. Pre-concert talks on Beethoven’s life may be presented by visiting scholar Thomas Forrest Kelly of Harvard University. Other educational events will include post-concert discussions and family concerts.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, $40,000

To support the OrchKids program, a music and mentorship program for students in Baltimore City public schools. Serving as a national model for the U.S. El Sistema movement, a movement that emphasizes social change through the arts, professional musicians provide in-school and after-school music training to students attending Title I schools in Baltimore. OrchKids combines music instruction and social services to help students acquire positive behaviors such as perseverance, cooperation, and personal responsibility. The program is delivered at no cost to participants, and includes musicianship classes, after-school choir and instrumental music instruction, summer programming, and opportunities for the students to perform for audiences around the city.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, $75,000

To support a series of concerts featuring co-commissioned works in Boston and New York City with related educational activities. Composers to be featured will include Julian Anderson, George Benjamin, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Matthias Pintscher. Concerts will take place in Symphony Hall in Boston, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Engagement activities will include Conversations with the Creators series, and Do You Hear What I Hear? series. Concerts will be broadcast live on WCRB-FM as well as available online on WGBH’s BSO Concert Channel and on the BSO’s website.

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, $30,000

To support the Intensive Community Program (ICP), a string instrument training program serving students in Boston communities. The program gives access to classical music instruction to students from populations historically underrepresented in classical music. Elementary school students are recruited from public schools, inner-city churches, and community organizations, such as Boys and Girls Clubs and the Haitian Women’s Association. Students who may not otherwise have access are able to participate in weekly music lessons, ensemble classes, a summer music workshop, master classes and performance opportunities. After a few years of intensive study, students may audition into the youth symphony’s entry-level orchestra, and many ICP students progress through to the youth symphony’s highest level orchestras.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, $10,000

To support An American Siddhartha, a program of music and dance. Based on Hermann Hesse’s novel, the collaborative project will be developed in partnership with the Lehrer Dance Company. The program will represent a re-imagining of a dance concept explored previously by Founder and Artistic Director Jon Lehrer with new choreography set to orchestral music drawn from existing repertoire. Led by Music Director JoAnn Falletta, the performance will take place at the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo North Campus in Amherst, New York.

Chicago Sinfonietta, $10,000

To support a concert program featuring works that explore issues of gender, sexuality, and identity with related community engagement activities. The program, performed in Wentz Concert Hall and at Symphony Center, will feature guest conductor Michael Morgan, pianist Sara Davis Buechner, and the Allegrezza Singers. Works to be performed may include selections from “Candide” and “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, “Elegy for Matthew” by David Conte in memory of Matthew Shepard, “Peach Street” by Jennifer Higdon, and “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Engagement activities may include collaborations with community partners that will explore the challenges within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, $75,000

To support a 125th anniversary celebration of composer Sergei Prokofiev. Plans include a film screening of Sergei Eisenstein’s “Ivan the Terrible” (1944) with Prokofiev’s musical score performed live, conducted by Music Director Riccardo Muti. The program will feature Gerard Depardieu as narrator, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, bass Mikhail Petrenko, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Chicago Children’s Choir. Plans also include performances of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and works by Mikhail Glinka and Antonin Dvorak led by guest conductor Charles Dutoit. Finally, a family concert of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” will take place with guest conductor Matthew Aucoin, and the Magic Circle Mime Company. To prepare young audiences for the concert experience, materials for classroom groups and families will be offered. An in-school curriculum guide for teachers will be developed to engage students in the study of Prokofiev’s life as well as musical components of “Peter and the Wolf.”

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, $40,000

To support the Classical Roots concert. Under the direction of Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell, the concert will feature the orchestra along with guest artists and the Classical Roots Community Mass Choir, which comprises more than 100 singers from local churches. The concert will take place in the Crossroads Church and will be a communitywide celebration of African-American musical heritage.

Civic Orchestra of Chicago, $50,000

To support training and stipends for pre-professional musicians of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Culminating in full orchestra concerts, musical training will include rehearsals, performances, and community engagement activities under the direction of guest conductors, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Musicians will perform free concerts at Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center as well as in predominantly low-income Chicago neighborhoods. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the symphony’s creative consultant, will guide the development of the Civic Fellowship activities, which encourages and trains musicians in community engagement opportunities.

