2016 marks the eighth year of the Residency Program, and the first year of partnering with the Queens Museum.  EtM Executive Director David Johnston said, “We are happy to continue our partnerships with Flushing Town Hall, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Bloomingdale School of Music and Turtle Bay Music School. And we are thrilled this year to expand our opportunities in Queens by adding the Queens Museum, another member of the City’s Cultural Institutions Group.  Queens Museum is a first-class cultural presenter with a deep commitment to the living artists of New York City. We’re happy to partner with them to develop new work and provide opportunities for composers.”

The panel picked a diverse and eclectic group of five New York-based composers, covering a wide range of styles. Each composer has been awarded a six-month residency in one of EtM’s partnering cultural or community facilities in addition to a $2,500 stipend. The list of recipients and their host facility is below.

 

Doug Balliett

Residency: Bloomingdale School of Music

Doug Balliett is a composer, instrumentalist and poet based in New York City. The New York Times has described his poetry as “brilliant and witty”, his bass playing as “elegant”, and his compositions as “vivid, emotive, with contemporary twists” . Popular new music blog I Care if You Listen has critiqued Mr. Balliett’s work as “weird in the best possible way” and “light-hearted yet dark…it had the audience laughing one minute and in tears the next…”. With a constant stream of commissions, a weekly show on New York Public Radio, and nearly 200 performances per year, Mr. Balliett has been identified as an emerging voice for his generation.

Lea Bertucci

Residency: Queens Museum

Lea Bertucci is a sound artist, composer and performer whose work describes relationships between acoustic phenomena and biological resonance. Her work often incorporates multi-channel speaker arrays, electroacoustic feedback, extended instrumental/vocal technique, and tape collage. As an instrumentalist, she takes an idiosyncratic approach to the amplification of woodwind instruments, creating organic yet electrified sonic interventions. Her debut solo LP, Resonance Shapes, was released in 2013 on the Obsolete Units label and has been praised by A Closer Listen as “A grand exploration of the possibilities inherent in sound”. She is a 2016 MacDowell Fellow in Composition and a 2015/16 ISSUE Project Room Artist-in- Residence. Her discography includes a number of solo and collaborative releases on various independent labels in the US and Europe.

Volker Goetze

Residency: Turtle Bay Music School

Volker Goetze is a New York-based composer, trumpeter, filmmaker and media artist. His work fuels cross-cultural dialogue, incorporates multiple disciplines and utilizes cutting edge technology. He has been investigating the oral culture and storytelling of West Africa and its influences on jazz and black culture in America. Past performances include the Jazz Gallery New York, LA Festival of Sacred Music, Paris Jazz Festival, New Philharmonie Paris and Opera Festival in Munich. Mr. Goetze has held many master classes and was invited as a panelist from such distinguished institution as the Apollo Theater and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Tidtaya Sinutoke

Residency: Flushing Town Hall

Tidtaya Sinutoke is a Thai born, NYC-based composer, writer, and musician. Her works include themes of self-discovery, gender issues, travel, social injustice and companionship. Composition credits include: Clouds Are Pillows for the Moon (Yale Institute for Music Theatre, ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, Kilroy’s Honorable Mention List, NAMT Songwriters Cabaret), Hart Island Requiem (Civilians R&D), Crossing Borders (CAP21 Residency), and Yellow Cycle. She participated in the Composer-Librettists Studio at New Dramatists, the Johnny Mercer Songwriter Projects, and the Robert Rauschenberg Residency. A proud member of ASCAP, Asian American Librettists, Composers and Lyricists Project, and the Dramatists Guild. MFA: NYU Tisch.

Kathleen Tagg

Residency: Brooklyn Youth Chorus

Kathleen Tagg, a 2014-15 Composition Fellow of the Dramatist Guild, is a pianist, composer and producer. Her work has been performed by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, Jewish Culturefest Vienna and New Century Chamber Orchestra. New works include Breath & Hammer electro-acoustic project with David Krakauer; Where Worlds Collide, a two-piano fusion of jazz/African/classical with Andre Petersen; the musical Erika’s Wall with Sophie Jaff (The Music Theatre Company, Chicago); Apple Heart with Sophie Jaff (songs performed at 54 Below, Duplex, Lincoln Center); Alt-cabarets Spieël Speel (Afrikaans original songs) and Soul of Fire, nominated for a South African Music Award for best classical/instrumental album and used in the film Die Laaste Tango. Kathleen holds the Helen Cohn Award as outstanding doctoral graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. She also studied at Mannes College of Music and University of Cape Town.