Music Accord, a consortium of ten presenting organizations across the United States dedicated to supporting the cultivation of American chamber music, announces the upcoming premieres of five commissioned works by Mark Adamo, Shulamit Ran, Sebastian Currier, Lowell Liebermann and Brad Mehldau. Launched in 1998 with world premiere compositions from Jake Heggie and Elliott Carter, Music Accord has quietly been commissioning chamber and recital works from leading composers for nearly fifteen years, with the primary goal of both perpetuating the creation of new American works as well as presenting them in leading concert halls across the United States and abroad. 

At this time, Music Accord is proud to announce the inauguration of their website:www.musicaccord.org, which will gather and provide a comprehensive list of commissions, composers, performing artists, presenting organizations, video and audio samples, and publication information.

Ed Yim, who serves as consultant and administrator for the consortium, says of the group, "It is truly a remarkable and enlightened group of presenters who have banded together with the sole motivation to encourage American composers and American artists to create chamber music. The most recent commissions represent support for five of the finest musicians working today, adding to the already rich body of work this partnership has supported."

Music Accord was founded by Zarin Mehta, working with administrator Frederick Noonan. As Mr. Mehta explains, “The original idea in creating Music Accord was to add rich new works to the chamber music and recital genres, as well as provide numerous performances of those works by major presenters throughout the United States.” 

Music Accord is currently comprised of ten performing arts organizations throughout the country:

While members of Music Accord contribute financially to each commission, premieres of each work can be presented by organizations outside of the consortium. In keeping with its fundamental mission of supporting American composers and American music, as well as to make certain of the performance opportunities for that music, Music Accord awards commissions principally to composers who are US citizens or who reside in the United States. Unlike many other commissioning programs, the performing artists are identified first and participate in selecting the composers, which makes the commissioning and creative process a genuinely collaborative one between the presenters, performers and composers. “We wanted the composers to be chosen specifically by the artists so that the intention from the beginning was organic and led by artistic desire,” says Mehta. “It was an original and thoughtful project that promoted wonderful collaborations with colleagues, artists and composers, and we’re incredibly proud of the new repertoire that has enriched the literature over the past 15 years.”

In addition to the 25 works already commissioned and premiered across the country and internationally, Music Accord is honored to announce five additional commissions from the following composers, whose works will be premiered over the course of the next two seasons:

The consortium’s first commission was Jake Heggie’s Songs to the Moon for mezzo-soprano and piano, premiered in August 1998 by Frederica von Stade and Martin Katz at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois. Since that time, twenty-four additional commissions by such composers as David Del Tredici, Elliott Carter, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis and André Previn have been premiered across the country by today’s leading performers, including Yefim Bronfman, Jonathan Biss, Lynn Harrell, Guarneri String Quartet, Stephanie Blythe, Chanticleer, and many others.

MUSIC ACCORD’S UPCOMING PREMIERES

Mark Adamo – Aristotle for baritone and string quartet 
To be premiered by Thomas Hampson and the Jupiter String Quartet at Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts 
Davis, CA 
April 24, 2013

Brad Mehldau – new work for solo piano 
To be premiered by Jeremy Denk
2013-2014 season

Sebastian Currier – new work for flute and string quartet
To be premiered by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in Boston and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center musicians in New York
April 2014

Shulamit Ran – Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory for string quartet 
To be premiered by the Pacifica String Quartet at Suntory Hall Tokyo, Japan June 2014; New York, NY November 2014; London, 2015

Lowell Liebermann – new work for string quartet 
To be premiered by the Emerson String Quartet
2014-2015 season

MUSIC ACCORD’S PAST COMMISSIONS

Jake Heggie – Songs to the Moon for mezzo-soprano and piano 
Premiered by Frederica von Stade and Martin Katz at the Ravinia Festival 
Highland Park, IL 
August, 1998

Elliott Carter – Quintet for Piano and String Quartet 
Premiered by Ursula Oppens and Arditti String Quartet at Concerts at the Library of Congress 
Washington, DC 
November, 1998

Tobias Picker – Suite for Cello and Piano 
Premiered by Lynn Harrell and Simon Mulligan for San Francisco Performances at Herbst Theater 
San Francisco, CA 
January, 1999

