In the Spring of 2000, Joshua Fineberg, Fred Lerdahl, Jeffrey Milarsky, and Tristan Murail, with the support of Columbia University’s Alice M. Ditson Fund and Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, created a group called the Columbia Sinfonietta and put on a season of concerts called “New Music for a New Century” at Merkin Concert Hall and Weill Recital Hall. These were special concerts. The New York Times, which rarely covers the early concerts of a new ensemble, wrote the above quotes about our very first concert. It was clear that as remarkable and dynamic as the new music scene in New York has always been, something was missing. For the last thirty years, European groups such as the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Ensemble Modern, and the London Sinfonietta have commissioned and performed works by composers around the world. This music ranges from solo works to compositions involving twenty or more musicians. Such ensembles have also proved an ideal medium for exploring innovative instrumental combinations and pairing traditional instruments with electronics. Many of the works written for and championed by these ensembles have become an essential part of the contemporary repertoire. However, often these works have not been performed in America, nor have American composers often had the opportunity to compose for sinfonietta-sized forces.

After that first season, Fineberg moved to Cambridge to begin his appointment at Harvard and Milarsky moved to Columbia. During the next few years, Columbia collaborated with a previously established ensemble for its contemporary music concerts. By the Spring of 2004, however, Milarsky, Fineberg, and Columbia all reached the conclusion that the creation of a new structure would be the best way to produce seasons of extraordinary music-making year after year.

With seed support from the Ditson and Reiner funds, the Columbia Sinfonietta is presenting its third mini-season Spring 2007, while discussions are ongoing with a number of foundations and institutions about a more ambitious future. The core players of the renewed group include many of the finest instrumentalists in New York:

Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Robert Ingliss, oboe
Alan Kay, clarinet
Marc Goldberg, bassoon
Stewart Rose, French horn
Tom Kolor, percussion
Pablo Rieppi, percussion
Stephen Gosling, piano
June Han, harp
Erica Kiesewetter, violin
Dan Panner, viola
Wendy Sutter, cello

Jeffrey Milarsky is the group’s conductor, Music Director and Co-Artistic Director.