The Cleveland Orchestra, $35,000

To support a new production of “Pelleas et Melisande” by composer Claude Debussy at the Cleveland Orchestra. As an integral element of the production, the opera will utilize revolutionary “switchable glass” that varies in opacity based on electrical charge. Singers and dancers will perform from inside a structure made of switchable glass, and will be hidden and revealed at key points in the performance to heighten the dramatic themes of the work. The structure will fill with fog, contain multiple images, and serve as a projection surface. The creative team may include director Yuval Sharon, conductor Franz Welser-Most, lighting designer Jason Thompson, with projection and set designs by MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner Mimi Lien. The cast may include baritone Stephane Degout, soprano Martina Jankova, bass-baritone Hanno Muller-Brachmann, and mezzosoprano Nancy Maultsby. Audiences will be reached through as many as three performances at Severance Hall in the spring of 2017, a radio broadcast, a lecture series, and through related education workshops to engage college students in the creation, staging, and production of the opera.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra, $20,000

To support ReMix, a new-format concert series. Designed to engage new audiences and break barriers to cultural experiences, concerts of shorter duration without intermission will take place in the Dallas City Performance Hall. The series, offered at reduced ticket prices, will feature experimental programming with players and conductors interacting with the audience. Repertoire may include Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 2 for violin, cello, and orchestra, which also features electric guitar, drum kit, and brake drum.

Handel & Haydn Society, $40,000

To support concert performances of Handel’s oratorio “Semele,” on period instruments with related educational activities. Last performed by the society in 1999, the performance will be their first in its original un-staged format on period instruments in accordance with the composer’s intent and the work’s 1744 London premiere. Educational activities will include interactive programs at regional public schools by a professional vocal quartet and pre-concert lectures.

Lexington Philharmonic, $10,000

To support a residency by pianist and composer Conrad Tao. Activities will take place in partnership with the University of Kentucky HealthCare’s Art in HealthCare Program. Plans include a free solo concert by Tao in the main hospital atrium, a therapist- and faculty-supported performance at Eastern State Hospital for mental health patients, middle and high school programs, and an open rehearsal. The residency will culminate in an orchestral concert featuring Tao’s original composition, “Pangu,” and as featured soloist in George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, $25,000

To support a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute concert and a presentation of Kurt Weill’s “Seven Deadly Sins” with related educational activities. Members of the chamber orchestra will perform side-by-side with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) in a commemoration of the King Holiday. Repertoire may include selections from Michael Tippett’s “A Child of Our Time.” Orchestra musicians will provide coaching and mentoring to members of ICYOLA. Also planned is a concert featuring the Weill work with vocalist Storm Large and vocal quartet Hudson Shad. The program will include Bruce Adolphe’s Violin Concerto: “I Will Not Remain Silent” with soloist Daniel Hope and Weill’s “Song Suite for Violin and Orchestra” arranged by Paul Bateman.

Louisville Orchestra, $15,000

To support the Festival of American Music with related educational activities. The festival will feature new works by Music Director Teddy Abrams including “Muhammad Ali Portrait” honoring the Louisville native as well as Abrams’ Louisville Concerto No. 2 with local musicians. Also, a concert titled The American Journey is planned with Michael Tilson Thomas as guest conductor featuring works by John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Herbie Hancock, Scott Joplin, as well as Tilson Thomas. Educational activities will include development of a curriculum on the Ali work and programs in area schools and community centers.

Minnesota Orchestra, $40,000

To support Minnesota Orchestra’s annual professional development project for composers. The Composer Institute will be directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and will be co-presented with the American Composers Forum. As many as seven emerging composers, selected competitively from a pool of more than 150 applicants, will participate in the intensive residency program, which will enable them to hear their work performed by a full orchestra. The resulting compositions will be performed in a Future Classics concert by the orchestra and conducted by Music Director Osmo Vanska.

Nashville Symphony, $15,000

To support a performance and recording project of an orchestral work by American composer Terry Riley. The orchestra and the guest artist, organist Cameron Carpenter under the direction of Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, will record live performances of Riley’s “At the Royal Majestic” concerto for organ and orchestra in Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s Laura Turner Concert Hall. The recording will be produced by the Naxos label.

National Symphony Orchestra, $35,000

To support the In Your Neighborhood community engagement initiative. The orchestra will conduct a week-long artist residency in the Southeast/Southwest neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. Through the sixth In Your Neighborhood residency, the orchestra musicians will perform full orchestral repertoire for the community, as well as a number of chamber music concerts in schools, libraries, community centers, and performing arts spaces. Guest artists will join the orchestra in concert at larger venues such as THEARC. In addition, the musicians will return to previously visited D.C. communities such as Columbia Heights, the U Street Corridor, NoMa, Capitol Hill, and Downtown/Penn Quarter.

New World Symphony, $60,000

To support a fellowship program for professional musicians. Under the artistic direction of Co-Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, the program will prepare young artists for successful music careers in the orchestral field through performances, coaching, and community outreach activities. Conductors, composers, soloists, and orchestral/chamber musicians will train and mentor gifted young musicians on aspects of musical technique, audience engagement, communication skills, orchestral auditioning, stage presence, and health issues.

