NEW MUSIC CHICAGO (NMC) advocates for the importance of a vital, vibrant music scene in our city and its geographical region. We are a member organization that supports a passionate community through online and in-person services, including a calendar, bi-monthly e-newsletters, social media presence, networking opportunities, professional development, and performances, serving emerging and established artists alike. In 2020, NMC has served 100 members, which include individual artists, student members, as well as organizations and ensembles.
Founded in 2005, NMC has a significant history of presenting and facilitating festivals, series, and one-off programs featuring members’ work. In 2006, NMC organized Sonic Impact, a two-day festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2011, several NMC ensembles collaborated to present Terry Riley’s In C in Millennium Park, followed the next summer by a collaborative performance of John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit, and a collaborative 10th Anniversary Celebration in 2015. In 2016, NMC served as the partner and fiscal sponsor for the Ear Taxi Festival, which united 350+ musicians to offer 54 world premieres over six days of concerts, as well as lectures and sound installations. In 2018 and 2019, NMC sponsored Impromptu Fest, an eight-concert downtown series featuring members, launched the ongoing free, monthly NMC Presents series at the Chicago Cultural Center, and, in 2020, celebrated its 15th anniversary at Epiphany Center for the Arts.
In October 2021, NMC offered a second edition of the Ear Taxi Festival, a citywide, multi-day celebration of new and experimental music featuring approximately 600 Chicago artists in dozens of hours of programming, the vast majority featuring new or recently composed work by Chicago composers and sound artists. Reaching estimated audiences of more than 10,000 through in-person and live-streamed performances, workshops, and receptions.
Now well into its second decade of service, New Music Chicago stands as a unique resource in the U.S., fostering the vital, positive, and cooperative spirit of contemporary classical and experimental music in Chicago.
For more information on on becoming a member of NMC, click here
New Music Chicago does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in admission or access to, or employment in, its programs and activities.
Board of Directors
Xavier Beteta
Nicholas Carlson
Shi-An Costello
Eugenia Jeong (Secretary)
Marc Mellits (Membership Coordinator)
Tricia Park
Marianne Parker (President)
Nick Photinos (Treasurer)
William Jason Raynovich
Amy Wurtz
Ben Zucker (Vice President, Communications Coordinator)