International Society for Contemporary Music

2016 ISCM ANNUAL REPORT | MUSIC ON MAIN

Mandate: Music that brings us together Mission: Music on Main creates innovative musical experiences. We connect people by developing artists’ and audiences’ relationships to music, to each other, and to themselves.

Profile: Music on Main presents one of Canada’s leading music series in venues around Metro Vancouver. The company’s artistic vision is grounded in presenting top-flight classical, new, and genre-bending music in environments that are intimate and social, offering access to music, artistic adventure, and community while breaking down barriers between artists and audiences. Since 2006, the organization has developed internationally lauded programming, featuring more than 700 musicians, nearly 300 concerts, and in excess of 50 world premieres.

2015/16 Artistic and Operational Highlights

• Number of concerts: 28; Attendance: nearly 3,000 (2,928); Free events: 4
• Partnerships: Microcosmos Quartet, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration, Red Chamber Cultural Society, musica intima, Canadian League of Composers
• Sold out concerts for Archytas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Morton Fedman’s Rothko Chapel, and Rebecca Wenham. Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw completed her second and final year as Music on Main’s Composer In Residence.
• Two performances of Gabriel Dharmoo’s Anthropologies imaginaires with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. The performances served as a showcase for international presenters; Gabriel Dharmoo was then invited to present Anthropologies imaginaires at the Sydney Festival 2017 in Sydney, Australia.
• Canadian premiere of Nicole Lizés’s Tarantino Etudes with Mark Takeshi McGregor at the Modulus Festival. The piece was originally slated to have its world premiere in Vancouver with Music on Main, but instead, we were happy to share its presentation and world premiere at the Melos-Ethos International Festival of Contemporary Music in Bratislava, Slovakia through our relationship with ISCM colleague and friend Ol’ga Smetanova
• Expanded collaborations at the Modulus Festival included a sold-out performance of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel featuring musica intima, paired with works by Ana Sokolovic and Caroline Shaw. A sold-out performance with cellist Rebecca Wenham included a works by composers Caroline Shaw, Kaija Saariaho, Ana Sokolovic, Linda Catlin Smith, Sarah Neufeld, Kati Agocs, and a world premiere by Peggy Lee.
• A new co-commission of Hong Kong Exile, for an interdisciplinary evening of an edgy, risk taking world premiere of Visitors from Far Away to the State Machine as part of Music on Main’s A Month Tuesdays Series, brought to Music on Main a new, young audience. This new Hong Kong Exile production was then selected for presentation at this year’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
• At the end of the season, we welcomed Melissa Tsang to the team as Artistic Planning & Operations Manager, succeeding past General Manager Melody Jacobson. This expanded role maintains oversight over day-to-day finances, operations, human resources and artistic planning and contracting for the organization. Prior to her time at Music on Main, Melissa worked in similar roles for Ballet BC, Vancouver Opera and other regional performing arts organizations.

Behind the scenes, gender diversity has been a founding principle at Music on Main. More and more, we seek to empower our own stages to reflect Vancouver’s diversity – in all its forms – back to audiences. This is sometimes a challenge for a classical, new, and genre-bending presenter and producer, but access, expression, and building understanding through great art is a goal that everyone at Music on Main shares. All of this took place under the auspices of a great board of directors, surrounded by a devoted core of volunteers and dedicated staff, and supported by exceptionally generous donors and artists. Partnerships and collaborations continue to underpin Music on Main’s success.

ISCM2017

When Music on Main and the Canadian League of Composers co-host ISCM World New Music Days 2017 in November, it will feature 30+ events over 7 days with music from 50 countries. Founded in 1923 by such legendary composers as Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, and Janacek, ISCM World New Music Days are one of the globe’s most significant contemporary music festivals. Audiences from Vancouver and across Canada will join more than 150 international new music professionals to hear over 100 new works from around the world.

ISCM2017 will provide an exceptional opportunity to create a legacy for Music on Main, the Canadian League of Composers, Canadian artists, and audiences for 2018 and beyond. ISCM2017 has a separate $1.3 million co-presentation budget. In the summer of 2016, we successfully launched iscm2017.ca and an international Call for Works for ISCM2017 which resulted in over 600 submissions. ISCM World New Music Days 2017 will welcome the world to Vancouver from November 2–8, 2017.