The MusicNOW Festival was founded in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by guitarist and composer, Bryce Dessner

Bryce Dessner

Bryce Dessner is a Brooklyn based composer, guitarist, and curator primarily known as a member of The National. In addition to his work with The National, he is a founding member of Clogs, and the founder of the MusicNOW Festival. Bryce has a master's degree in classical guitar from Yale University...

. Originally held at the Contemporary Arts Center

Contemporary Arts Center

The Contemporary Arts Center is a pioneering contemporary art museum located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art and new media...

, then moved to Memorial Hall, a small historic theater located in the city's historic Over-the-Rhine district. The festival performers have included contemporary music advocates Bang on a Can All-Stars and Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

 as well as indie rock groups such as Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear (band)

Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band, composed of Edward Droste , Daniel Rossen , Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear . The band employs traditional and electronic instruments...

, Dirty Projectors

Dirty Projectors

The Dirty Projectors aka David Longstreth includes Amber Coffman , Angel Deradoorian , Brian McOmber , Nat Baldwin , and Haley Dekle during live performances...

 and The National

The National (band)

The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...

. Two annual elements of the festival have been the inclusion of visual art, including installations by Karl Jensen and new music commissions.

Commissions and Premieres

MusicNOW 2006: Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 41st greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008.Prior to working with Wilco, Kotche released a four-track album...

 and David Cossin collaboration

MusicNOW 2007: Four selections from Enjoy Your Rabbit

Enjoy Your Rabbit

-Track listing:All songs were written by Sufjan Stevens.#"Year of the Asthmatic Cat" – 0:24#"Year of the Monkey" – 4:20#"Year of the Rat" – 8:22#"Year of the Ox" – 4:01#"Year of the Boar" – 3:55#"Year of the Tiger" – 4:24...

by Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...

 were commissioned for string quartet

MusicNOW 2008: Premieres of new work from Nico Muhly

Nico Muhly

Nico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...

 and Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...

.

MusicNOW 2009: New works for Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

 from Richard Reed Parry and Tyondai Braxton

Tyondai Braxton

Tyondai Braxton is an American composer and performer, largely known as the former guitarist/singer of Battles, and as a prominently featured artist on record label Warp Records...

.

MusicNOW 2010: New work for yMusic from Annie Clark, recording artist St. Vincent and a new piece for Nadia Sirota from Evan Ziporyn

Evan Ziporyn

Evan Ziporyn is an American composer of post-minimalist music and music for Balinese gamelans. He plays the clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, and metallophone, borrowing from classical music, avant-garde, and jazz...

MusicNOW 2011: New for for yMusic from Richard Reed Parry.

Performers and Collaborators

MusicNOW 2006: Awadagin Pratt

Awadagin Pratt

- Life :When he was 3 years old, Pratt moved with his parents to Normal, Illinois, where Illinois State University had offered his mother a position as a professor of social work and his Sierra Leone-born father, Theodore, one as a physics professor...

, Clogs

Clogs (band)

Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia's Padma Newsome. Their existence predates Dessner's other band The National...

, The Books

The Books

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech...

, CelloProject, Kyaw Kyaw Naing

Kyaw Kyaw Naing

Kyaw Kyaw Naing is a modern Burmese traditional musician who is trying to bring this music to the world stage. He is a master of the pat waing or saing waing, a traditional Burmese drum-circle instrument; the player sits in the middle of a horseshoe-shaped shell made of elaborately carved wood...

, Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 41st greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008.Prior to working with Wilco, Kotche released a four-track album...

 and David Cossin, Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.In late 2003, they recorded their first album, at the same time and in the same studio that Arcade Fire recorded Funeral. However, Arcade Fire's popularity was just beginning to break when they asked Bell Orchestre to...

, Erik Friedlander

Erik Friedlander

Erik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City.A veteran of NYC's experimental downtown scene, Friedlander has worked in many contexts, but is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with saxophonist/composer John Zorn...

MusicNOW 2007: Pedro Soler, Clogs

Clogs (band)

Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia's Padma Newsome. Their existence predates Dessner's other band The National...

, David Cossin, Amiina

Amiina

Amiina is an Icelandic band composed of Hildur Ársælsdóttir , Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir , Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir , and Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir . They frequently perform live and in the studio along with Sigur Rós...

, My Brightest Diamond

My Brightest Diamond

My Brightest Diamond is the project of singer–songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden. The band has released two studio albums, 2006's Bring Me the Workhorse and 2008's A Thousand Shark's Teeth, along with a remix album Tear It Down and a download-only release through iTunes...

, Irena & Vojtech Havel, Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...

MusicNOW 2008: Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

, Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear (band)

Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band, composed of Edward Droste , Daniel Rossen , Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear . The band employs traditional and electronic instruments...

, The Dirty Projectors, Ben Verdery, Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.- Early life and the Bowl of Fire :...

, Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche

Glenn Kotche is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 41st greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008.Prior to working with Wilco, Kotche released a four-track album...

MusicNOW 2009: Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

, The Books

The Books

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech...

, Toumani Diabaté

Toumani Diabaté

Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...

MusicNOW 2010: Robin Pecknold

Robin Pecknold

Robin Noel Pecknold is an American singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for the band Fleet Foxes.-Biography:He formed Fleet Foxes with guitarist and friend Skyler Skjelset while the two were at school...

, Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California.- Early life :Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California...

, yMusic, St. Vincent, Colin Stetson

Colin Stetson

Colin Stetson, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and currently based in Montreal, Quebec, is a bass saxophone player and touring member of Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre and Bon Iver...

, Justin Vernon

MusicNOW 2011: Shara Worden

Shara Worden

Shara Worden is the lead singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond. She was previously a backup vocalist for Sufjan Stevens and the frontwoman of Awry.-Life:...

, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Hecker

Tim Hecker

Tim Hecker is an electronic musician and sound artist based in Montreal, Canada. Hecker previously recorded under the moniker Jetone, but has become better known internationally for his ambient recordings released through Kranky, Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Force Inc, Staalplaat, and Fat Cat under his...

, Little Scream, Owen Pallett

Owen Pallett

Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....

, Megafaun

Megafaun

Megafaun is an American psych-folk band based in Durham, North Carolina.-History:Brothers Brad Cook and Phil Cook are from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and Joe Westerlund is from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They first met at the H.O.R.D.E. festival in 1997, and played together in various combinations,...

, Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten is an American singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York City.Her songs were described by the music website Pitchfork Media as having "some echoes of folk tradition but generally in a more personal, introspective space." NPR Music asserts: "Her songs are heartfelt without being...

, The National

The National (band)

The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...

External links

• (official site) of the MusicNOW Festival
• (official site) MusicNOW Festival retrospective
• film from the 2007 MusicNOW Festival
• http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/kronos-quartet-toumani-diabate-headline-cincinnatis-musicnow-festival2009 headliners from Nonesuch Records
  Nonesuch Records
  Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
  
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• 2008 local preview from Soapbox