Curators
About our Curators
National Sawdust is more than a music venue, it is music, hand-picked by curators, just for you. We don’t use an algorithm to find music for you, we rely on a curation model where master artists in their own genres function as artistic guides by bringing their unique points of view to programming. This program gives curators a platform to advance the field through promoting emerging artists as well as established voices from around the world.
Du Yun
Born and raised in Shanghai, China, currently based in NYC, Du Yun * is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and performance artist. Her music exists at an artistic crossroads of orchestral, chamber music, theatre, opera, orchestral, cabaret, storytelling, pop music, visual arts and noise.
Hailed by The New York Times as a leading figure in China’s new generation of composers, Du Yun’s music is championed by some of today’s finest performing artists, ensembles, orchestras and organizations. Selected commissions include the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, American Composers Orchestra, Berkeley Symphony, Whitney Museum of American Art, Fromm Foundation, Meet the Composer/ Commissioning USA, Chamber Music America, and Shanghai Electronic Music Week. Du Yun’s music has also been presented by Festival d’Avignon (France), Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (The Netherlands), Musica Nova Helinski (Finland), Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music (Norway), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (Germany), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, BAMNextWave, violinist Hilary Hahn, cellist Matt Haimovitz, and flutist Claire Chase, Trinity Wall Street, Festival of New Trumpet, Ecstatic Music Festival, 21c Liederabend, the San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, and many more.
August 28, 2017/by Zan EmersonHailed by The New York Times as a leading figure in China’s new generation of composers, Du Yun’s music is championed by some of today’s finest performing artists, ensembles, orchestras and organizations. Selected commissions include the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, American Composers Orchestra, Berkeley Symphony, Whitney Museum of American Art, Fromm Foundation, Meet the Composer/ Commissioning USA, Chamber Music America, and Shanghai Electronic Music Week. Du Yun’s music has also been presented by Festival d’Avignon (France), Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (The Netherlands), Musica Nova Helinski (Finland), Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music (Norway), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (Germany), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, BAMNextWave, violinist Hilary Hahn, cellist Matt Haimovitz, and flutist Claire Chase, Trinity Wall Street, Festival of New Trumpet, Ecstatic Music Festival, 21c Liederabend, the San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, and many more.
AMOC
The American Modern Opera Company is an opera company on a new model. The company serves as the artistic home for seventeen of the most exciting singers, dancers, and instrumentalists of the rising generation.
July 11, 2018/by beckiDaniel Bernard Roumain
Daniel Bernard Roumain’s (DBR) acclaimed work as a composer and performer spans more than two decades, and he has been commissioned by venerable artists and institutions worldwide.
July 11, 2018/by beckiTania León
Tania León is a Cuban-born composer, conductor, educator and advisor to arts organizations. In 1969 León became a founding member and the first musical director of Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theater of Harlem, establishing its music department, music school, and orchestra.
July 11, 2018/by beckiAdHoc
AdHoc is a Brooklyn-based music publication and events company created by a community of music lovers with a shared ethos: that of building the world you want to see using the materials at your disposal. This season at National Sawdust, we aim to highlight voices pushing contemporary underground music into surprising new shapes, with a focus on femme and non-binary artists.
August 7, 2018/by Zan EmersonKarole Armitage
KAROLE ARMITAGE (AG!D Artistic Director/Founder) of the New York-based Armitage Gone! Dance Company, was rigorously trained in classical ballet. As a professional dancer she performed in Balanchine’s Grand Théâtre de Genève Company and in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Armitage is renowned for pushing boundaries to create contemporary works to engage in philosophical questions about the search for meaning.
August 7, 2018/by Zan EmersonChris Grymes
An eclectic and versatile performer, clarinetist Chris Grymes’ playing has been described as “scintillating in its energy and technique” (The Clarinet), and “eloquent...animated and free of any interpretive self indulgence” (The Strad). Most recently, Mr. Grymes was praised by The New York Times for his “acuity” and The Baltimore Sun for his “admirable technical and expressive strengths”.
September 17, 2018/by Zan EmersonPast Curators
Martha Redbone
Danny Felsenfeld
David Krakauer
Louder Arts- Lynne Procope
Anne-Marie McDermott
Lev ‘Ljova’ Zhurbin
Alex Liposwki
