Pacific Serenades Receives National Award

Pacific Serenades is proud to announce that it will be receiving a Letter of Distinction from New Music USA, an organization resulting from a recent merger of The American Music Center and Meet the Composer. This honor, which has been awarded annually since 1964, recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the field of contemporary American music.

In a ceremony in New York in May, 2013, Pacific Serenades will join other Letter of Distinction winners Anthony Braxton, John Kander, John Luther Adams, and William Kraft. Previous recipients include George Balanchine, Leonard Bernstein, Joan Tower, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Morton Feldman, Laurie Anderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Michael Tilson Thomas, Virgil Thomson, Joan La Barbara, Randy Weston, the Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, Dawn Upshaw, Jack Beeson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Copland House, William Bolcom and La Monte Young.

The timing of this award could not have been better. Our 27th season, entitled Making Waves, is a celebration of the success that Pacific Serenades has had throughout its impressive 30 year history. By the end of this season, we will have commissioned and premiered a stunning 110 new works. http://pacser.org/v2/premieres/ Many of these works have gone on to be performed by individuals and ensembles both nationally and internationally, disseminating the best of Southern Californian chamber music the world over. Indeed, our work has spread as a ripple across a pond, and our vibrations have truly influenced the currents of contemporary American composition. This award has made this celebration even sweeter, and has solidified our strong belief that music which sings, that touches, that inspires, still matters, today, as always.

Performing standard repertoire alongside our newly commissioned pieces is an essential component to our programming philosophy. We believe that this interesting conversation between our glorious musical past and our own time brings a broad trajectory of chamber music back to the landscape of Southern California, so that you, our audience, may experience firsthand being part of a living tradition. The New Music USA Letter of Distinction is a welcome confirmation that Pacific Serenades and our unique brand of music are an essential and integral part of this rich and vibrant tradition.

For complete information on the New Music USA awards, please click on this link:

https://www.newmusicusa.org/blog/new-music-usa-announces-2013-award-recipients/