San Francisco Contemporary Music Players

Last updated

The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) is a performing arts organization and unionized chamber orchestra that commissions, performs, and records innovative new music from across cultures and stylistic traditions. SFCMP incorporated in 1974 to give voice to the burgeoning genre of contemporary chamber music in the Bay Area. They are solely devoted to contemporary repertoire, particularly the work of living composers and large ensemble works. The current Artistic Director is Eric Dudley.

Contents

The Contemporary Music Players are a 2018 awardee of the esteemed Fromm Foundation Ensemble Prize and a ten-time winner of the national ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. [1] The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players have performed more than 1,300 contemporary works, including many U.S. and world premieres, and has commissioned new pieces from such composers as John Adams, John Cage, Fred Frith, Liza Lim, James Newton, and Julia Wolfe.

View repertoire list at https://sfcmp.org/sfcmp-repertory-list/

Artistic collaborations

In 1983, Frank Zappa led the ensemble in performing music by Edgard Varèse. The concert, which was emceed by Jefferson Airplane vocalist Grace Slick and held in the San Francisco Opera House, attracted an audience of more than 2,000 people. [2] In 1997, electric guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Joey Baron appeared as soloists with the ensemble, performing Steven Mackey’s concerto, Deal. [3] Later the same year, vocalist Dawn Upshaw appeared with the ensemble in a performance of George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children. [4]

Musicians / executive directors / artistic directors and conductors / board presidents and founders


Musicians

Current ensemble members

Past ensemble members


Executive Directors


Artistic Directors and Principal Conductors


Board Presidents


Founders

SFCMP evolved from concerts begun in 1971 by Charles Boone and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1974 by Marcella DeCray and Jean-Louis LeRoux. The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players is a unionized ensemble based out of San Francisco, California.  

Recent discography

links to recordings https://sfcmp.org/sfcmp-recordings/

Related Research Articles

John Luther Adams American composer

John Luther Adams is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska, where he lived from 1978 to 2014. His orchestral work Become Ocean was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

John Harris Harbison is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works.

M. Lewis Spratlan Jr. is an American music academic and composer of contemporary classical music.

Madeleine Louise Mitchell MMus, ARCM, GRSM, FRSA is a British violinist who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over forty countries. She has a wide repertoire and is particularly known for commissioning and premiering new works and for promoting British music in concert and on disc.

Margaret Brouwer is an American composer and composition teacher. She founded the Blue Streak Ensemble chamber music group.

Martin Boykan was an American composer known for his chamber music as well as music for larger ensembles.

Jennifer Walshe is an Irish composer, vocalist and artist.

Robert Xavier Rodriguez American classical composer (born 1946)

Robert Xavier Rodríguez is an American classical composer, best known for his eight operas and his works for children.

Isak Roux is a South African born German composer born in 1959. He is known for his arrangements of South African music, especially his work with the musical groups Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Kwela Tebza.

Laura Schwendinger Mexican composer

Laura Elise Schwendinger was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin's Berlin Prize.

Mark Gustavson American composer

Mark Gustavson is an American composer of contemporary classical music.

Eric Moe is an American composer and pianist. He has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Richard Festinger is an American composer of contemporary classical music, pianist and educator.

Louis Karchin is an American composer, conductor and educator who has composed over 90 works including unaccompanied and chamber music, symphonic works and opera.

David Felder American composer and academic

David Felder is an American composer and academic who is a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo. He is also the director of both the June in Buffalo Festival and the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music.

Allen Raymond Shearer is an American composer and baritone.

This is a partial discography of composer Charles Wuorinen.

Elena Ruehr is an American musician, music educator and composer.

David Milnes is an American conductor and instrumentalist. He is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley Department of Music and also serves as music director of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and the Eco Ensemble.

References

  1. ↑ "San Francisco Contemporary Music Players Bay Area Contemporary Music". San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  2. ↑ Commanday, Robert (February 11, 1983), "Opera Crowd Whoops for Zappa", San Francisco Chronicle .
  3. ↑ Ulrich, Allan (January 22, 1997), "Crossover program a big draw", San Francisco Examiner .
  4. ↑ Swed, Mark (April 21, 1997), "Speaking to the Past in 'Ancient Voices'", Los Angeles Times , pages F1, F6.
  5. ↑ (April 25, 1975), "Pillows, music, and paintings", San Francisco Examiner, p. 30.
  6. ↑ Ulrich, Allan (October 18, 1988), "Contemporary Debut: A new director, a new season of new music", San Francisco Examiner.
  7. ↑ Ulrich, Allan (August 25, 1988), "Fresh sounds for a new era: Donald Palma takes reins at SFCMP", San Francisco Examiner.
  8. ↑ Rowe, Georgia (August 2, 2002), "Milnes looking forward to Contemporary duties", Contra Costa Times , p. 39.
  9. ↑ Kosman, Joshua (February 7, 2011), "Steven Schick to lead S.F. Contemporary Players", sfgate.com
  10. ↑ Steets, Cheryl (June 5, 2017), "SFCMP Appoints Eric Dudley as New Artistic Director", San Francisco Contemporary Music Players


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.