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June 10, 2011
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

This two-part event centered around Renee Levine Packer’s new book: This Life of Sounds: Evening for New Music in Buffalo, and set a historical context for the American Sublime festival, the first major music festival in Philadelphia devoted to the work of Morton Feldman. The festival was produced by Bowerbird, and sponsored by PMP, and was held June 4-12, 2011. Packer’s book narrates an un-recognized chapter of modern music history, the way in which The Center of the Creative and Performing Arts in the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB) transformed a sleepy, postindustrial city into a hotbed of the avant-garde, “bigger and hipper than anything ever held in New York or Paris” (Life magazine, 1965). In the first section of this event, Packer presented a slide lecture on the Center. Following this presentation, Packer will be joined by percussionist-composer Jan Williams , who served as director, conductor, and artistic director of the Center, and composer-vocalist Joan La Barbara, who frequently performed with the Creative Associates and on the Evenings for new Music, on a panel.

April 20, 2009
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

This lecture featured author Eric Booth discussing his book The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible. Filled with practical advice on the most critical issues facing the teaching musician today–from economic and time-management issues of being a musician and teacher to communicating effectively with students–The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible uncovers the essentials that every musician needs in order to thrive in this role.

Right-click (or control-click on a Mac), and choose "Save Link As" to download the .mp3.

September 30th, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

For the last three and a half years, award-winning music journalist Tom Moon has been searching out peak musical experiences from all genres and every corner of the earth. 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die is the result of his journey. Covering both acknowledged masterworks (J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations) and recordings that have been unfairly overlooked (Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left), the book is designed to encourage listeners to become explorers.

Listen to a podcast of the lecture by clicking on:  Tom_Moon_PMP_Podcast_2008

Right-click (or control-click on a Mac), and choose "Save Link As" to download the .mp3.

December 18, 2007
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

PMP hosted acclaimed classical music critic Alex Ross for a discussion of his first book, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century, which takes the reader inside the labyrinth of modern sound. It tells of maverick personalities who have resisted the cult of the classical past, struggled against the indifference of a wide public, and defied the will of dictators. Whether they have charmed audiences with the purest beauty or battered them with the purest noise, composers have always been exuberantly of the present, defying the stereotype of classical music as a dying art.

Listen to a podcast of the lecture by clicking on:  Alex_Ross_PMP_Podcast_2007

Right-click (or control-click on a Mac), and choose "Save Link As" to download the .mp3.

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

PMP hosted acclaimed jazz writer Ben Ratliff for a discussion of his latest book, Coltrane, in which he tells the story of Coltrane’s development, from his first recordings as a no-name navy bandsman to his last recordings as a near-saint, paying special attention to the last ten years of his life, which contained a remarkable series of breakthroughs in a nearly religious search for deeper expression.

Listen to a podcast of the lecture by clicking on:  Ben_Ratliff_PMP_Podcast_2007

Right-click (or control-click on a Mac), and choose "Save Link As" to download the .mp3.

August 12, 2011
Curtis Institute of Music (Field Concert Hall)

This symposium consisted of two panels: the Global Violin, featuring panelists Diane Monroe, Lewis Kahn, and Anuradha Sridhar; and The Exploding Composer, featuring panelists Huang Ruo, Nick Didkovsky, and Rudresh Mahanthappa. WNYC's veteran radio host John Schaefer moderated their discussion on the intersections and contradictions  among their diverse approaches to the violin and to composition.

New Frontiers in Singing and Electronic Music

January 28, 2011
Settlement Music School (Presser Hall)

Two dynamic panel discussions featured Bobby McFerrin, Lucy Shelton, Tanya Tagaq, George Lewis, Morton Subotnick, Hans Tutschku, and WNYC's veteran radio host John Schaefer as moderator.
 

April 23, 2011
The Philadelphia Museum of Art

In 2009, the Philadelphia Museum of Art received support from the Philadelphia Music Project to commission saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter for a work inspired by the Museum's East Asian art collection. Shorter and his quartet premiered the piece as part of an Art After 5 performance on Friday, April 23. Prior to the performance, Shorter and the members of his band—pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, drummer Brian Blade—spoke with music journalist Tom Moon about their influences, creative processes, and Shorter's new composition.

