Music pervades our world, yet the men and women who create the sounds we hear are often unsung. Composers Now is a weeklong festival presented collaboratively by a number of organizations citywide offering concerts, lectures, conversations, and other activities that highlight the contribution composers make to the cultural fabric of our lives. Composers Now puts a public face on the vitality, diversity, and innovations that composers bring to our communities.

Composers Now: The origins

Composers Now was born shortly after the 2008 collapse on Wall Street when composers Tania León and Laura Kaminsky were having dinner, and the conversation veered from the new Greek and Roman galleries at the Met to Michelle Obama's hairstyle to the challenges that each composer faces when he or she is alone, facing the empty manuscript page, and wondering, "What am I going to say in this piece?" They talked about the relative invisibility of composers in the cultural fabric when compared to writers and visual artists.

Composers are critical members of the musical ecosystem. Yet for most of us, composers are invisible. We see the performers who play the music, but we almost never see, talk to, and get to know the people who create the music being performed, the people whose stories are being told.

Tania said to Laura, “You know, the role of the composer in our society is huge; we need to find a way to raise awareness and appreciation of this important community of creators. I would love to see composers as visible as poets. After all, we have National Poetry Month. Why not do the same for composers? Composers now are creating the sonic legacy of tomorrow. They need to become better known for their contributions in all genres and in all communities, and with this awareness and understanding, they will be more deeply valued.”  

“Yes,” Laura replied, “I couldn’t agree more!”

Birth of a New Arts Consortium

Shortly after her dinner with Tania, Laura hosted another dinner at Symphony Space where a diverse group of New York's small and mid-size presenters gathered to talk openly about the impact of the economic downturn on audiences and fundraising and all the usual concerns of non-profit arts institutions. She hoped to engender a sense of community and mutual support among presenters during stressful times, rather than competitiveness and mistrust. After a few meetings in Symphony Space's wine bar, the group found its stride and began to share issues and ideas. The concept was to have a non-hierarchical, freely structured consortium of music presenters working in all styles and genres, and located in venues across the city, that could help each other negotiate what we all perceived was going to be a few rough years. The group grew with each successive meeting.

A New Music Festival Takes Shape

Back to Tania and the question of composer invisibility.

After another fruitful gathering of the consortium, Laura said to Tania, "I think we can make composers more visible if the consortium gets behind the idea that we can collaborate and make a festival about living composers making all kinds of music in all kinds of styles in all kinds of venues. Shall I ask them? Will you join me??"

Of course Tania agreed immediately, and at the consortium's next meeting, they presented the idea of joining forces to celebrate the living composer. Happily, the group responded enthusiastically in the affirmative. From these humble beginnings, rooted in good will and armed with positive energy, Composers Now began to find a form and other presenters were invited to join in.

As soon as it became clear that a real project was beginning to take shape, Laura met with the lovely folks of The New York Times Public Affairs group to plan a Speaking of the Arts evening at Symphony Space. The Times signed on and culture writer Daniel J. Wakin and a panel of composers—including Joan Tower, Arturo O'Farrill, Eisa Davis, Jeanine Tesori, and Henry Threadgill—was planned to close the February 22nd marathon.