JACK Quartet and National Sawdust Ensemble Present World Premiere Of National Sawdust's New Works Commission

In unprecedented times, fast-evolving models and new ways of thinking are necessary. Thus far into the COVID-19 pandemic, National Sawdust has responded by creating the 40+ performance Digital Discovery Festival, serving and compensating over 120 artists, and presents the performance stage of its inaugural New Works Commission (NWC).

Each of the twenty selected NWC composers has been granted a $3,000 commission and will now premiere their winning work via the New Works Commission Concerts. The 2020 NWC cohort of composers includes Michele Cheng, Eddie Codrington, Jessie Cox, James Diaz, Mario Layne Fabrizio, Baldwin Giang, Clifton Joey Guidry III, Julie Herndon, Yaz Lancaster, Finola Merivale, Ted Moore, Daniel Sabzghabaei, Golnaz Shariatzadeh, Kelley Sheehan, Nina Shekhar, Rajna Swaminathan, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Nicholas Tran, Bethany Younge and Manjing Zhang.

The first performance of New Works Commission compositions will premiere on Thursday, Dec 10th at 5pm ET and feature the National Sawdust Ensemble (including Miranda Cuckson, Jeffrey Zeigler, Ian Rosenbaum, Allison Loggins-Hull, Chris Grymes and Stephen Gosling). performing music by Michele Cheng, James Diaz, Baldwin Giang, Clifton Joey Guidry III, Julie Herndon, Mario Layne Fabrizio, Finola Merivale, Kelley Sheehan, Bethany Younge and Manjing Zhang.

The second concert, premiering on Friday Dec 11th at 5pm ET, will feature the renowned JACK Quartet performing music by Eddie Codrington, Jessie Cox, Yaz Lancaster, Ted Moore, Daniel Sabzghabaei, Golnaz Shariatzadeh, Nina Shekhar, Rajna Swaminathan, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa and Nicholas Tran.

Following their respective premieres, these performances will live on in perpetuity on the National Sawdust website and Vimeo. National Sawdust is seeking preview and review coverage of these events and is able to provide artist and composer images and provide contact information for interviews with New Works Commission winners and/or National Sawdust staff and judges.

Over the past two months, NWC winners have taken part in one-on-one and televised group mentorship by the New Works Commission judging panel, National Sawdust staff and performance musicians, with the aim of building skills specific to film production, sound design, entrepreneurial vision and ownership of the digital space. These New Works Composer Sessions masterclasses are currently free and open to the public for viewing on the National Sawdust website. Hosted by Paola Prestini, Artistic Director, Composer and Co-Founder of National Sawdust, the nine Composer Session speakers include Marcos Balter, composer, and professor; Ellen Reid, composer, sound artist, and Pulitzer Prize winner; Steve Smith, writer, and critic; Pamela Z, composer, performer, and Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize Fellow 2019/2020; Jeffrey Zeigler, cellist, and Music Director for the National Sawdust Ensemble, label director, and former Kronos Quartet cellist; JACK Quartet, string quartet; plus other leading voices in the music industry; Andy Bart, Intellectual Property Lawyer, Chris Grymes, clarinetist with the National Sawdust Ensemble, and curator of Open G Series at National Sawdust; and, Karen Wong, Deputy Director of the New Museum on the future of culture and the intersections between architecture and music.

To learn more about the New Works Commission, please visit the National Sawdust website: https://live.nationalsawdust.org/national-sawdust-new-works-commission.

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