Billy Childs
Jessie Montgomery
Sergio A. Mims forwards this release:
New York, NY, June 27, 2016—Chamber Music America (CMA) today announced the appointment of pianist and composer Billy Childs
as president of its board of directors, effective July 1. Childs is the
organization’s ninth board president, and the first jazz musician
elected to the position. The CMA board of directors unanimously approved
his first three-year term at its June 6th meeting.
Childs’ large and varied body of work defies easy categorization.
Though principally a jazz artist, he holds a degree in classical
composition and has composed extensively for classical chamber ensembles
and orchestras. His widely acclaimed Jazz-Chamber Ensemble—for which he
received a commissioning grant from CMA in 2006—influentially merged
contemporary jazz idioms with the instrumentation and orchestration of a
traditional chamber ensemble.
As a pianist, Childs has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming,
Chick Corea, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, Dave
Holland, and Ron Carter, among many others.
His commissions include works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Kronos Quartet, Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra, American Brass Quintet, Ying Quartet, and Dorian
Wind Quintet.
Over his career, Childs has received countless accolades, including
four Grammy Awards (and a total of 13 nominations), a Guggenheim
Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and an American
Academy of Arts and Letters Award.
“We’re so pleased to welcome Billy to this important leadership role
at CMA,” said CEO Margaret M. Lioi. “His vision for the chamber music
field reflects the breadth of his own creative work as well as his
experience and awareness of the challenges that face touring artists and
ensembles. He epitomizes the vitality and innovation that characterize
the art form, and his commitment to CMA and its work will help us to
lead as well as to serve the field.”
Childs succeeds outgoing board president Andrew Appel, who began his
term in 2010, and has served on CMA’s board in various capacities over
the course of the last 16 years. Appel is a harpsichordist,
fortepianist, and artistic director of The Four Nations Ensemble.
Also joining CMA’s Board of Directors on July 1 are: Aloysia Friedmann, violinist/violist and artistic director of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival; violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery; pianist and composer Michele Rosewoman; Kathie Lynne Stewart, principal flutist of Apollo’s Fire; Ruth Waalkes, executive director of Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center; and John Zion, managing director of Melvin Kaplan, Inc.
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