EXCLUSIVE: Reich, Signal, Stew, ETHEL, Muhly, DuBois and more win Meet the Composer grants

Signal performing at (Le) Poisson Rouge.

It’s an exciting morning for new music. Meet the Composer, the leading new music commissioning organization, is announcing the winners of  $450,000 in grants to composers and performers for 2009, and Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? has the list first.

The list includes many of WYMMWIG? favorites like composers Steve Reich, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nico Muhly and R. Luke DuBois and performers like Signal, Talujon Percussion Quartet, ETHEL string quartet, Alarm Will Sound and So Percussion.

Awards also went to some pop and jazz projects, including Stew, the co-creator of the Broadway musical Passing Strange, and the Village Vanguard jazz club.

MTC doubled the pool of money this year as part of what it’s calling a “new music stimulus program,” awarding $300,000 to 31 composers through its Commissioning Music/USA program and a total of $150,000 to 30 NYC-based new music ensembles and presenters through Cary New Music Performance Fund.

MTC President Ed Harsh says: “At this critical moment for artists around the country, we wanted to be aggressive in multiplying the effect of Meet The Composer’s continuing programs. We are dedicated to keeping creative musicians on the job doing what they do best, which is to make music.”

The increased funding and extended deadlines this year flooded MTC with three times the usual number of applicants for composer awards.

Panelists for the first round of the composer awards were Christian Amigo, Elizabeth Brown, Conrad Cummings, Jenny Lin, Eleonor Sandresky, Steven Swartz, Theodore Wiprud, and Du Yun.  The panelists for the final round were Edmund Campion, Jeremy Geffen, Joan La Barbara, Oliver Lake, and Matt Haimovitz.

The committee that picked the performer winners was composed off Darcy James Argue, Allen Blustine, Margaret Leng Tan, and Randy Woolf.

See the full list of grantees after the jump.Cary New Music Performance Fund Awardees:

Alarm Will Sound
counter)induction
Cygnus Ensemble
Da Capo Chamber Players
Either/Or Music
ETHEL
Festival of New Trumpet Music
Flexible Music
International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
iO Quartet
The Jazz Gallery
MATA
Metropolis Ensemble
Momenta Quartet
Music From China
Music-Theatre Group
Ne(x)tworks
New York Art Ensemble
New York New Music Ensemble
New York Virtuoso Singers
Newspeak
Continuum
Quintet of the Americas
Roulette Intermedium
Sequitur
Slavic Soul Party!
So Percussion
Talea Ensemble
Talujon Percussion Quartet
Village Vanguard

Commissioning Music/USA Awardees:
Composer: John Luther Adams
Commissioner: Stephen Drury (piano)
Work: for piano and pre-recorded sounds (40’)

Composer: Martin Bresnick
Commissioner: Double Entendre Music Ensemble
Work: for oboe, violin, viola, and cello (12’)

Composer: Margaret Brouwer
Commissioner: Cleveland Women’s Orchestra
Work: overture for orchestra (5’-7’)

Composer: Mario Davidovsky
Commissioner: Jean Kopperud (clarinet)
Work: for clarinet and percussion (12’)

Composer: Nathan Davis
Commissioner: TimeTable Percussion
Work: for 3 percussionists and electronics (12’)

Composer: R. Luke DuBois
Commissioner: New Radio and Performing Arts
Work: for violin and electronics (45’)

Composer: Gabriela Lena Frank
Commissioner: Chiara String Quartet
Work: string quartet (20’)

Composer: Yotam Haber
Commissioner: The Knights
Work: for string orchestra, percussion, voice, and electronics (25’)

Composer: John Harbison
Commissioner: Pro Arte Quartet
Work: string quartet (20’-25’)

Composer: Joel Harrison
Commissioner: Connection Works
Work: for large jazz ensemble (25’)

Composer: Edward “Ted” Hearne
Commissioner: Albany Symphony Orchestra
Work: for orchestra (6’)

Composer: Pierre Jalbert
Commissioner: Copland House
Work: for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (12’-16’)

Composer: Scott Johnson
Commissioner: Manhattan Sinfonietta
Work: for chamber orchestra and electronics (35’)

Composer: David Lang
Commissioner: International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
Work: for soprano, tenor, mixed ensemble, and video (75’)

Composer: Lei Lang
Commissioner: Montclair State University
Work: for string quartet and pipa (15’-20’)

Composer: Meredith Monk
Commissioner: Grand Center, Inc. (Saint Louis) and Los Angeles Master Chorale
Work: for chamber chorus and orchestra (20’)

Composer: Nico Muhly
Commissioner: Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Work: for children’s chorus and string quartet (18’-20’)

Composer: Zeena Parkins
Commissioner: C B D Music
Work: for string quartet, piano, harp, glass instruments, trombone, voice, and electronics (20’)

Composer: James Primrosch
Commissioner: Albany Symphony Orchestra
Work: for orchestra (18’)

Composer: Steve Reich
Commissioner: Signal
Work: for 20 players (25’)

Composer: Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez
Commissioner: Colorado String Quartet
Work: for string quartet and shakuhachi (15’-20’)

Composer: Stew
Commissioner: St. Ann’s Warehouse
Work: song cycle for small rock ensemble with text and video (70’)

Composer: Steven Stucky
Commissioner: Piano Spheres
Work: for solo piano (25’)

Composer: John Supko
Commissioner: Meehan/Perkins Duo
Work: for two percussionists and electronics (15’)

Composer: Jerod Tate
Commissioner: South Dakota Symphony Orchestra
Work: for baritone and orchestra (25’)

Composer: Chinary Ung
Commissioner: Zeitgeist
Work: for two percussionists, piano, and clarinet (20’)

Composer: Yiorgos Vassilandonakis
Commissioner: Jean Kopperud (clarinet)
Work: for clarinet and percussion (12’)

Composer: Daniel Wohl
Commissioner: Diapason Gallery for Sound and Intermedia
Work: for clarinet, piano, violin, and percussion (20’-30’)

Composer: Julia Wolfe
Commissioner: ETHEL
Work: for string quartet and voice (35’-40’)

Composer: Yehudi Wyner
Commissioner: Chamber Music San Francisco
Work: for clarinet, cello, and piano (12’-15’)

Composer: Evan Ziporyn
Commissioner: Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Work: concerto for tabla and chamber orchestra (30’)