Entrepreneurship

John Williams is one of the most important and influential composers writing new music for orchestras today. In fact, the most exciting and anticipated new music for orchestra this year is John Williams’ new score to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Yet, despite his incontestably successful forty-year career writing new music for orchestra and his […]

Over the last few decades, many American schools of music have embraced the repertoire and missions of new music ensembles. Boundaries are broken, venues explored, students challenged, and new sounds ring out. What a change from the 1980s, when musicologist Susan McClary argued that “both popular and postmodern musics are marked as the enemy, and […]

September 15, 2015 – 8PM Eastern Nick Finzer, Composer, arranger, trombonist Description: Are you thinking about recording and releasing your own recording? You won’t want to miss this hangout with trombonist and music entrepreneur Nick Finzer. Get Nick’s tips on how to successfully navigate the process of recording and releasing your own recording: ideas for funding […]

As a touring percussion quartet, devoting an entire concert to new works for our group sometimes seems like a luxury. The logistical pressures of unfamiliar venue layouts, small stage sizes, and traveling with instruments, combined with the musical demands of presenters and unfamiliar audiences, means that we often stick with what we know while we […]

This summer, Polyphonic.org welcomes a new Editor-in-Chief, James Doser. He takes over for Ramon Ricker, who led Polyphonic.org since its inception in 2006. Welcome, Jim! Polyphonic: Jim – one thing that readers will find really interesting is that you actually studied with Ray Ricker, which means you are both saxophonists and that you know the […]

I grew up in the Boston area; Vic Firth’s name was revered as one of the most prominent “BSO men” in the area. Anastasia Tsioulcas of NPR has put together a lovely tribute to him as both a percussionist and an entrepreneur. Click here to read the remembrance at NPR’s Deceptive Cadence, complete with photos and […]

It seems counterintuitive: how is it that so many musicians dedicate their lives to the study and practice of repertoire written so long ago by composers who no longer walk the earth? Look deep into the music, however, and one will find within it a vitality that is ripe for the harvest. This vitality is […]

Hotel Elefant’s “speakOUT” spring 2015 concert by was hosted by the downtown New York venue SubCulture on International Women’s Day, representing female artists who utilize music to reflect on issues both personal and political. The generous funding from the Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research helped present cutting-edge works by women, with works specifically […]

Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research Grant Program Apply for a 2015 Grant by September 1, 2015 This grant program is intended to provide funding for research, events, and new initiatives related to innovative ensembles. Applications for funding will be accepted on an annual basis; grants will range from $500-$2,000. The total amount awarded […]

In “today’s arts climate,” which is often characterized by tales of diminishing audiences, revenue, and interest, why would anyone start a new orchestra? That is a question that Jennifer Melick considers in an intriguing article in the recent Symphony Magazine.  Melick spotlights eight recent orchestra startups and looks at the goals and creative ideas behind […]