New York Youth Symphony, $15,000

To support the Youth Symphony Composition Program. Students receive training in music composition by working closely with professional composers, and compose original music that is performed publicly by professional artists and student musicians. The program is free to the students, and consists of seminar-style sessions exploring the musical thought of a wide variety of composers, with a focus on instrumentation and orchestration. Students cultivate their own artistic voices through class discussion, written exercises, and free composition. Acclaimed composers and artists such as Samuel Adler, Matthias Pintscher, John Corigliano, Maria Schneider, and Derek Bermel may visit the seminars to offer broad expertise on the field.

Orchestra Iowa, $10,000

To support Orchestra Iowa’s Jazz & Beyond Celebration festival. The week-long festival will include presentations by local jazz artists and ensembles, programs for local high school and college jazz bands, community lectures, panel discussions, and a master class. The festival will conclude with performances featuring saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Branford Marsalis. The performances will take place at the newly reconstructed Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City and at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s, $15,000

To support Orchestra of St. Luke’s Subway Series of free chamber music. The orchestra will present ensembles of its musicians in hour-long performances throughout the city, featuring repertoire of chamber music from the Renaissance period to the present. Performances will take place in nontraditional and emerging art spaces, including locations in mass transit hubs, in all five boroughs of New York City.

Pacific Symphony, $30,000

To support the annual American Composers Festival. The festival will be directed by Music Director Carl St. Clair and will feature works by Southern California-based composers John Adams, Frank Ticheli, and Peter Boyer, all of whom will be in residence at the festival. Programming will include “The Dharma at Big Sur” by Adams, “Blue Shades” by Ticheli, and “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” by Boyer. Performances by the orchestra and by guest artist violinist Tracy Silverman will be held in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, $75,000

To support a music therapy program for Philadelphia’s homeless population in partnership with Broad Street Ministry. Broad Street Ministry provides a wide array of services for Philadelphia’s chronically homeless, many of whom suffer from mental illnesses. Orchestra musicians and music therapists collaboratively will provide weekly music therapy for the ministry’s guests, to increase hope, self-expression, and coping skills. Temple University’s Arts and Quality of Life Research Center will provide the music therapists, training for the musicians, and project evaluation.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, $10,000

To support performances of “Le Temple de la Gloire” by composer John-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Voltaire. Premiered as a five-act opera-ballet at Versailles to celebrate the French victory of the Battle of Fontenoy, the work was subsequently revised to a three-act opera. The performances-of the original version that has not been performed since the premiere in 1745-will mark the company’s first fully staged opera and will include a full orchestra, chorale, six principal singers, and eight baroque dancers. Organizational partners Cal Performances and Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (Versailles, France) will help develop a series of lectures and excerpted performances for University of California at Berkeley students. In addition, talks with the costume designers, set designers, and musicologists from UC Berkeley and Stanford will be hosted by reporters and hosts from the NPR affiliate in San Francisco as well as KDFC. As many as three performances will occur at the Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus in the spring of 2017.

Portland Symphony Orchestra (ME), $10,000

To support a performance project celebrating Music Director Robert Moody’s decade-long tenure with the orchestra. Programming will feature the New England premiere performances of new works by American composer Mason Bates, including works for chorus and orchestra. An elite choir bringing singers together from around the country will perform works such as Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 Jeremiah,” Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man,” and Bates’s “The Book of Matthew,” a shorter work for choir and organ. In addition, the composer will present a musical event that will combine live classical music with DJ sets at Portland’s SPACE Gallery.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, $40,000

To support a festival celebrating the music of Nordic roots. The project, titled Nordic Journeys, will focus on the themes of immigration and cultural identity and will feature musicians such as Artistic Partners Pekka Kuusisto and Martin Frost, Iranian-Swedish artist Laleh, a group of artists from Iceland’s Bedroom Community, and Mariam Wallentin (a Swedish vocalist with Middle Eastern roots), as well as composer and performer Gabriel Kahane and conductor Eric Jacobsen. Programming will include works by composers such as Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, Finnish composer Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and Russian composer Victoria Borisova-Ollas. The three-week festival will be presented in the new 1,100-seat concert hall at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, as well as in a range of neighborhood venues throughout the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities.

San Diego Symphony, $20,000

To support a music festival celebrating the development of the unique American musical voice. Titled Our American Music, the month-long festival will focus on the personal and collective immigrant experience through performances of works by American composers, as well as visiting composers who were inspired by the country’s diverse musical heritage and landscapes. The orchestra will perform works by composers such as John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Igor Stravinsky, Steven Stuckey, and John Williams, as well as music from the Great American Songbook, chamber, jazz, and bluegrass. The festival activities will be held at the Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall.

