CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS New Music Festival
Victoria Bond, Artistic Director
Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival Announces 25th Anniversary Season
Featuring world and regional premieres by founder and Artistic Director Victoria Bond
New venues and new collaborators
"...a gift to New Yorkers thirsty for new sounds" - Time Out New York
Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival exists to celebrate, support and promote the work of living composers. Over the past 25 years, works by more than 200 composers have been played by world-class ensembles and soloists in the country. Audiences have delighted to dozens of world premieres and hundreds of on-stage conversations with the composers themselves.
The 2022 season marks the 25th year of the concert series, which Chamber Music America has called "a full-throttle commitment to contemporary music." To celebrate the occasion, this season will include world and regional premieres by founder and artistic director Victoria Bond.
The Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival 2022 will be presented across New York City for four performances, each in partnership with a different arts organization.
April 6, 2022 | From the Atlas of Imaginary Places (Percussia, partner) at St. Mark's Church in Jackson Heights
May 13, 2022 |The Adventures of Gulliver (Mostly Modern Projects, partner) at the Sheen Center
June 12, 2022 | Japan Songs (Kyo-Shin-An Arts, partner) at the Tenri Cultural Center
October 22, 2022 | From an Antique Land (Keyed Up Music Project, partner) at the Tenri Cultural Center
The theme of the season is Bringing People Together. "Because of the stress, loneliness and isolation of the past year, now is the time to bring people together with music that expresses uplifting spiritual themes of hope," artistic director and founder Victoria Bond says. In addition to the in-person programming, audiences will be able to enjoy the concerts virtually through a live-stream. Program details available below.
CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS
2022 Season Programs
In addition to the in-person programming, audiences will be able to
enjoy the concerts virtually through a live-stream.
World premiere
April 6, 2022: From the Atlas of Imaginary Places
Percussia, partner | St. Mark's Church in Jackson Heights
Victoria Bond’s composition From the Atlas of Imaginary Places will be premiered by the new music ensemble Percussia which commissioned it. Also on the program is Murmuration by Alexis Lamb. The concert is presented in conjunction with Poetry at St. Mark’s.
May 13, 2022: The Adventures of Gulliver
Mostly Modern Projects, partner | Sheen Center
Scenes from the puppet opera The Adventures of Gulliver based on the imaginary world of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels by composer Victoria Bond, librettist Stephen Greco and director Doug Fitch will be presented for the first time with puppets. Also on the program is King of the River by Hershel Garfein and The Companion by Robert Paterson. Featuring soloists from the American Modern Ensemble.
World premiere
June 12, 2022: Japan Songs
Kyo-Shin-An Arts, partner | Tenri Cultural Center
Japan Songs is a collection of songs by various composers based on Haiku poetry. The composers are: Aleksandra Vrebalov, James Schlefer, Paul Moravec, Douglas Cuomo, Jay Reise and Victoria Bond. Performed by shakuhachi player James Schelefer and guest artists.
New York premiere
October 22, 2022: From an Antique Land
Keyed Up Music Project, partner | Tenri Cultural Center
Victoria Bond’s song cycle From an Antique Land will be performed by baritone Michael Kelly and pianist Bradley Moore. Also on the program is Different Loves by Dalit Warshaw, performed by the composer, selected songs by David Del Tredici performed by Michael Kelly and Marc Peloquin and The Temple in the Mist and Three Minds by Narong Prangcharoen, performed by Marc Peloquin.
CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS
A short history
Inspired by Pierre Boulez's series, "Perspective Encounters", the composer and conductor Victoria Bond founded Cutting Edge Concerts in 1998. With 25 years of concerts, Cutting Edge Concerts has presented over 300 new works by more than 200 composers. Each program highlights the music of living composers, all of whom attend the concert. Along with performances by world-class ensembles and soloists, each program features on-stage discussions between host Victoria Bond and the composers.
For the 20th anniversary, New Music Box published a feature on the festival and its many highlights and accomplishments. In it, Victoria Bond wrote "I launched the Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in 1998 with the purpose of presenting the music of living composers, including—but not limited to—my own work. I was eager to know what my composition colleagues were writing and to have a way of bringing their music to the public. I also knew many performers interested in new music, and the thought of putting these together was intoxicating."
Victoria Bond, Artistic Director
A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." Her compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets. Ms. Bond is also an acclaimed conductor, and is the principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas.