Julia Wolfe, Tania Leon, et al. in the Flea's MUSIC WITH A VIEW, 5/14

On May 14th, The Flea Theater will once again open its doors to the most skilled and inventive composers from around the world. For two weeks, 27 of these maestros will unite in welcoming you to their playground to experience first-hand new and experimental contemporary alternative classical music performances that take place at The Flea's FREE spring festival: Music With A View 2012.

Each evening of performance is followed by an open discussion between the composers and audience, moderated by a leader in the music scene. This year's line up include Julia Wolfe, Tania Léon, Judd Greenstein, David Soldier, Eleonore Sandresky, Patrick Grant, Ransom Wilson, Daniel Felsenfeld, Randall Woolf, and Pamela Z.

Kathleen Supové, who's been the festival's curator since its inception six years ago, likes to think of these luminaries as guides to intimate conversations on music and composition rarely revealed to an attending public.

"It has changed my life and the way I look at performance and new music," says Supové. "I first encountered The Flea Theater sometime before the second millennium and was hooked on its format- it's changing the arts world as we know it."

Music With A View 2012's performing artists include Howie Kenty, Ruben Naeff, Vivian Fung, Judith St. Croix, Sideband, Doron Sadja, Anne Goldberg, Gilda Lyons, Jeremiah Lockwood, Svjetlana Bukvich-Nichols, Molly Joyce, Jesse Krakow, Lynn Bechtold, D.J. Sparr, Jacob Cooper, Christopher Cresswell, Yoav Shemesh, Nomi Epstein, Jeremy Gill, Rodney Lister, Danielle Schwob, Michael Lytle, John Supko, Fay Wang, Florent Ghys, Joo Won Park, and Robert Honstein.

Created for the aspiring musicians of tomorrow, children's and adults' Open Mic Salons will be held respectively on May 20 and May 27. "Our Open Mic Salons provide a much-needed opportunity for ambitious talent to showcase their sounds alongside some of the greats in the field," says The Flea's Producing Director Carol Ostrow. "Show us what you've got!"

Kathleen Supové (Music with a View Curator) has commissioned, premiered and performed countless works by emerging and important composers and, in always being at the forefront of seeking out new voices, she has established herself as an integral part of recent music history. Her concerts are presented under the name of The Exploding Piano, often initially at The Flea Theater. This past season she was a featured artist at such defining events as the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco and the Pianists At The Edge series at University of Pittsburgh. She has commissioned a body of works for piano and electronics, as well as works for Yamaha Disklavier. In 2001, Ms. Supové became a Yamaha Artist. Her most recent CD, THE EXPLODING PIANO, appears on the Major Who label. She has appeared with The Lincoln Center Festival, The Philip Glass Ensemble, Bang On a Can Marathon, Music at the Anthology, Composers' Collaborative, Inc., and at many other venues, ranging from concert halls such as Carnegie to theatrical spaces such as The Kitchen to clubs such as The Knitting Factory, The Stone, and The Cutting Room. She also performs in the concert theater piece, Removable Parts, along with composer/vocalist/actor Corey Dargel; that toured North America last season and appeared in the Under The Radar Festival.

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys; six plays by A.R. Gurney (Post Mortem, O Jerusalem, Screenplay, Mrs. Farnsworth, A Light Lunch and Office Hours); Mac Wellman's Cellophane and Two September; Roger Rosenblatt's Ashley Montana Goes Ashore... and The Oldsmobiles; Elizabeth Swados' JABU and Kaspar Hauser; Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman; Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians; Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations; Dawn by Thomas Bradshaw; The Great Recession, Jonathan Reynolds' Girls in Trouble, Bathsheba Doran's Parents' Evening, Looking at Christmas by Steven Banks, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, and the critically-acclaimed These Seven Sicknesses by Sean Graney.

Currently playing: You Better Sit Down: Tales From My Parents' Divorce (through May 6) by Anne Kauffman, Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, Janice Paran and Robbie Collier Sublett; The Electric Lighthouse (through April 15) by Ed Hime; The Wundelsteipen and Other Difficult Roles for Young People (through May 23) by Nick Jones; and A Letter From Omdurman (through May 27) by Jeffrey M. Jones.

Music With A View 2012 runs Upstairs at The Flea May 14 – 27. A full schedule is available online at www.theflea.org. The Flea is located at 41 White Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal, close to the A/C/E, N/R/Q, 6, J/M/Z and 1 subway lines.