October 1, 2010
Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music

PMP's symposium, featuring Valerie Naranjo, Jackeline Rago, Carol Steele, Orrin Evans, George Lewis, Alvin Singleton, Marta Topferova, and Du Yun, explored the artistic journeys of musicians and composers whose work exemplifies the risks and the rewards of crossing stylistic, social, and cultural boundaries.

May 27, 2010
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

More than two centuries of ongoing international and cross-cultural encounters have had a profound influence on the music of the United States. In this PMP Composer Symposium, Bernard Rands and Bright Sheng ”both preeminent North American composers, both born overseas” discussed their music and careers. Rands and Sheng shared recordings and insights into their compositional processes and influences, including their studies around the world and here in the States. They also addressed the business of composition: commissioning, publishing, recording, and more. Melissa Smey, director of New York City's groundbreaking contemporary music presenter Miller Theatre, led the discussion.

January 13, 2010
Caplan Hall, Terra Building, University of the Arts

Crossing Cultures, Blending Genres gathered Susie Ibarra, Ken Ueno, Lei Liang, Uri Caine, Vijay Iyer, and David Virelles for panel discussions moderated by Frank J. Oteri and Lara Pellegrinelli.

NEW: To view or download video podcasts of this event, click here for Panel I (Ibarra, Ueno, and Liang), and here for Panel II (Virelles, Caine, and Iyer).

June 26, 2009
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

PMP hosted Bang on a Can founders and composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe to talk about their work as composers, impresarios, and entrepreneurs, as well as share recorded examples of their music.

December 18, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

In an improvisational spirit, this symposium considered the questions: What common ground is being forged between vastly different models of improvised music? What role has technology, instant global communication and the blurring of genres played within and among the various disciplines? When does composition end and improvisation begin? How does one "learn" to improvise? Is improvisation spiritual? Political? The panel discussion gathered Pauline Oliveros, Jason Moran, Jason Kao Hwang, and Kiranavali Vidyasankar, with David Adler joining to moderate.

November 17, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

What is the future of New Orleans music? How will jazz culture affect the course of recovery? What can we do to promote and preserve these art forms? What can other arts communities in other cities learn from the post-Katrina New Orleans experience? This symposium took a hard look at these questions, and offered insight into the jazz culture of New Orleans and its current state. In a morning session, Larry Blumenfeld shared findings and impressions gathered while working as a Katrina Media Fellow for the Open Society Institute, researching cultural recovery. An afternoon panel discussion brought together leading musicians and arts advocates Donald Harrison, Dr. Michael White, Jordan Hirsch, and Mark Samuels.

June 26, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

PMP hosted Steven Stucky for a conversation about his music and career with renowned conductor Gil Rose, during which Mr. Stucky shared samples of his work and took questions from the audience.

April 29, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

PMP hosted Jacob ter Veldhuis (aptly nicknamed "Jacob TV") for a conversation about his work and career with NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri, followed by an audience-led Q+A period. TV’s work has been said to posses an explosive strength and raw energy combined with extraordinarily intricate architectural design. Preoccupied with American media and world events, ter Veldhuis makes superb use of electronics, incorporating sound bytes from political speeches, commercials, interviews, talk shows, televangelists, "and what have you" into his music, creating a colorful mix of "high" and "low" culture.

March 28, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Music journalist Steve Smith conducted one-on-one interviews with Riley, Bresnick, and Ran, who shared audio/video recordings of their work and discussed their influences and approaches to composition. They also explored practical aspects of composition, such as commissioning, publishing, marketing, and career development.

February 6, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Given the large scale and dizzying production expenses of musical theatre and opera, how do leading proponents of this idiom—particularly those committed to producing the music of living composers—realize their creative goals? PMP convened a symposium to explore contemporary work in a field whose productions require enormous resources and vision. Featuring: Steven Osgood (Artistic Director, American Opera Projects), Diane Wondisford (Producing Director, Music-Theatre Group), Yuval Sharon (Vox Project Director, New York City Opera). Moderated by: Marc Scorca (President and CEO, OPERA America).

