Professional Development: Field Trips: Xenakis and Heath

Twenty-four Philadelphia musicians and arts professionals spent an October weekend in New York City as part of a professional development trip sponsored by the Philadelphia Music Project. The trip afforded participants an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with fellow arts professionals from Philadelphia and New York.

The weekend’s activities were focused on two concerts. The first took place at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on Friday, October 19th, and featured the Ensemble Sospeso, a New York–based chamber ensemble dedicated to performing modern music. The performance was a tribute concert to the late Iannis Xenakis, a Greek architect and composer known for his highly mathematical composition style.

The second concert celebrated the 75th birthday of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath. The performance on Saturday, October 20th at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall included appearances by some of the great names in jazz today, including the Heath brothers Jimmy, Percy, and Tootie; Slide Hampton; Antonio Hart; Wynton Marsalis; and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Also featured on the program were world premieres of a saxophone concerto by Jimmy Heath for Antonio Hart and a new work by Wynton Marsalis composed specially for the occasion.

Participants in the trip also took part in a roundtable discussion on the morning of Saturday, October 20th. Moderator Frank Oteri, Editor of the American Music Center’s Web magazine, NewMusicBox, led a discussion with panelists Erica Zielinski, General Manager of Lincoln Center Festival; George Wein, founder and CEO of Festival Productions; and Kirk Noreen and Joshua Cody, Executive and Artistic Directors, respectively, of the Ensemble Sospeso. The discussion touched on a variety of topics that are highly relevant to the arts community in Philadelphia and beyond, including the panelists’ individual visions of the role of contemporary music in the arts community; the uptown/downtown dichotomy in new music; how to build audiences for new music and make the experience meaningful for new listeners; and the logistical and organizational challenges of presenting new music in an environment adapted to more traditional programming.