San Francisco Symphony, $85,000

To support a performance project celebrating the 70th birthday of composer John Adams. Under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, the project will feature the performances of recent works by Adams including the oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary,” which will be performed with conductor Joana Carneiro, music director of the Berkeley Symphony, guest artists Kelley O’Connor, Tamara Mumford, Jay Hunter Morris, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus; and “Scheherezade.2” with guest artist, violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom the concerto-like work was originally written. The compositions will be the center of lectures and community events that focus both on the roles of women in traditional narratives and how such themes fit into the composer’s socially and politically engaged body of work. The concerts will be presented at Davies Symphony Hall.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, $20,000

To support the Artist Development Program of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Professional musicians provide in-depth engagement with orchestral music to students free-of-charge, as a complement to the Youth Orchestra’s weekly rehearsals and concert series. Program components include intensive coaching, collaboration with guest artists, apprenticeships, mentoring, and training in chamber music and audition techniques. All program activity serves all Youth Orchestra students, and students are able to experience live music at a professional level by attending San Francisco Symphony concerts throughout the year.

Seattle Symphony, $40,000

To support a performance project featuring new orchestral works and a composition workshop for young composers. The project will comprise of distinct concert programs, including innovative and varied contemporary repertoire, designed to attract Seattle’s diverse communities through the creation, performance, and appreciation of symphonic music. Guest artists participating in the project include composers Judd Greenstein and Aaron Jay Kernis. Performances and related activities will be held at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, $12,500

To support a performance project exploring music as a means to creating openness and cultural understanding. Under the artistic leadership of Music Director Delta David Gier, the project will be titled Cultures in Conflict and will focus on the relationship between Syria and Iran through a musical dialogue between Syrian-American composer and pianist Malek Jandali and Persian-American composer Behzad Ranjbaran. Building on the success of the orchestra’s Lakota Music Project, which addressed the issue of racial discrimination, programming will include works by both composers, such as Jandali’s “Phoenix in Exile,” Ranjbaran’s “Viola Concerto,” as well as French composer Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” and “Rapsodie Espagnole,” and will feature guest artists such as violist Roberto Diaz. Performances will be accompanied by events such as lectures and post-concert dialogue among the audience, project partners, and the composers. The orchestra will collaborate with the Muslim Community Education Center in Sioux Falls, the Symphony Youth Orchestra, and key individuals such as former U.S. Senator James Abourezk (U.S. Senate from 1973-79; U.S. House of Representatives from 1971-73) and his wife Sanaa. Concerts will be presented at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.

Spokane Symphony, $10,000

To support a collaborative community engagement program with the Spokane Indian Reservation. The project, titled Music Heals, is inspired by the words of a Spokane Tribal Elder: “We won’t heal until we all remember to sing, drum, and dance.” The intergenerational program, under the direction of Music Director Eckar Preu will bring together students in the Wellpinit School District, Spokane Tribal Elders, and the community through music education in traditional instruments and interactive performances with the orchestra at Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox in Spokane. The orchestra also will perform on the grounds of the Spokane Tribe for a collaborative concert with students performing on hand-made flutes and drums alongside members of the orchestra for the community.

St. Louis Symphony, $40,000

To support performances of “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” by composer and NEA Opera Honoree John Adams with a libretto by Peter Sellars. The work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra tells the story of Christ’s last days from the perspective of three people closely attached to him: Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha, and their brother Lazarus. The libretto draws from Biblical texts, as well as stories of social injustice in modern America from works by Dorothy Day, Rosario Castellanos, June Jordan, Louise Erdrich, and Primo Levi. The creative team may include Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams, conductor David Robertson, mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Michaela Martens, tenor Jay Hunter Morris, and counter-tenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Nathan Medley. As many as three performances at Powell Hall (St. Louis) and at Carnegie Hall (New York City) will take place in early 2017.

Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, $10,000

To support a performance project featuring the premiere of a newly commissioned work by American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Jimenez, the orchestra will perform a new ballet work with the Tallahassee Ballet Youth Company and its Artistic Director Tyrone Brooks. A native of Florida, Zwilich-a Pulitzer Prize-winner-will be in residence with the young musicians and will participate in rehearsals while they prepare to perform the work in public. The concert performance will be presented at Florida State University’s Ruby Diamond Concert Hall.

Tanglewood Institute, $30,000

To support the Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Orchestra and Young Artists Wind Ensemble. The Boston University Tanglewood Institute is an intensive, multi-week residential summer music program in Lenox, Massachusetts, for gifted high school musicians. Participation in these two ensembles provides students with opportunities for individual practice, chamber music experiences, large ensemble rehearsal, private lessons, and master class participation. Faculty includes distinguished university professors, as well as accomplished professional solo, chamber, and symphony musicians. The Young Artists Orchestra and the Young Artists Wind Ensemble perform full concerts in Seiji Ozawa Hall on the main Tanglewood grounds, with weekly chamber music performances throughout the community. Attending concerts is a required component of the curriculum, including faculty recitals, peer performances, and daily concerts at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Tucson Symphony Orchestra, $15,000

To support the Young Composers Project (YCP). Elementary through high school students learn to compose original works for orchestra by working with professional composers and musicians. Students regularly interact with the professional musicians and ensembles, writing sketches for these professionals and receiving critique and input. The young composers learn basic theory, ear training, score reading, and use Finale software in the YCP lab. The program culminates in public reading sessions of the students’ original works performed by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and the TSO String Quartet.