Steven Mackey – Ars Moriendi for string quartet 
Premiered by Borromeo String Quartet at the Orange County Performing Arts Center 
Costa Mesa, California 
November, 2000

William Bolcom (music) and Sandra Seaton (text) – From the Diary of Sally Hemings for mezzo-soprano and piano 
Premiered by Florence Quivar and J.J. Penna at Concerts at the Library of Congress 
Washington, DC 
March, 2001

Bruce Adolphe – A Thousand Years of Love for soprano and piano 
Premiered by Sylvia McNair and Bruce Adolphe at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
November, 2001

Lukas Foss – String Quartet No. 5 
Premiered by Guarneri String Quartet for San Francisco Performances at Herbst Theater 
San Francisco, CA 
November, 2011

Joan Panetti – In a Dark Time, the Eye Begins to See for piano and string quartet 
Premiered by Joan Panetti and Tokyo String Quartet at Coleman Chamber Music Association 
Pasadena, CA 
January, 2004

Augusta Read Thomas – Purple Syllables for vocal ensemble 
Premiered by Chanticleer at St. Vincent de Paul Church 
Petaluma, CA 
September, 2004

Michael Daugherty – Bay of Pigs for guitar and string quartet 
Premiered by Manuel Barrueco and Cuarteto Latino Americano at Patras’s 2006 European Capital of Culture Celebration 
Patras, Greece 
July, 2006

Roberto Sierra – Songs from the Diaspora for soprano, piano and string quartet 
Premiered by Heidi Grant Murphy, Kevin Murphy and St. Lawrence String Quartet at Schwab Auditorium at Penn State University 
State College, PA 
January, 2007

Bright Sheng – My Other Song for solo piano 
Premiered by Yefim Bronfman at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
May, 2007

David Del Tredici – Magyar Madness for clarinet and string quartet
Premiered by David Krakauer and Orion String Quartet at Hancher Auditorium at University of Iowa 
Iowa City, IA 
October, 2007

Gabriela Frank – Quijotadas for string quartet 
Premiered by Brentano String Quartet at Wellington Chamber Music Festival 
Wellington, New Zealand 
November, 2007

Kevin Puts – Trio Sinfonia for violin, cello and piano 
Premiered by Eroica Trio at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, IL 
November, 2007

Alan Louis Smith – Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman for mezzo-soprano, violin, cello and piano 
Premiered by Stephanie Blythe, Warren Jones and CMS of Lincoln Center musicians at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
February, 2008

Mario Davidovsky – Piano Septet for piano, violin, viola, cello, bass, flute and clarinet 
Premiered by Gilbert Kalish and CMS of Lincoln Center musicians at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
February, 2008

William Bolcom – String Octet 
Premiered by the Guarneri and Johannes String Quartets at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at University of Illinois 
Urbana-Champaign, IL 
February, 2008

Stefon Harris – The Anatomy of a Box for wind quintet and vibraphone 
Premiered by Imani Winds and Stefon Harris at Hancher Auditorium at University of Iowa 
Iowa City, IA 
November, 2009

Bernard Rands – Three Pieces for Piano 
Premiered by Jonathan Biss at Schwab Auditorium at Penn State University
State College, PA 
January, 2011

Lera Auerbach – Seraphim Canticles for String Sextet 
Premiered by CMS of Lincoln Center musicians at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
April, 2011

John Harbison – Violin Sonata No. 1 
Premiered by Cho-Liang Lin and Jon Kimura Parker at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
April 24, 2012

André Previn – Piano Trio No. 2 
Premiered by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 
New York, NY 
May 6, 2012

Aaron Jay Kernis – Pieces of Winter Sky 
Premiered by Eighth Blackbird at University of Hartford 
November 15, 2012

William Bolcom – Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin
Premiered by Gil Shaham for Celebrity Series of Boston at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
Boston, MA 
February 10, 2013

MEDIA CONTACTS

Additional information on Music Accord can be found at www.musicaccord.org

Presenters interested in booking any of Music Accord’s commissioned works may contact the artists' representatives listed on www.musicaccord.org

For additional inquiries, please contact Kirshbaum Demler & Associates at 
212-222-4843 or info@kirshdem.com