About the Center for 21st Century Music

The Center for 21st Century Music is built around an idea, not a date. For us, “21st century music” does not simply mean music composed after the year 2000. It asks a larger question: What can music be, and what can it mean within the political, social and cultural conditions of our time?

That question has existed for as long as composers have challenged the musical traditions they inherited.

The idea of “new music” can be traced across centuries of musical history. The “new meters and rhythms” of Timotheus of Miletus in the fourth century BCE challenged the musical aesthetics accepted by thinkers such as Plato. Later generations continued to test established forms and expectations, from the polyphonic experiments of the Notre Dame School to the Second Viennese School and the work of postwar composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono and John Cage.

Across these very different periods, experimentation and tradition have remained closely connected. The “new” does not simply replace what came before it. It questions, transforms and sometimes disrupts tradition from within.

For the Center, “new music” is not defined by what is fashionable. It is music that pushes against established practices and familiar aesthetic expectations.

That can make new music difficult. It may resist easy listening or challenge the assumptions we bring to a performance. But difficulty can also create an opportunity to listen differently, question what we expect from music and think more deeply about the conditions of our own lives.

This understanding of the “new” shapes the Center’s programming. Our performances place music from different centuries in conversation, revealing connections between experimentation, tradition and resistance that extend far beyond conventional historical categories.

Past programs have included Ars Nova motets from the late 14th century, Ockeghem’s Missa Prolationum, Beethoven’s late quartets and the late canons of J. S. Bach. Programs have also brought works into unexpected dialogue, pairing Brahms’ Op. 114 with Helmut Lachenmann’s Allegro Sostenuto and Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor with Morton Feldman’s Piano and String Quartet and Iannis Xenakis’ Akea.

Other programming has explored music by Russian Futurists such as Nikolai Roslavets alongside contemporary works including Chaya Czernowin’s Immaterial and Ming Tsao’s Refuse Collection. Upcoming performances continue that exploration with works including Marta Gentilucci’s and calm…, Pierluigi Billone’s Sgorgo N and Steven Takasugi’s Sideshow.

Together, these works demonstrate that the spirit of experimentation is not confined to one period or style. It is part of a continuing musical tradition of questioning, discovery and change.

At the Center for 21st Century Music, we create space for that tradition to continue and for music to challenge us to listen, question and think in new ways.

• June in Buffalo brings emerging composers together with established artists for performances, workshops, rehearsals and exchanges centered on contemporary composition.
• Slee Sinfonietta, the Center’s resident professional chamber ensemble, performs contemporary repertoire and works with composers to bring new music to the stage.
• The Baird Guest Lecture Series brings composers, scholars and other leading voices to UB to share their work, ideas and perspectives with students and the wider community.
• Experimental Intermedia Space supports spatial sound, multichannel audio and interdisciplinary collaboration across music, digital media and performance. The space features an 18-channel Meyer audio system and a Nadia processor.

Through these programs and resources, the Center creates space for experimentation, collaboration and artistic risk-taking while maintaining the highest standards of performance and scholarship.

The Center brings leading composers, performers, conductors and ensembles to UB, creating opportunities for artistic exchange and collaboration.

Guest conductors and collaborators have included James Baker, Brad Lubman, Matthias Pintscher, Gil Rose, Harvey Sollberger, Robert Treviño and Charles Wuorinen.

Affiliated ensembles such as Arditti Quartet, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Linea, SIGNAL, Talea Ensemble, the Neue Vocalsolisten, among others.

The Center’s work extends beyond campus through collaborations with arts organizations and venues across Western New York.

Community partners have included:

• A Musical Feast – presenting contemporary and classical music alongside poetry and dance
• Burchfield Penney Art Center – collaborating on performances connecting music with art and creative practice
• Genkin Philharmonic – a UB-founded ensemble bringing together rock, jazz and contemporary composition
• Pausa Art House – a Buffalo venue presenting musicians and artists in an intimate performance setting
• Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center – presenting experimental music and interdisciplinary work in one of Buffalo’s leading contemporary arts spaces

These partnerships connect the Center’s work with Buffalo’s broader artistic community and create new settings for experiencing contemporary music.

Performances, residencies and opportunities for emerging composers are made possible through the generosity of donors, foundations and friends of the Center.

Supporters have included the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Amphion Foundation, BMI Foundation, Cameron Baird Foundation and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Your support helps the Center continue bringing artists together, producing ambitious new work and creating opportunities for the next generation of composers and performers.