FY06 Access to Artistic Excellence (part 1)

Albany Symphony Orchestra, Albany, NY, $25,000
To support the American Music Festival. The month-long celebration of American music will include a salute to film composer Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975), best known for classics such as Psycho and Taxi Driver. The observance also features the commissioning and presentation of 28 new works by American composers including Todd Levin, Dorothy Chang, and James Matheson.

American Composers Orchestra, $40,000
To support the Emerging Composers Program, featuring commissioning and performances of new works by early- to mid-career American composers including Paul Yeon Lee and Derek Bermel. Additionally, two reading sessions will provide up to eight composers with rehearsal time, readings of their work, and professional coaching.

American Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support the presentation of U.S. premieres of rarely performed works by established composers. Among those featured is Alexander Dargomyzhsky's opera The Stone Guest, based on Pushkin's play by the same name. Free educational activities will include pre-concert talks by composer-in-residence Richard Wilson, symposia, chamber recitals, and seminars at area high schools.

Aspen Music Festival and School, $30,000
To support the American Academy of Conducting. The summer institute for 20 post-conservatory conductors will engage participants in a comprehensive, professional development training program including master classes at the Aspen Opera theater Center, and composition and film scoring classes.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (consortium), $50,000
To support A King Celebration, a consortium project that celebrates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In collaboration with Morehouse College, the project will include performances, educational outreach activities, and a national radio broadcast.

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support Europe Meets America. Two concerts and related educational programs will combine the symphonies of Robert Schumann with performances of new works presented by the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley).

Boston Baroque, $7,500
To support performances of Requiem in C Minor (1815) by Maria Luigi Cherubini. This work was performed at the funeral of Beethoven, who regarded Cherubini as "Europe's foremost dramatic composer." The performances, using early music period instruments, will take place at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, $75,000
To support concerts and educational activities celebrating the works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Arnold Schoenberg, focusing on the composers' dramatic stylistic transformations as their careers progressed. Plans include 19 concerts of six different programs, pre-concert lectures, a multi-media exhibit from the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, and scholarly symposia.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, $20,000
To support semi-staged performances of Shining Brow, an opera with music by Daron Hagen and libretto by Paul Muldoon. The opera chronicles the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and coincides with Buffalo's continuing restoration (through the NEA's Save America's Treasures) of Wright's five-structure Darwin D. Martin House complex.

Chicago Sinfonietta, $10,000
To support performances of works by Gustav Holst and Daniel Bernard Roumain and related educational activities. The works to be performed include Holst's The Planets with a projected video presentation produced by the Adler Planetarium and Roumain's VooDoo Concerto for Violin No. 1, featuring the composer as soloist.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, $75,000
To support Afterwork Masterworks and Beyond the Score. The audience development programs are designed to reach new audiences through alternative and informal concert formats.

Civic Orchestra of Chicago, $40,000
To support the production, presentation, and radio broadcast of concerts and reading sessions. Performances and reading sessions will be given under the direction of resident and guest conductors and offered to the public at no charge to attract more culturally and economically diverse audiences.

The Cleveland Orchestra, $80,000
To support 100 Years of American Music. The Cleveland Orchestra will perform works by John Adams, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Peter Lieberson, Stephen Paulus, and Chen Yi. Performances will be attended by more than 20,000 live audiences, and will be heard by an additional 138,000 radio broadcast listeners.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support the creation and premiere of a new work for orchestra by Jonathan Bailey Holland and related educational activities. The new work will be based on African American heritage and will include jazz, gospel, blues, and hip-hop influences.

Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, $10,000
To support the Mozart Festival, which will feature 17 live and radio broadcast performances in honor of the composer's 250th birthday The festival will feature the premiere of Robert X. Rodriguez' Agnus Dei, a work which offers a contemporary completion of Mozart's unfinished Mass in C Minor.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra (consortium), $45,000
To support a consortium project of presentation and residency activities by the Silk Road Ensemble. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is featured in a concert and educational program distributed live via the Internet to schools throughout Michigan in collaboration with University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (aka Internet2).

Elgin Symphony Orchestra, $18,000
To support In Search of the American Dream Festival, a month-long celebration of symphonic works inspired by America's immigrant history. Plans include concerts, interdisciplinary events, performances for youth, and the development of classroom materials for elementary schools.

Eugene Symphony, $7,500
To support American Encounters: Michael Daugherty, a performance and composer residency project. In addition to performances of his work, the project will include onstage commentary by Daugherty and a four-day residency featuring coaching sessions, pre-concert lectures, and master classes.

