“Looking through the last decade of MusicNOW, I realize that the curatorial instinct seems to be governed like a large family – a core group of people who are always there, presenting new work, and then cousins, in-laws, new friends, strange couples and thrupples, arriving from unimagined parts of the globe,” said composer and frequent MusicNOW performer Nico Muhly. “I’ve played a bunch of times myself, both as a collaborator and as a solo artist, and each time, have presented things that were not just new to Cincinnati, but new to me: pieces with the ink still drying, or pieces in desperate need of a set of ears other than my own. What has been extraordinary to watch is how Cincinnatians have embraced this odd festival, which offers only the most oblique hints of what might happen when you arrive at the show.”

“Many of my most significant memories as a musician have taken place in Cincinnati during the MusicNOW Festival over the last 10 years,” says founder Bryce Dessner.  “When we started, we were driven to create an intimate music festival that was as much a creative refuge for the artists as it is for the audience to partake in intimate and rare performances. We have celebrated works in progress and new commissions, new collaborations, and detailed music of all kinds regardless of genre or popularity.”

“The CSO’s first collaboration with MusicNOW last year was one of the highlights of my career,” said CSO Music Director Louis Langrée. “Bryce is an immensely talented musician who brings fascinating ideas to the table. The fusion of MusicNOW and the full Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an experiment nothing short of extraordinary.”

MusicNOW headliner Richard Reed Perry of Arcade Fire said, “MusicNOW is my favorite festival anywhere. It is my favorite place to perform, and my favorite place to see music, and I have been there almost every year since it’s inception.  It happens in the most spectacularly beautiful yet cozy and intimate venue you’re ever likely to find and seems to attract the most wonderful people; I count many of the artists and musicians I’ve met there amongst my most kindred friends and collaborators, and the festival has acted as an important catalyst and jumping off point for so many of my musical endeavors that I can hardly imagine what my last 10 years would have been like without it.”

MusicNOW has played host to sold out audiences experiencing contemporary chamber music, world premiere commissions, indie rock performances and visual art installations. “I have always been really inspired by visual artists. Many of my projects have been collaborations with artists and I often find it really inspiring to speak with visual artists about music. It’s amazing to read about Merce, Cage and Rauschenberg working together at a young age and the ways they influenced one another and the larger community around them,” said Dessner. It is in that spirit that MusicNOW has and continues to curate its performances and collaborations. Over the course of the last decade, the festival has showcased experimental performances by Bonnie Prince Billy, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Glen Hansard and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Robin Pecknold, So Percussion, Nico Muhly, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and many other remarkable luminaries.

MusicNOW 2015 Schedule:

Wednesday, March 11th

Woodward Theater – 1404 Main St, Cincinnati, OH

Will Butler

Thursday, March 12th

Woodward Theater – 1404 Main St, Cincinnati, OH

concert:nova with Jeffrey Zeigler

Friday, March 13th

Cincinnati Music Hall – 1241 Elm St, Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The National with the CSO and new commission by Caroline Shaw

Saturday, March 14th

Cincinnati Music Hall – 1241 Elm St, Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Songs from Planetarium featuring Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly & Bryce Dessner with the CSO, new commission by Daníel Bjarnasonand So Percussion

Sunday, March 15th

Memorial Hall – 1225 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH

Perfume Genius, The Lone Bellow, Mina Tindle

March 11th–20th

Contemporary Arts Center- 404 E. 6th St, Cincinnati, OH

A Lot Of Sorrow – by Ragner Kjartansson featuring The National

An ongoing Installation

 

Highlights from MusicNOW’s previous festivals:

 

2014: MusicNOW launches our first collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  New world premiere commissions from David Lang and Nico Muhly are performed alongside works of Scriabin and Penderecki.

 

2013: Tinariwen, Glen Hansard, Steve Reich, Brooklyn Youth Chorus

 

2012: Sufjan Stevens, Philip Glass, Pedro Solar, eighth blackbird

 

2011: Sounds of the South featuring Megafaun, Justin Vernon and Sharon van Etten.  The National, Owen Pallet, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Hecker and Little Scream.

 

2010: Justin Vernon and yMusic, Joanna Newsom, St. Vincent, Robin Pecknold

 

2009: Kronos Quartet, Toumani Diabate, The Books

 

2008: Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Andrew Bird, Bang on a Can All Stars, Bill Frisell

 

2007: Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond, the Havels

 

2006: The Clogs, Bell Orchestre, Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Glenn Kotche and David Cossin