Related Art Works, Part 1 Grants

Bard Music Festival, $15,000

To support the Bard Music Festival and related educational activities. Led by the resident ensemble, American Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Artistic Director Leon Botstein, the festival will take place at the Richard B. Fisher Center and will explore the world and music of Polish composer and virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin (1810-49). Programming will include piano recitals as well as orchestral concerts by other Polish composers at the time. A highlight will be a semi-staged performance of “Halka” by Stanislaw Moniuszko, considered to be Poland’s “national” opera. Educational activities will include panel discussions and a companion volume of essays.

Bellingham Festival of Music, $10,000

To support the Bellingham Festival of Music. The summer festival features orchestral and chamber music concerts throughout the community. Orchestra performances will be conducted by Artistic Director Michael Palmer at the Performing Arts Center of Western Washington University, and chamber music performances at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal and the Whatcom Museum of History and Art. The festival also will offer educational activities such as programs for school children, master classes, open rehearsals, and pre-concert lectures.

Boston Children’s Chorus, $20,000

To support the Premier Choir and Young Men’s Ensemble, providing rigorous vocal music training for high school youth in the Greater Boston area. Young singers are trained by professional musicians during weekly rehearsals and music theory classes in which students learn sight-reading, rhythmic concepts, music terminology, vocal technique, and performance skills. In addition, students are provided opportunities to perform concerts, tour, record, and work with composers premiering commissioned works. Both ensembles regularly appear with well-known soloists, conductors, and orchestras such as the Boston Pops, enabling the singers to perform with professional musicians.

Bravo! Vail, $15,000

To support Bravo! Vail, an annual music festival. The summer festival will feature orchestral concerts by the Dallas Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as chamber music performances and open rehearsals. Educational and community engagement events may include Little Listeners @ the Library, instrument petting zoos, and Bravo! Vail After Dark, which will present concerts in nontraditional venues. Related project activities may include pre-concert lectures led by musicologists and free concerts throughout the Vail Valley.

Carnegie Hall, $90,000

To support the series Three Generations, an exploration of the changing direction of concert music. Curated by composer Steve Reich, the programs will trace the development of new music from the generation of his contemporaries including John Adams, Philip Glass, Arvo Part, and Terry Riley to composers associated with the Bang on a Can collective, and finally to voices of the next generation, Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly. Musicians scheduled to perform include Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Signal, JACK Quartet, violinist Todd Reynolds, and violist Nadia Sirota, among many others. Educational activities will include discussions with the composers during the performances.

Carnegie Hall, $30,000

To support the Lullaby Project, a program of Carnegie Hall’s (CH) Weill Music Institute, in partnership with New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP). The Lullaby Project is a musical intervention program designed for mothers in challenging circumstances, such as poverty or homelessness. It will be initiated at NYP’s community practice sites that use CenteringPregnancy, a national patient-centered model for prenatal healthcare. There are several common goals and outcomes between CenteringPregnancy prenatal care and CH’s Lullaby Project, such as nurturing bonding and attachment between mother and baby, encouraging a social support network through a group experience, and promoting positive mental health and well-being with better healthcare outcomes for mother and baby. CH’s Lullaby Project will pair professional musicians with expectant mothers, who then together compose and record lullabies written specifically for each mother’s child. In addition, the women will be part of a cohort of mothers who will meet throughout their pregnancies and early after their child’s birth, to receive support from nurses, social workers, and each other.

Carolina Ballet, $10,000

To support the presentation of “Carmen,” with live musical accompaniment by the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle (COT). The full-length ballet is choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Robert Weiss, with music arranged by Glenn Mehrbach taken from George Bizet’s opera “Carmen” and Pablo Sarasate’s violin tribute, “Carmen Fantasy.” The ballet was premiered by the company in 2000 with live music. Both the 2006 and 2011 productions of “Carmen” used Mehrbach’s recorded music. The company started partnering with COT in 2014 to incorporate live orchestras for various works, and will perform “Carmen” with the company in spring 2017.

The Cliburn, $10,000

To support the commissioning of new works and the presentation of musical works during the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Founded in 1961, the foundation’s mission is to identify and promote the finest talent in classical music worldwide through piano competitions, concerts, and education programs in Fort Worth and Dallas schools. The project will include the commissioning of new music for piano by composer and pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin and the participation of the Brentano String Quartet, conductors Leonard Slatkin and Nicholas McGegan, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Gateways Music Festival, $10,000

To support the Gateways Music Festival. The festival celebrating the participation and contributions of classically trained musicians of African descent, will feature solo, chamber, and orchestral performances as well as a youth showcase. Musicians from across the country will participate and perform at the Eastman Theatre on the campus of the University of Rochester and in area churches.