Florida West Coast Symphony, $12,500
To support the Sarasota Music Festival. Under the leadership of Artists Director Paul Wolfe, the three-week chamber music festival will offer concert performances and professional development activities for 85 emerging musicians from around the world.

Grand Rapids Symphony (consortium), $12,500
To support a consortium project to commission and premiere a new choral work by composer Dalit Hadass Warshaw, and related educational activities. The new work will highlight the relevance of vocal music in a time of world conflicts, its premiere will follow a performance of Haydn's Mass in Time of War.

Houston Symphony, $20,000
To support performances of a new work by composer Pierre Jalbert along with related educational activities. Prior to the performances at the Jesse H. Jones Hall, the composer will speak about his work to community groups and in area schools.

Kansas City Symphony, $17,500
To support the second U.S. performance of new works and pre-concert activities with the composers. The works to be performed include Melinda Wagner's Extremity of Sky, featuring pianist Emanuel Ax and Jonathan Leshnoff's Symphony No. 1: Forgotten Chants and Refrains.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, $25,000
In celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday anniversary, Music Director and pianist Jeffrey Kahane will perform and conduct (from the piano) all 23 concertos in a series of concerts that will also include a symphony, overture, or aria. One of the programs will be presented in South Los Angeles in conjunction with the African American Unity Center; a total of 13,500 people are expected to attend all the performances.

Los Angeles Philharmonic, $100,000
To support the Minimalist Jukebox Festival. Performances and educational activities examining the minimalist movement in music will include orchestral and chamber ensemble programs; a symposium held in collaboration with the Getty Research Institute; and educational activities, including family concerts and residencies.

Memphis Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support Rock like Bach, a festival, presented during the Music Library Association's 75th anniversary convention in Memphis in 2006. The festival will integrate rock and roll with orchestral music, and will feature a residency and world premiere performance of a commissioned work by composer Augusta Read Thomas.

National Symphony Orchestra, $55,000
To support the seventh National Conducting Institute. The professional development program for conductors will culminate in public concerts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, $22,500
To support The Many Faces of Mozart, a winter festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Statewide concerts will be performed in Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Princeton.

New West Symphony, $12,500
To support the commission and performance of a new work by composer-in-residence Bright Sheng. The composer will conduct performances of his work in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks, California. Residency activities will also include public discussions and visits to a local Chinese school.

New World Symphony, $50,000
To support the Musician Professional Development Program. More than 100 conductors, composers, soloists, and musicians will train and mentor more than 80 gifted young musicians, preparing them for musical leadership positions in the orchestral field.

New York Philharmonic, $80,000
To support commissions and performances of new work by Hans Werner Henze, Kaija Saariaho, and Melinda Wagner. The project will include discussions with conductors and composers; students grades three to five who participate in the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composer Program will learn more about the new works during the school year.

Oakland East Bay Symphony, $12,500
To support premiere performances of new works by American composers. The project will include works by Mason Bates, Guillermo Galindo, Ellen Hoffman, and Kevin Puts. Each composer will participate in a pre-concert lecture prior to each performance.

Orange County's Pacific Symphony, $45,000
To support the American Composers Festival. The festival will honor the late California composer Lou Harrison in live- and radio-broadcast performances of his work. Additionally, the Festival features educational presentations, such as a film viewing and a discussion with the biographer of a new book about Harrison.

Orchestra 2001, $10,000
To support the commission and performance of a new violin concerto by composer Andrea Clearfield. Performances of the work will be conducted by music director James Freeman in downtown Philadelphia and at Swarthmore College.

Orchestra of St. Luke's, $15,000
To support Second Helpings, an effort to attract new and younger audiences to chamber music. The program will consist of repeat performances of new work and a recording of contemporary American chamber music. Concerts will be held at the Chelsea Museum in New York City and the Dia: Beacon Riggio Galleries in Beacon, New York.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, $20,000
To support commissions and performances of new work by composers Stephen Hartke, Marc Mellits, and Joan Tower. The concert programs also will serve as components of an educational outreach program, as well as a professional development initiative in conjunction with the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, $75,000
To support performances of commissioned work by Sofia Gubaidulina, Bright Sheng, and Gerald Levinson. Music director Christoph Eschenbach and guest conductors Simon Rattle and Osmo Vnsk will conduct the concerts at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, $10,000
To support the commission and performance of a cantata scored for period instruments by composer Jake Heggie. The performances, preceded by free public lectures, will celebrate the orchestra's 25th anniversary of presenting historically authentic performances of baroque and classical masterworks.

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, $10,000
To support a commission of a new double concerto by composer Gabriela Lena Frank for piano, violoncello, and chamber orchestra. The work, which will premiere at the Southern Theatre in Columbus, will be augmented by lectures and master classes by the composer and guest artists.

