Karen Kim, Steve Wilson, Parker Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble

A SELECTION OF IMAGES FROM CMA’S THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN , Jason_ Treuting, So Percussion JANUARY 4-6, 2008 Scenes from the 2008

Joel Smirnoff, Conference

Photography by Shelley Kusnetz Steve Reich’s Drumming, performed by Sō Percussion. Thomas Adès via the Calder Quartet. Lucy Shelton and eighth blackbird in a version of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. The Ying Quartet with Billy Childs’s Jazz-Chamber Ensemble. Beethoven’s Opus 95 from the veteran Shanghai Quartet, and Op. 1 no. 1 from the young Trio Cavatina.

That’s just a sampling from the cornucopia of concert offerings at CMA’s thirtieth-anniversary conference. Among the other music-based events were an open rehearsal of ’s second quartet by the Juilliard String Quartet, a cross-genre workshop on improvisation, a dozen showcases of emerging ensemble artists, and performances of CMA commissions by the Marcus Roberts Trio, Ben Allison’s Medicine Wheel, and Melody of China.

Registrants from thirty states (and a sprinkling of visitors from Canada and ) came together in New York City to celebrate, of course, but also for traditional conference business: to formally recognize achievements of Composer/ colleagues, to explore challenging and vexing issues in the field, and—at saxophonist Fred Ho; an array of seminars and workshops—to acquire skills in such practical ASCAP’s areas as programming, audience building, fundraising, and marketing. Frances Richard 39 Marcus Roberts

Luis Vargas, Euclid Quartet

Laura Sewell, CMA board chair

Daniel Gustin; Allan Miller, film producer Felicity Coltman, Austin Center

Billy Childs; Wayne Brown and Eileen Mason (NEA)

Trio Cavatina

Conference chair Sarah Rothenberg; Oliver Sacks

Keynote speaker Oliver Sacks, drawing from his new book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, delved into some of music’s more arcane effects—including its power to give temporary reprieves to those who suffer from such neuro- logical disorders as Parkinsonism. Musicologist Don Michael Randel, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, spoke on the value of musicians in society, arguing that because music (like all the arts) speaks to the essence of the human condition, we don’t need to justify it in utilitarian terms.

The conference closed with the annual Awards Banquet, with the Juilliard String Quartet as honoree. An historical perspective on the quartet was provided by Juilliard president Joseph W. Polisi, and a personal and artistic João Luiz, Douglas Lora; appreciation by CMA board member Dan Gustin. , Earl Carylss, Brasil Guitar Duo Joel Smirnoff, Ronald Copes, Joel Krosnick and Samuel Rhodes—surrounded by family members, friends and colleagues—jointly accepted the inscribed crystal octagon representing the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, recognizing the ensemble’s sixty-plus years of artistry and leadership in the field. JSQ founders Arthur Winograd and Raphael Hillyer were unable to attend; but Hillyer’s letter—read to the assembled banquet guests by CMA’s president Phillip Ying—summed up the general sentiment with its closing: “Long live the Juilliard String Quartet!”

On this and the following pages, we invite you to enjoy some photographic glimpses of the conference weekend.

Audience for Manhattan showcase

41 Donna Kwong, Julia Bruskin; Claremont Trio

Don Michael Randel

Past and present Juilliard SQ members with CMA president Philllip Ying

Cheryl Ikemiya, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Nicholas Tzavaras, Honggang Li; Shanghai Quartet Composer Christopher Rouse

Margaret M. Lioi, David Leisner, Ralph Jackson

Sheshen Zhang, 42 march/april 2008 Melody of China Presenters Ruth Felt, Wu Han

Stefon Harris; CMA board

Ilmar Gavilan, Melissa White; Harlem Quartet

Juilliard president Joseph W. Polisi

Conference chair Sarah Rothenberg

Ben Allison (r) and Medicine Wheel Amy Iwano, Hollis Headrick, Hans Schuman

Timothy Ying; Ying Quartet

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