The Gilmore, $20,000

To support presentations of piano recitals with related educational activities. Plans include presentations in the Piano Masters and Rising Stars recital series. Sir Andras Schiff will be featured in the Piano Masters series. Artists in the Rising Stars series will include Seong-Jin Cho, Sara Daneshpour, Roman Rabinovich, and Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner. Educational outreach activities will include pre-concert talks by a musicologist, a high school residency conducted by the Gilmore education department, and discounted tickets to students. Selections from the recitals may be live-streamed on the Gilmore website and aired later on American Public Media’s Performance Today radio program.

Harmony Project, $25,000

To support music instruction for students from low-income communities across Los Angeles County. Students have the opportunity to participate in musicianship classes, instrumental music lessons, and participate in ensembles such as band, orchestra, choir, and jazz band. Older students in the program may become peer mentors to younger students and act as teaching assistants to the music instructors. In addition to music training, high school students have access to college prep workshops and all students may take advantage of the Family/Parent Liaison to connect with outside social support resources. The program includes a field trip for students and their families to a classical concert at the Hollywood Bowl, for which transportation is provided.

Heifetz Institute, $25,000

To support performance and communication training for musicians. Under the artistic direction of founder Daniel Heifetz, the summer program will train artists in the areas of voice, freedom of expression, public speaking, movement, and drama. Public performances will take place in traditional concert halls as well as in clubs, bars, schools, churches, libraries, senior centers, and nursing homes. A new program, HeifetzPEG (Program for the Exceptionally Gifted), for young string musicians between the ages of eight and thirteen will be piloted. In addition, the Heifetz on Tour educational program will provide career development training to prepare alumni for school and community outreach events in various venues throughout the year.

The Industry, $15,000

To support the creation of a citywide sound installation “War of The Worlds” by composer Annie Gosfield with a text adapted by director Yuval Sharon. A new score will be created by the composer and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The radio drama “War of the Worlds” is the source material of the libretto for the new work. As many as ten defunct air raid sirens throughout the city will be repurposed into public speakers to broadcast the live performance of an original oratorio based on the infamous 1938 radio drama created by Orson Welles. Similar to the original broadcast, the work will be presented as a series of simulated, sung news bulletins between musical interludes suggesting an actual alien invasion by Martians. Musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic will perform on the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall and be broadcast through the sirens onto the streets of Los Angeles while musicians stationed at the sirens will send their live “report” of the alien invasion back to the concert hall stage. As many as six performances will occur in the fall of 2017 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, with admission-free public performances available at each of the siren sites.

Kansas City Ballet, $20,000

To support the presentation of dance performances. Proposed works include “The Lottery” by Val Caniparoli, “Interplay” by Jerome Robbins, and “Theme and Variations” by George Balanchine. The Kansas City Symphony will provide live music. Performances will take place at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, $10,000

To support the Future Stages Festival. The festival will include performances by youth-oriented arts organizations, as well as performances by resident companies including the Kansas City Ballet, the Lyric Opera, and the Kansas City Symphony. Interactive arts activities will be offered throughout the venue.

La Jolla Music Society, $15,000

To support SummerFest, a chamber music festival. Under the direction of violinist and Music Director Cho-Liang Lin, artists proposed for the festival include the Miro Quartet, violinists Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson, and pianists Jon Kimura Parker and Joseph Kalichstein. In addition, local artists will be featured including musicians from the San Diego Symphony. The concerts will be accompanied by a variety of educational activities including open rehearsals and a lecture-demonstration series.

Lakes Area Music Festival, $10,000

To support the Lakes Area Music Festival. Plans include chamber music, symphony orchestra, and opera

performances. Programs will include a concert of works by Bartok and Dvorak; a family concert of orchestral works by Latin American composers such as Alberto Ginastera, Arturo Marquez, and Heitor Villa-Lobos; and an opera production of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen.” Educational activities may include pre-concert lectures and open rehearsals. All concerts are offered free-of-charge.

League of American Orchestras, $90,000

To support the League of American Orchestras’ strategic services designed to strengthen orchestras through learning, leadership development, research, and communications within the field. The League will host a national conference focusing on best practices. Training and development opportunities will be provided to expand leadership skills. The Emerging Leaders Program will help strengthen the skills of competitively selected emerging leaders through a structured curriculum, mentoring, and directed on-the-job training. The Knowledge Center will conduct, analyze, and disseminate a wide range of surveys. The Hub, a special section of the League’s website, comprises online information aggregating the latest thinking, news, reviews, and personnel shifts in the orchestra world in one location.