January 11, 2008
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Maria Schneider’s music has been described as evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization. PMP hosted the Grammy Award-winning jazz composer and bandleader for an intimate discussion about her work with music writer and radio producer Eugene Holley. The talk coincided with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra’s regional debut at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (presented by the PMA’s Art After Five series).

April 26, 2007
Curtis Institute of Music

PMP convened a panel of three distinguished composers whose work spans an extraordinary range of musical styles. The leading exponent of “spectral” music, Tristan Murail has invented an original and often disconcertingly strange musical world inspired by the fundamental acoustical properties of sound. It has been said that Roberto Sierra has done for the Aztec, Afro-Cuban, Sephardic Jewish and other folk cultures dear to him what Bartok did for the Eastern European, creating a landscape where the ancient and the modern magically coexist. Augusta Read Thomas’s work has been described as challenging yet immediate, and is noted for its lyricism and brilliant use of instrumental color.

April 13, 2007
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

This one-on-one discussion with Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth and NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri occured while Ms. Neuwirth was visiting the United States to attend performances of her David Lynch-inspired opera Lost Highways, produced by the Oberlin Conservatory at New York’s Miller Theater. Ms. Neuwirth shared samples of her work and discussed the new music scene across the Atlantic.

October 31, 2006
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

This symposium featured Philadelphia composer/bass clarinetist Gene Coleman and visiting artists Ko Ishikawa and Ryuko Mizutani, musicians who have explored the use of traditional Japanese instruments in contemporary music, including in combination with live electronics and video.

April 27, 2006
Settlement Music School

This symposium convened three of America ‘s most distinctive and prominent composers, Jeffrey Mumford, Charles Wuorinen, and Steven Mackey, whose work spans a remarkable spectrum of musical styles.

March 21, 2006
Field Auditorium, Settlement Music School

PMP convened composers, engineers, and performance artists Eric Singer, Laetitia Sonami, Dan Trueman, and Dan Overholt, each of whom build or perform with new instruments.

May 13, 2005
Curtis Institute of Music

PMP's second panel discussion in the New Frontiers in Music series, Composers’ Voices: Crossing Disciplines and Cultures, brought together five significant composers known for their innovative, boundary-blurring projects. Moderated by Frank J. Oteri, composer and editor of the American Music Center’s web magazine NewMusicBox, the event featured Robert Ashley, Fred Ho, Tania León, Mikel Rouse, and Bright Sheng.

November 17, 2004
College of Physicians of Philadelphia

This full-day symposium addressed significant streams of innovation within the current professional music field during two panel discussions: Interdisciplinary Art: New Directions, and Chinese Currents in Contemporary Music. Panelists included: David Lang, Miya Masaoka, Bob McGrath, Joe Melillo, Alisa Regas, Jon Jang, Zhou Long, Ken Smith, and Min Xiaofen.

October 9, 2003
Curtis Institute of Music

PMP invited distinguished panelists Tod Machover (moderator), Professor of Music and Media at MIT and director of the Toy Symphony Project; LeAnn Binford, Director of Education for the Dallas Symphony and producer of DSOKids.com; Michael Cain, composer, pianist, and professor of improvisation and jazz studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, and director of Digital Playground; and Eric Singer, musician, artist, engineer, programmer, and founder of the LEMUR project.

March 25, 2011
Connelly Lecture Hall, the University of the Arts

This lecture and Q & A, produced by PMP and The Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts, featured Brian Camelio, founder and director of ArtistShare. Founded in 2001, ArtistShare enables artists to fund projects directly through their fan bases, and, in turn, provides fans with access to artists and their creative processes.

October 15, 2007
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

This seminar with expert David Bury equipped arts administrators, artists, board members, and development professionals with an appreciation of how board recruiting, management, and evolution is integral to an organization’s long-term success.

November 6, 2006
Setttlement Music School

This panel convened representatives of innova, Artistshare, Emusic, and the American Music Center, all of which have developed artist friendly business models for recording and distributing music.

May 16, 2006
Settlement Music School

This seminar with David Bury, an expert in arts management, planning, and fundraising, was called “Dynamic Planning: Strategies for Institutional Transformation.” Since founding David Bury & Associates in 1981, Mr. Bury has helped arts organizations raise tens of millions of dollars, and he shared his knowledge with close to 40 members of the Philadelphia-area music and arts community—development staff in particular—attended the event, representing a total of about 25 nonprofit organizations.

