Purpose
The idea for BandQuest began in 2000 after a national survey of music educators conducted by the American Composers Forum revealed a need for fresh music for young bands. Many young performers lack the technical ability to play pieces by more established composers. To fill this need, American Composers Forum initially commissioned ten composers to write new works, and created accompanying CD-ROM curricula to support five of those ten works. The CD-ROMs provide an interdisciplinary approach to learning music and teaches students (and their teachers) about the great composers who are living today.
Current efforts on the BandQuest series involve identifying additional support for additional commissions and enhancing the website to provide more curriculum, tools for teachers, and games for students.
BandQuest History
BandQuest formally began in March 2002, developed by the American Composers Forum through a two-year research process, in consultation with dozens of artists and educators. Since that time the Forum has established National and Regional Advisory Committees for the project, contracted 14 composers for commissions, and retained key personnel for the positions of Music Editor and Curriculum Editor, as well as additional curriculum writers.
New Band Horizons vs. New Horizons Band
BandQuest originally began as New Band Horizons, but this title was too close to the national band group for senior performers titled New Horizons Band. Shortly before publication the title of the series was changed to BandQuest. Note that the historical documents in this entry refer to the program as New Band Horizons instead of its current name.
BandQuest Advanced
BandQuest Advanced launched in fall 2006 as a way to showcase the pieces in the series for more experienced bands. The pieces included in the subseries of BandQuest Advanced include Gunther Schuller's "Nature's Way," Robert Xavier Rodriguez' "Smash the Windows," and Judith Lang Zaimont's "City Rain."
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Gunther Alexander Schuller was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian and jazz musician.
Michael Page Carnes (1950) is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Ran Blake is an American pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for his unique style that combines blues, gospel, classical, and film noir influences into an innovative and dark jazz sound. His career spans over 40 recording credits on jazz albums along with more than 40 years of teaching jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he started the Department of Third Stream with Gunther Schuller.
Eduard Steuermann was an Austrian pianist and composer.
Michael C. Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The Center operates as a part of the Tanglewood Music Festival, an outdoor concert series and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO).
Bradford Gowen has received national attention since winning first prize in the 1978 Kennedy Center/Rockefeller Foundation International Competition for Excellence in the Performance of American Music. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music where he studied piano with Cecile Genhart and composition with Samuel Adler. He later studied piano with Leon Fleisher and with Dorothy Taubman.
Gary Kirkpatrick is an American concert pianist from Junction City, Kansas.
The Verdehr Trio is a chamber ensemble that has worked to promote the clarinet-violin-piano trio repertoire through international commissions, recordings, and performances. The trio features Walter Verdehr on violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr on clarinet, and Silvia Roederer on piano. The Ludewig-Verdehrs were married in 1971 and founded the trio in 1972 at Michigan State University where it has remained in residence. Former pianists include Gary Kirkpatrick.
Voices of Change is a professional chamber music ensemble based in Dallas, United States. Voices of Change performs small ensemble works by 20th- and 21st–century composers.
Third Stream is a synthesis of jazz and classical music. The term was coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture at Brandeis University. Improvisation is generally seen as a vital component of third stream.
Judith Lang Zaimont was born on November 8, 1945, in Memphis Tennessee. Her career includes prominent roles as pianist, performer, educator, and composer.
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog is a 1997 documentary film about the life of jazz musician Charles Mingus.
Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr is an American clarinetist and music educator whose contributions to the Verdehr Trio have resulted in an extensive modern body of work for the clarinet-violin-piano trio medium.
Vivian Adelberg Rudow is an American composer, performance artist, conductor and concert producer. She composes in the genres of acoustic and electroacoustic music with works ranging from solo to full orchestra. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition took place in Fort Worth, Texas from May 25 to June 10, 2001.
While the horn is primarily used in classical music pieces, in the mid-20th century the French horn broke into the jazz world. While the instrument remains relatively rare, the role of the horn in jazz has developed from its beginnings in the 1940s through to the 2010s. Note that the expression "horns" in jazz is often used colloquially to refer to all brass instruments used in jazz. This article focuses on the use of the French horn.
Frank Felice is an American composer of contemporary classical music and associate professor of composition, theory, and electronic music in the Jordan College of Arts at Butler University.
The Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is an international music prize for composers of chamber music. The US$25,000 cash award is given every two years in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory. The money was donated by Milan Stoeger, a psychoanalyst and a long-time subscriber to the Chamber Music Society, in honor of his wife. The Elise L. Stoeger Prize was established in 1987.