Marlboro Music, $35,000

To support the Invited Master Artist Initiative, a professional development project. Student musicians will participate in a series of workshops, open rehearsals, concerts, master classes, and lecture-demonstrations led by a group of concert artists, composers, music theorist Carl Schachter and Baroque scholar Anner Bylsma, during the Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, Vermont. The project will be directed by Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida, General Manager Anthony Checchia, and Administrator Frank Salomon.

Miami City Ballet, $60,000

To support the creation and presentation of the “The Fairy’s Kiss” by choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. Former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and current Artist-in-Residence at American Ballet Theatre, Ratmansky will set the ballet to Igor Stravinsky’s score of the same name. The ballet will feature a large cast of 20 to 30 dancers, and original costume and set design that will breathe new life into a classical ballet that links literature, music, and design to dance. Accompanied by a live orchestra, the work will premiere at three performing arts centers in South Florida: the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, and Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

Midwest Young Artists, $10,000

To support the Chamber Music Program. Middle and high school students will receive weekly instrumental music coaching and participate in rehearsals of small group ensembles. From trios to small chamber orchestras, the program offers placement for percussion, saxophone, strings, piano, woodwinds, harp, and brass players. The small size of a chamber ensemble enables the coach and students to delve deeply into expressiveness and improvisation as well as artistic and interpersonal communication. To supplement the weekly coaching and various performance opportunities, regularly scheduled master classes are offered by performer educators from universities such as DePaul, Northwestern, Roosevelt, and University of Illinois, and by professional musicians from organizations such as Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Lyric Opera.

Milwaukee Ballet, $10,000

To support the creation and presentation of a new work by Milwaukee Ballet dancer and Choreographer-in-Residence Timothy O’Donnell. The ballet will feature the male Milwaukee Ballet company dancers and deal with the subject of male depression. The work will be performed as part of a mixed repertory bill that includes “La Sylphide,” a ballet that will showcase the female dancers of the company. Presented at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, the new ballet will be set to music by composer Ezio Bosso, performed live by the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra.

Music Academy of the West, $20,000

To support a professional development project. Through a partnership with the New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert, young instrumentalists will participate in training, mentorship, side-by-side orchestral readings with members of the Philharmonic, as well as outdoor community concerts conducted by Gilbert during the summer residency by the New York-based artists. Additionally, approximately ten academy students will be selected to participate in the new Global Academy in New York, where they will continue to study and perform with members of the Philharmonic.

Music Worcester, $15,000

To support a series of multidisciplinary presentations. Music and dance artists will be presented in a series of performances and related engagement activities including mini-residencies, educational events, and open rehearsals. Featured artists will include musician/composer Chris Brubeck, violinist Pamela Frank, and violinist Lara St. John (Canada), as well as Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Russian National Ballet Theatre, and choral group CONCORA.

New School Concerts, $20,000

To support the New School Concerts’ New York String Seminar Program for emerging young musicians. The program will be directed by violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo and will culminate in concerts at Carnegie Hall. The extensive training experience will be offered with full scholarships to high school and college string players, selected through national live auditions.

Oklahoma Arts Institute, $15,000

To support the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. The intensive summer program offers high school students from Oklahoma the opportunity to study with professional artists in a variety of artistic disciplines including acting, creative writing, ballet, modern dance, orchestra, chorus, drawing, painting, photography, and media arts. In addition to classes, students also attend performances, lectures, and workshops. The institute culminates with a showcase of student performances and exhibitions. Oklahoma Arts Institute provides all participating students with full scholarships to attend the program, including room and board.

Osher Marin JCC, $10,000

To support the Kanbar Music Series and the Summer Nights Festival. The year-long series will encompass more than 15 indoor and outdoor concerts at the Bernard Osher Marin Jewish Community Center featuring classical and chamber music, jazz, folk, and world music artists. Ancillary activities may include dance lessons, art activities for youth, audience discussions, or ice cream socials to encourage active community engagement. The outdoors Summer Nights Festival will be curated to include a wide variety of musical styles to attract families with young children as well as seniors and other underserved audiences. Free and discounted tickets will be made available to underserved audiences. Performers may include Chanticleer, the Kronos Quartet, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the Mill Valley Philharmonic.

