Partner Ensembles
Eighth Blackbird Ensemble
Eighth Blackbird Ensemble is a Grammy Award–winning contemporary chamber music ensemble dedicated to advancing the creation and performance of new music. Founded in 1996 and based in Chicago, the ensemble has built an international reputation for its dynamic performances, collaborative ethos, and commitment to expanding the role of the performer within the creative process. Eighth Blackbird is widely recognized for championing living composers and for presenting contemporary music in ways that are both innovative and accessible to diverse audiences.
The ensemble has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and regularly collaborates with emerging and established composers from around the world. Their work emphasizes close, iterative collaboration between composers and performers, fostering an environment in which experimentation and artistic risk are central. In addition to an active international touring schedule, Eighth Blackbird maintains a strong commitment to education through residencies, workshops, and mentorship programs that support the next generation of composers and performers.
Through their participation in Composers Sandbox, Eighth Blackbird provides composers with direct access to a leading contemporary ensemble through readings, rehearsal-based feedback, and recording opportunities, offering participants meaningful insight into professional rehearsal practices and long-term composer–ensemble collaboration.
Society for New Music
Founded in 1971, the Society for New Music purpose is to act as a catalyst for the continued growth of the Central New York musical community. The Society provides a format for living composers in the same way art galleries provide a format for visual artists, and is the only year-round new music organization in NYS outside of Manhattan. Since 1985 the Society has annually awarded the Brian M. Israel Prize to a composer 30 years or younger, now the Sam Pellman/Israel prize of $1,000 and a performance. Honorable Mentions are also performed. Several winners have been women and minorities. Examples of recent winners are Jack Frerer, Saad Haddad, Alex Stephenson, Ryan Chase, Alex Burtzos, John Liberatore, Juan Pablo Contreras, Ted Goldman, Thomas Healy, Matthew J. Gilbertson, David Crowell, Baljinder Singh Sekhon II, Eleanor Aversa, Andy Akiho, Nicholas Omiccioli, Christopher Doll, Patrick Castillo, Adam Schoenberg, Huang Ruo, Winnie Cheung, Rob Paterson, and Derek Bermel. For many years now the Society has also chosen the winner of the New York Federation of Music Clubs $750 winner and performed music by that composer.
Geneva Music Festival
The Geneva Music Festival’s mission is to entertain, inspire, and nurture a lifelong appreciation of chamber and other musical genres in Finger Lakes communities by presenting world-class artists that engage diverse audiences of all ages, including populations with little exposure to music of this caliber. The Geneva Music Festival was founded in 2011 by Geneva native and violinist Geoffrey Herd as a weekend of chamber music for their hometown. Exceptional musical quality, enthusiastic community response, and artistic vision stimulated the Festival’s evolution into a four-week event featuring world-class musicians. Now in its 16th season, the GMF has become Geneva’s and the Finger Lakes’ premiere summer kick-off event, attracting audiences to four weeks of concerts in May and June to hear outstanding musicians from the world’s stages. While rooted in the chamber music repertoire, performances now include jazz, contemporary, and bluegrass music, and festival musicians represent leading classical soloists, multiple Grammy Award-winning artists, members of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and faculty from Yale, Juilliard, the Colburn School, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.