Academics
Felder was the Composer-in-Residence of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1993 to 1997 and has received numerous grants and commissions throughout his career as a composer,including many awards from the National Endowment for the Arts,two New York State Council commissions,a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship,a Guggenheim Fellowship,two Koussevitzky commissions,two Fromm Foundation Fellowships,two awards from the Rockefeller Foundation,two commissions from the Mary Flagler Cary Trust,and many more. [4] In 2010,the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded Felder the Music Award in recognition of his career accomplishments. [5]
Felder taught music composition at the University at Buffalo from 1985 to 2022,received the SUNY Distinguished Professor title in 2008, [6] and served as Master Artist in Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 2010. His,Les Quatres Temps Cardinaux (2013–14),for chamber orchestra,soprano,bass voice,and electronics,has been recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and is soon to be released. More recently,his violin concerto,Jeu de Tarot (2017),with violin soloist Irvine Arditti,and Ensemble Signal,conducted by Brad Lubman,has been recorded and released on Coviello Contemporary records. [7] His latest work for orchestra,Die Dämmerungen,was given its complete world premiere by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on October 5,2019,at Kleinhans Music Hall. Jeu de Tarot 2 (2020) has been recently recorded by the Slee Sinfonietta,with violin soloist Irvine Arditti,conducted by Christian Baldini,and will soon be released by Coviello Contemporary records.
June in Buffalo Festival
The June in Buffalo Festival was founded at the University at Buffalo in 1975 by composer and UB Professor Morton Feldman,with sponsorship by the Rockefeller Foundation,New York State Council for the Arts,and the university at Buffalo. The festival was originally dedicated to emerging composers and to presenting and exposing new music to the world. The festival ran until 1980 and took a brief a hiatus until 1985 when David Felder revived the festival. [8]
From 1985 to 2022,Felder was the director of June in Buffalo,and expanded the program to include student composers,as well as,recently,student ensembles. [9] June in Buffalo has run every June since 1985,and offers a week-long intensive schedule of seminars,lectures,workshops,professional presentations,participant forums and open rehearsals as well as afternoon and evening concerts open to the general public and critics. Each of the invited composers has one of their pieces performed during the festival. Evening performances feature faculty composers,resident ensembles and soloists renowned internationally as interpreters of contemporary music. [10]
Slee Sinfonietta
June in Buffalo boasts a resident ensemble that performs regularly at the festival,the Slee Sinfonietta,which Felder co-founded with conductor Magnus Martensson,and began as artistic director in 1996. [11] The Slee Sinfonietta is the professional chamber orchestra in residence at the university at Buffalo and presents a series of concerts each year that feature performances of challenging new works by contemporary composers and lesser-known works from the chamber orchestra repertoire. The Slee Sinfonietta consists of a core group including UB faculty performance artists,visiting artists,national and regional professionals and advanced performance students,and conducted by leading conductors and composers. [12]
Center for 21st Century Music
The June in Buffalo Festival enjoys sponsorship from the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music,which Felder founded in 2006,and acted as artistic director until his retirement in 2022. [13] In 2015 he was named co-director of the university at Buffalo's Creative Arts Initiative,a plan to bring major international creative artists to the region as guest artists. [14]