September 8, 2005
Settlement Music School, Field Auditorium

George Thorn, co-director of Arts Action Research and veteran arts professional, offered a seminar on “Leading Arts Boards,” which sought to present “new strategies to create the roles, functions, expectations and structures of a board, and also a board’s relationship with professional leadership in today’s reality.”

July 26, 2005
Settlement Music School, Field Auditorium

Vicki Allpress returned to Philadelphia for her second seminar on internet marketing, this time looking beyond website design to driving web traffic using email marketing, search engines, and links.

December 6, 2004
Settlement Music School

Vicki Allpress, marketing manager of The NBR New Zealand Opera, conducted a seminar called Artfully ‘E’, which focused on her specialty: streamlining online arts marketing strategies.

October 28, 2004
Curtis Institute of Music

Eric Booth offered a seminar and workshop on audience participation and engagement in musical performances. Mr. Booth, an innovative arts educator on staff at The Juilliard School, has also enjoyed careers as an actor, a market researcher, and a teacher, and combines these fields in his approaches to improving the experience of concertgoers.

October 18, 2004
Settlement Music School

Kate Prescott, President of Prescott & Associates in Pittsburgh, presented a seminar on ways organizations might improve their marketing strategies by making better use of extant market research. Prescott reviewed several of the major research studies that have been conducted recently regarding arts participation and explained the charts and numbers generated in the studies.

September 15, 2004
Settlement Music School, Presser Auditorium

This seminar and roundtable discussion entitled Advanced Branding Strategies for Nonprofit Music Organizations featured Deborah Obalil, Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists’ Communities in Providence, Rhode Island, and Aleba Gartner, President of Aleba Gartner Associates in New York City.

April 24, 2003
Curtis Institute of Music, Field Auditorium

This seminar and workshop with arts in education expert Eric Booth focused on ways to create more engaging musical experiences and build audiences for music through education, including strategic use of language to connect to and engage audience members in both public and outreach programs.

February 25, 2002
WHYY

PMP's Broadcast Media Conference focused on specific criteria used by broadcasting organizations to determine music content and programming, the impact of advances in broadcast technology on the performing arts, and effective strategies by which presenting and producing organizations can use various forms of media to disseminate their work.

Wednesday, March 21, 2001
WHYY

This seminar featured Clem D’Alessio, Emmy award-winning television producer; Glenn Holsten, producer and director of documentaries and performance programs for public television; Eugene Martin, Philadelphia writer/director and Emmy-nominee; Rodney Whittenberg, composer, videographer, and president of Melody Vision.

Thursday, May 11, 2000
WHYY

The Philadelphia Music Project’s first annual conference, Broadcast Technologies and the Performing Arts, held at WHYY, focused on developing a Greater Philadelphia “digital community alliance” to connect presenters, performers and audiences by using emerging digital tools.

Thursday, May 11, 2000
WHYY

63 professionals from the Greater Philadelphia music and performing arts community gathered at WHYY for the Philadelphia Music Project's 2003 conference entitled Branding and Publicity for Music Organizations. These individuals represented PMP applicants and grantees, music schools and universities, arts centers, local foundations, representatives of The Pew Charitable Trusts and Settlement Music School, and individual artists, including Pew fellows and roster artists from Pennsylvania Performing Artists on Tour (PennPAT).

May 22nd, 2007
Curtis Institute of Music

This roundtable discussion convened four prominent journalists, Greg Sandow (The Wall Street Journal, NewMusicBox), Daniel Webster (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Nekesa Mumbi Moody (Associated Press), and Benjamin Ratliff (New York Times), who represent a broad range of music interests. They shared their views on the journalist's role in shaping public perception of musical programming and practice, and on current trends in national arts coverage and criticism.

June 7, 2005
Curtis Institute of Music

This round table discussion featured Greg Sandow, The Wall Street Journal; Willard Jenkins, Jazz Times Magazine; Anne Midgette, New York Times; David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer; and Anastasia Tsioulcas, Billboard Magazine, who gathered to discuss contemporary music, its criticism and its audiences.