International Contemporary Ensemble Announces Incoming Executive Director Rebecca Sigel

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) today announces the appointment of Executive Director Rebecca Sigel, effective September 1, 2018. Sigel joins the leadership of the International Contemporary Ensemble as the organization launches into a series of fall events that build off of both hers and the organization's experience.

Current Executive Director William McDaniel hands over the title to Sigel, formerly the LA Phil's Manager of Social Innovation, who also served as a Business Planning Consultant for the National Park Service and completed BA (Brown University - Music) and Master of Public Policy (UC Berkeley) degrees. McDaniel oversaw the ensemble's transition from a founder-led group to one with a formal executive directorship, and will remain closely connected to the organization.

New York Philharmonic President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah Borda writes, "Rebecca's appointment is a dynamic step in the vibrant evolution of ICE. Our work together at the LA Phil demonstrated her insight and energy about the link between music institutions and community engagement. I'm thrilled to have her as a colleague in New York City and look forward to the innovative impact she will have here as a new generation of Arts Administrators leads the way! Bravo to ICE and Rebecca!"

Of her appointment, Rebecca Sigel says, "Through my engagement with the worlds of both music and public policy, I have long been drawn to those artistic environments that provoke vulnerable, complex, constructive conversations that can have ripples out into broader networks. In ICE, I found my perfect match: musicians passionate about engaging the music of today with the people of today. When I first worked with ICE during their residency with Youth Orchestra LA, I was struck by the ensemble's relentless pursuit of collaborative creativity and constant interrogation of the norms by which music could be crafted and performed. In its organizational structure, ICE models the community it also builds through musical collaboration. I am honored to take on this role as ICE's Executive Director, facilitating the next phase of an artist-led organization that is building new shared languages, enabling creative voice and perspective, and prioritizing representation of underrepresented musical points of view."

ICE Board President Claude Arpels agrees, "The Board of International Contemporary Ensemble is elated to welcome Rebecca Sigel as the ensemble's new Executive Director. Rebecca brings a combination of qualities and experience that will perfectly complement those of the current Co-Artistic Directors. Her experience in social policy and arts education will be instrumental to the Ensemble's work of keeping contemporary music vital in our society. We can't wait for the next exciting chapter of ICE's evolution under the collaborative leadership of Rebecca, Ross Karre, and Rebekah Heller. The Board expresses sincere thanks to Will McDaniel for his indispensable leadership during this delicate period of transition, and for organizing the search that culminated in Rebecca's appointment. We look forward to welcoming Will back on the Board."

"It has been a tremendous thrill and privilege to play a part in this phase of ICE's development, building on my long history with the group," says McDaniel. "As a founding member and longtime board member, I'm particularly excited to see how the organization continues to evolve with Rebecca, as she helps steward the artist-led ensemble with her own background in the arts and social policy to interrogate how we can better engage with our communities and be an agent for addressing equity in the artistic voices we represent." After a transition period, McDaniel will formally step down at the end of October.

"In our most recent collaboration with Rebecca Sigel in Spring 2015 at Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, we built a new program activating the creative agency of aspiring young musicians alongside ICE artists. Our first major project of the 2018-19 season with the Christ Church Preservation Trust in Philadelphia, In Plain Air, is an extension of everything we learned from Sigel's guidance at YOLA, bringing the community of Philadelphia into the creative process," says Ross Karre, co-artistic director and percussionist.

"The ICEcommons composer-discovery database has picked up incredible momentum and support from presenter-collaborators around North America. An early ICEcommons discovery, Seth Cluett, has become a principal collaborator in the coming season. With commissioning and production support of Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Arts and Technology program, ICE will bring a new work of Seth's to a program at the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I am thrilled to see continued activity from the Ensemble in a city and state that was home to me," says Sigel.

Artistic Director Rebekah Heller says, "I first met Rebecca Sigel in 2014 through her work as the LA Phil's Social Innovation Manager. I was immediately impressed by her big thinking, her deep understanding of our work, and her vision for how we could best serve our youthful collaborators. I'm thrilled that we will be colleagues and I'm excited to shape the vision and future of our entICE program and free ICEcommons platform with her."

About Rebecca Sigel
As Manager of Social Innovation at the LA Phil, Rebecca Sigel oversaw El Sistema-Inspired Initiatives: Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA) and Take a Stand (the LA Phil's national network of support for teachers and administrators of El Sistema- inspired programs). During Rebecca's tenure, the LA Phil initiated a residential summer camp for its year-round YOLA students, piloted The National Take a Stand Festival (a summer music festival for students from El Sistema-inspired programs across the United States), and facilitated YOLA students' collaborations with ensembles as far-reaching as the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), El Sistema Japan, and Coldplay (Super Bowl Halftime Show).

As a Masters in Public Policy student at UC Berkeley's Goldman School, she focused on the mechanisms that perpetuate racial and economic inequalities in the US. Her capstone thesis - conducted in partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission - focused on Racial Equity in Artist Compensation and Support.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Rebecca looks forward to New York winters after many years in sunny California. She has a small, rugged dog with whom she has walked many miles, including a month spent backpacking Vermont's Long Trail.

About the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, ICE explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The ensemble's 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored ICE's programming since its founding in 2001, and the group's recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music's present.

A recipient of the American Music Center's Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. ICE has been featured at the Ojai Music Festival since 2015, and has appeared at festivals abroad such as Acht Brücken Cologne and Musica nova Helsinki. Other recent performance stages include the Park Avenue Armory, The Stone, ice floes at Greenland's Diskotek Sessions, and boats on the Amazon River.

New initiatives include OpenICE, made possible with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which offers free concerts and related programming wherever ICE performs, and enables a working process with composers to unfold in public settings. DigitICE catalogues the ensemble's performances in a free online streaming video library. ICE's First Page program is a commissioning consortium that fosters close collaborations between performers, composers, and listeners as new music is developed. EntICE, a side-by-side youth program, places ICE musicians within youth orchestras as they premiere new commissioned works together. Inaugural EntICE partners include Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and The People's Music School in Chicago. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE. Read more at iceorg.org.

Photo Credit: Tory Baker

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