Composers Concordance History

Joseph Pehrson (left), Otto Luening (center -- advisor in memoriam),
Patrick Hardish (right) in 1985

THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS 23-YEAR HISTORY

The Composers Concordance is a presenting organization for contemporary music founded in 1983 by Patrick Hardish and Joseph Pehrson which offers a yearly concert series. We work closely with composers and perform works which the composers feel are the most valuable to their careers.

In addition, we use performers who are champions and enthusiasts for our selected composers. This insures the best possible performances and encourages subsequent performances. Composers are on hand to meet with audience members and we facilitate interaction through public interviews and receptions which follow the concerts.

Our concerts are varied in content, displaying a broad range of styles and trends of contemporary music. We have also augmented our concert activities through educational outreach with a publication, the New Music Connoisseur, which informs the public about contemporary music and broadens our audience base.

Recently, we have empowered young associate directors Gene Pritsker, William Rhoads and Lev Zhurbin, who are interested in taking the organization in a new direction by including pieces of a more improvisatory and popular nature to be performed in club, rather than concert, atmospheres.

Actress Linda Past congratulates Otto Luening, advisor in memoriam,
on the occasion of his 85th birthday in 1985...

The Composers Concordance has a history of presenting women and minority composers on our programs, and this programming continues.

The Composers Concordance was incorporated and made federally tax exempt in 1988. We have presented concerts since 1983-84 in such locations as Weill Hall (former Carnegie Recital Hall), CAMI Hall on West 57th Street, Miller Theatre of Columbia University and Christ & St. Stephen's Church. Currently our concerts are in New York City at the Greenwich House Music School Renee Weiler Auditorium, 48 Barrow St. in Greenwich Village, and at the Cutting Room, 19 W. 24th St. in Chelsea.

We have been supported by a variety of funders. From 1984 we have frequently received composer participation grants from Meet the Composer.
The New York State Council on the Arts  has supported us from 1986-89 and again from 1994 to the present. The BMI Foundation has supported us from 1988-1996. We have received funding from the Virgil Thomson Foundation from 1991-2005, the Maldeb Foundation, the Allstate Foundation, the Copland Fund in 1996, the American Music Center-Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 9/11 Regrant in 2002, and Meet the Composer's JPMorganChase Regrant Program for Small Ensembles in 2004 and 2005. The Ditson Fund, the ASCAP Foundation and the New York Community Trust have also supported us. We receive individual contributions yearly.

The music of the Composers Concordance has been broadcast on New York radio stations WKCR and WNYC along with interviews of the directors and a webcast has been aired by the American Music Center.

The Composers Concordance is a vital organization which provides needed exposure to emerging composers, while providing value for the more established. In the future, we hope to expand our series as we remain dedicated to the composers and the audience we serve.