Other Minds, $10,000

To support a performance project celebrating the life and music of American composer Lou Harrison. Titled Just 100: Homage to Lou Harrison, the project activities will include performances, panel discussions, and exhibitions. Participating in the centenary celebration may be artists such as Dennis Russell Davies, Bruckner Orchestra, pianist Maki Namekawa, violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, percussion ensemble William Winant Ensemble, harpist Meredith Clark, cellist Emil Miland, and the Mission Dolores, Voci, and Resound choruses. Panelists may include musicians and scholars such as Robert Hughes, Bill Alves, Leta Miller, Paul Dresher, Giacomo Fiore, John Kennedy, John Luther Adams, Peter Garland, and Jody Diamond. Events will be presented in San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

Perlman Music Program, $40,000

To support the Summer Music School, a residential summer music program held on Shelter Island, New York. Under the guidance of Toby and Itzhak Perlman, the Summer Music School’s faculty includes professional string musicians from around the country, who provide mentoring and coaching in violin, viola, cello, and bass to exceptionally talented students. Faculty members live on campus, dine with students, and are engaged with all aspects of camp life, offering students unique access to highly regarded professionals including Mr. Perlman himself. In addition to rigorous musical study, the curriculum is balanced with activities to improve musicianship through emphasis on listening, interpretation, team building, and problem solving skills. Students will have daily private lessons, time for individual practice, ensemble rehearsals, and multiple opportunities to perform for the public.

Project STEP, $50,000

To support the Intensive Music Training Program for Talented Minority Young People. The instrumental music training program for students in the Boston area provides weekly string instruction and the opportunities for students to participate in chamber music ensembles and orchestras. In addition to instruction, students attend summer music camps and perform regularly in recitals and community outreach concerts. Parents are involved with the students’ music education through workshops and a Parents Council that meets monthly. Primarily serving elementary through high school Black and Latino students, this program provides intermediate and advanced instrumental music instruction to students who are underrepresented in the field of classical music.

Rainey Institute, $10,000

To support El Sistema@Rainey Orchestral Music Program. Students in grades two through eight will take musicianship classes and rehearse in instrumental ensembles after each school day. The program will present frequent public performances in the surrounding vicinity to help build a sense of community. Instruments will be provided free-of-charge in partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Savannah Music Festival, $40,000

To support the annual Savannah Music Festival. The early spring festival will feature more than 500 international artists in diverse programming, including chamber and symphonic music, blues, jazz, and world music. Artists such as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Earls of Leicester, Trio Solisti, instrumentalists and composers such as David Finckel, Wycliffe Gordon, Wu Han, NEA Jazz Master Dr. Lonnie Smith, Terrell Stafford, and Miguel Zenon, as well as artists from Brazil, Canary Islands, Cuba, Haiti, Mongolia, and Pakistan, will perform during the festival in Savannah’s Historic District.

Stanford University, $20,000

To support Stanford Live’s presentation of performances celebrating landmark birthdays of major contemporary American composers. The project will include works by composers such as John Adams, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich. Artists participating in the project may include the St. Lawrence String Quartet, pianist and composer Jason Moran, Bruckner Orchestra Linz with conductor Dennis Russel Davies, and the Aaron Diehl Trio with vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant. To connect today’s generation of musicians to the past, programming will include works by American icons such as Thelonious Monk, George Gershwin, and Jelly Roll Morton. Activities will include teacher professional development workshops, student matinee performances, and artist residencies.

Stern Grove Festival, $40,000

To support the Stern Grove Festival. The festival will feature free outdoor performances by artists including the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Ballet, as well as world music, pop, and jazz artists. Local artists from various disciplines will be commissioned to create and perform site-specific works. Engagement activities will include hands-on workshops and camps for youth, as well as pre-show arts activities and discussions.

Third Street Music School, $15,000

To support the Chamber Music and Ensemble Programs, serving students in New York City. Students participate in free or low-cost weekly instruction in chamber music, orchestra, band, rock, jazz, or chorus ensembles, as well as music theory classes and individual and group instruction. Students study and perform a wide variety of music repertoire, including work of well-known classical and contemporary composers, original works by Third Street faculty and guest artists, and new student compositions.

Webster University, $15,000

To support the Community Music School of Webster University’s Preparatory Program (PREP). The instrumental music program for students residing in the greater St. Louis area offers high-caliber instruction from professional musicians in performance, music theory, ear training, and sight-singing. Instructors are university faculty and established performing artists from organizations such as the St. Louis Symphony. Students learn a range of advanced repertoire for solo and chamber performances both on campus and in the community. Program components also include summer camps, master classes, and the opportunity to participate in a variety of music festivals as well as regional and national competitions.

YOLA at HOLA, $50,000

To support the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles at Heart of Los Angeles (YOLA at HOLA). The YOLA at HOLA program is a partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is directly inspired by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel’s formative experience with El Sistema, Venezuela’s youth orchestra movement supporting social change through music. Elementary and middle school students receive free after-school instruction from professional teaching artists through orchestra rehearsals, musicianship classes, and singing classes. The program involves parents through classroom volunteer opportunities, music fundamentals, violin lessons, participation in HOLA’s choir and the opportunity to perform with their children at some of the community concerts. In addition to music instruction and performance opportunities, students benefit from individualized academic support, positive youth development opportunities, counseling services, SAT prep courses, and private tutoring.