Sacramento Philharmonic, $10,000
To support Gold Mountain, the commission and presentation of new works by composers Jon Jang and Gang Situ. The performances and related residency activities will honor the contributions of the Chinese population to the state of California through new music by the two Chinese American composers.

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, $50,000
To support the Living Composers Project. In addition to performances of contemporary works and a week-long festival celebrating the life and works of American composer Elliot Carter, the orchestra will perform works by Philip Glass, John Harbison, George Tsontakis, Arvo Part, and Henri Dutilleux.

San Antonio Symphony, $10,000
To support orchestral and choral concerts featuring Music Director Larry Rachleff. Performances will be held in San Antonio's Majestic Theatre.

San Diego Symphony, $10,000
To support the commissioning and premiere of a new orchestral work by Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung. The orchestra, under the direction of Jahja Ling, will perform the work in Copley Symphony Hall and conduct workshops, classroom visits, and young people's concerts for children and youth.

Santa Rosa Symphony, $15,000
To support The Russian Titans Festival: Music as a Mirror of History. The festival will feature the music of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich performed by the orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony Chamber Players, under the direction of Jeffrey Kahane.

Seattle Symphony, $50,000
To support New Europe: Bridging the 48th Parallel, a festival exploring works by composers from Central and Eastern Europe. The two-week festival concerts and activities are expected to reach 40,000 people, including 14,500 school children.

Westfield Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support the New Colossus Collaborative. Five composers will develop a single orchestral work based on Emma Lazarus's poem, "The Colossus," which graces the foot of the Statue of Liberty. The project will provide secondary schools in Central New Jersey with teacher guides, score excerpts, and pre-concert school visits by the composers.

RELATED ACCESS TO ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE GRANTS

American Composers Forum, $30,000
To support Alive and Composing in the 21st-Century, a series of three conferences on the art and business of being a composer, each with panel discussions, performances, and workshops broadcast live over the Internet. The conferences will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Los Angeles, California, and Boston, Massachusetts.

American Music Center, $25,000
To support career development workshops for composers, performers, and other music professionals. The sessions will be held in up to six cities, such as Atlanta, Houston, and Miami. These two-day workshops will include topics such as copyright, licensing, commission contracting, publishing, marketing, and professional score development.

American Symphony Orchestra League, $140,000
To support learning exchange services designed to foster better leadership and community outreach for nearly 1,000 member orchestras of every size in all 50 states. The League will enhance communications tools for the orchestra community and share best-practice models at field-wide forums and an annual national conference for more than 1,200 participants.

Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, $15,000
To support the 19th annual Vail Valley Music Festival, which will feature chamber and orchestral concerts, a commissioned work, open rehearsals, public workshops, and educational outreach concerts. Three orchestras will be in residence during the festival, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, $15,000
To support a professional development program for conductors. The training program will offer emerging conductors the opportunity to lead small and large ensembles in rehearsals and public performances, program contemporary works, and collaborate with composers.

Carnegie Hall, $75,000
To support performances and educational activities by American orchestras. Plans include 10 concerts and two multi-media educational programs in New York City by the visiting symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

Chicago Chamber Musicians (consortium), $20,000
To support a consortium project for the creation and presentation of a new work by NEA Jazz Master Paquito D'Rivera and related residency activities. Consortium partner Grant Park Orchestral Association will coordinate marketing strategies to target Latino community audiences for the new work, which will combine classical, jazz, and Afro-Cuban influences.

Meet The Composer, $50,000
To support Commissioning Music/USA, a landmark program that supports the creation of new American music by partnering composers with chamber and symphony orchestras, opera, dance and music theater companies, and jazz and chamber ensembles nationwide. The program will result in more than 30 new works and more than 120 performances of new music.

Ojai Music Festival, $20,000
To support the Ojai Music Festival. The 60th annual music festival, directed by guest music director Robert Spano, will present the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus, and Brazilian singer Luciana Souza in works by Osvaldo Golijov, Manuel de Falla, Conlon Nancarrow, John Adams, and Steve Reich.

Sphinx Organization, $60,000
To support the artistic development of the Sphinx Symphony, an ensemble of professional African American and Latino musicians from orchestras and institutions around the country. The Sphinx Symphony will perform concerts in Ann Arbor and at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, and feature talented, young soloists in each of the concerts.

Young Concert Artists, $25,000
To support the Young Concert Artists Series. The professional development program of recitals and concerto debuts in New York City and Washington, DC, will include the commissioning of a new work by a young composer and provide career management for emerging classical performers and composers.