Getting to Know Composers Concordance

Next up in the “Getting to Know You” blog series, we will feature Composers Concordance. They present contemporary, high quality music in New York City. They also have a record label CCR which is distributed by Naxos.

Composers Concordance website can be found at http://www.composersconcordance.com/

By: Alexi Caruso in conjunction with Anna Smith

To learn more about Composers Concordance, I interviewed Gene Pritsker, the director of the organization. Firstly, we discussed Composers Concordance’s most impactful performances.

Can you give us an example of a performance produced by Composers Concordance that you thought was particularly meaningful? Why do you think it resonated with you and/or your audience that way?

“We produce approximately 50 concerts a year with Composers Concordance; specifying one is hard. But this past season we had an event at Birdland with the CompCord Jazz Ensemble that featured legendary musicians David Amram (New York Philharmonic’s first composer-in-residence, scored such films as ‘Splendor in the Grass’ and ‘The Manchurian Candidate’), and Dick Griffin (Sun Ra, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Abdullah Ibrahim). This sold out event seemed to really resonate with the audience, our unique way of eclectic and thematic programming seemed to excite the crowd, and afterwards I had a few people come up to me and say this was the best “Jazz” concert they ever saw. We of course do not consider our concerts “Jazz” or “Classical” or any other genre, each concert goes under the category of “All of the Above”, as this Birdland show had. From thorough composed chamber music, to free improvisation, to rock inspired pieces and melodies from movie scores, l performed with a combination of instruments that is usually found in a jazz band (thus the name of the group) but we go way beyond what is thought of as Jazz and most of the music was written brand new for the occasion.”

Then, we talked about growth inside and outside of Composers Concordance

Composers Concordance have clearly developed such a loyal following for their concerts. In which ways are you excited to see their work grow this year?

“This season, our 40th, we have already scheduled 35 events (a number which will grow as the year progresses). We expect to expand our audiences by presenting events in new venues, some new performing spaces for this season include the club Pangea, Tenri Cultural Institute and Westbeth as well as spaces we have pretend at before that have a varied audience not usually found at new music events, including Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church as part of the JazzBoxx Series, Silvana Club, and Birdland.”

What are some of the ways that you’d like to see the music scene in NYC grow?

“The events we present are eclectic, meaning we combine various styles and cultures of music in one performance, all united by a theme or instrumentation. We also strive to break down the 4th wall, as it is referred to sometimes, when the musicians and the audience feel a sense of community, the stage does not separate us but unites us, we communicate not only musically but also verbally to the audience. Sometimes at our events it is hard to distinguish between the audience members and the performers. I would like to see more of this at concerts in NYC, eclecticism and community.”

Lastly, we discussed Composers Concordance’s connection with LMP

We’re really passionate at LMP about a culture of resource sharing to help uplift entire music communities. Are there any benefits that Composers Concordance has experienced by sharing their concerts on the LMP Concert Calendar?

“LMP is a great resource and we always make sure to post our events on your calendar. We feel that the new music community is well represented there and are very happy to be part of your corner of the internet.”

Composers Concordance has worked with LMP in the past on our Concert Calendar. What type of events will Composers Concordance add to the calendar in the future?

“This season we have many exciting concerts, from our first event that was on September 24th, ‘Electric Circus’ — 8 electric guitars at St. Marks Church as part of the Village Trip Festival to our many events featuring the voice including: ‘Cycles & Solos’ at Tenri Cultural Institute, ‘Art Of The Art Song’ with Ljiljana Winkler at DROM, and ‘The Bowers-Fader Duo’ at Kostabi World. We also will feature some world class soloists including violinist Lara St. John and Clarinetist Charles Neidich, and in honor of our 40th year, our 12th Annual CompCord Festival this year is titled “CompCord @ 40” which will include such concerts as: ‘1984’, ‘Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves’ and The 14th Annual Comp-Play-Comp Marathon with this years theme being ’40 Ounce’.”

With Composers Concordance, LMP can’t wait to add their events to our calendar to provide more access to eclectic music in the NYC area!

LMP’s Concert Calendar for the NYC area can be accessed at https://www.livemusicproject.org/events/?include=&near=new-york-ny