Past
Grantees

Rafiq Bhatia, New York City, received $20,000 to compose new work for his electroacoustic trio. He also plans to advance his compositional language through live performance, develop new solo material that deepens the integration of his work as a composer-performer and sound artist; and purchase hardware and acoustical treatments to assist with these activities.

Stephanie Griffin, New York City, received $20,000 to support her research with composers and instrumentalists and work on several new compositions. She will complete her composition of The Lost String Quartet, an original theatrical string quartet performance piece based on N.M. Bodecker’s delightful illustrated children’s book in collaboration with the Mexican theater director Fernando Villa Proal and experimental instrument builder Michael Evans. She will also finalize her composition and score of Greener Hills, recently commissioned by Daniel Goode and his Flexible Orchestra and begin work on a new graphic score for Walter Ruttmann’s film Lichtspiel Op. 1.

William Johnson, Minnesota, received $20,000 to support the creation two new works: W/LLS, a solo voice and electro-acoustic project connecting American spiritual idioms and contemporary sound design and composition; and Dancing Plague, a sound-based composition for a collaborative theatrical work exploring the Dancing Plague of 1518, a widespread class revolt in Strasbourg that manifested in uncontrollable movement and dancing, and its relevance to America in 2017. Both works are focused on how sound and composition reflect national and transnational constructions of “spirit” and “spirituality” while engaging the contemporary notion of America’s current “spiritual blackout.”

Laura Ortman, New York City, received $20,000 to support the creation of a new collaborative collage, Indigenous New York City Walking Soundtrack, fusing spoken word, song, din, movement, air, whispers and atmosphere, capturing a fluctuating and personal Native American New York experience. She will use the mobile recording unit (MbRU) that she constructed to capture the visceral and atmospheric recordings. Ortman will also travel and perform works from her new solo album My Soul Remainer, recorded by Martin Bis, in the Southwest, California and the East Coast.

Davu Seru, Minnesota, received $20,000 to support the debut recording of works fusing blues, African polyrhythm, and chorale-like arrangements for his new sextet, No Territory Band. Seru will continue development of his work-in-progress Dead King Mother with Zeitgeist Ensemble and compose and present public workshops with Scratch Music group (inspired by Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Music Orchestra) at Studio Z.

Fabian Almazan, New York City, received $20,000 to compose new work for his ensemble Rhizome in a jazz-rooted improvisatory context; travel back to Cuba to collect audio samples and experience traditional, folkloric music from the region of his birth; continue experimenting with ways to run acoustic instruments, such as a grand piano, through audio-processing software; and work with a piano maker to pursue his interest in updating the piano as a modern instrument, adding built-in pick-ups.

Joshua Clausen, Minnesota, received $20,000 to compose new works; do a mentorship with a professional sound engineer to create professional mixes of several compositions as a means of learning how to do this himself; hire musicians and record new chamber works at Minnesota Public Radio's Maude Miller soundstage; and purchase software and hardware tools for recording, mixing and mastering.

Shai Maestro, New York City, received $20,000 to compose and record a new album as a bandleader, expanding his current artistic practice beyond his trio work to include solo piano repertoire and a collaboration between his trio and several vocalists: Master Flamenco singer Rafael de Utrera, Theo Bleckmann, and three members of the Philip Kutev Bulgarian choir: Neli Andreeva, Kalinka Andreeva, and Tanya Parvanova.

Linda May Han Oh, New York City, received $20,000 to focus on her work as a leader and composer, mixing and recording a number of new works with various ensembles; study Korean traditional music, Janggu drumming technique, Rumba/Cuban folk music, and Chinese traditional music/Shuo Chang; and compose music for a new collaborative film project with videographer Bena Otieno Wandei.

Imani Uzuri, New York City, received $20,000 to do research and compose a multi-voice piece with instrumentation focused on the iconography of black womanhood, traveling to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean to research the various altars and cathedrals dedicated to the Black Madonna; further develop and compose a children's musical; and study piano, guitar and Sibelius software to deepen her compositional practice.