Sacramento State will host the 39th annual Festival of New American Music from Nov. 4 to 13 with each day consisting of free concerts, workshops and discussions throughout the campus.
According to the School of Music, FeNAM offers a way for genres like jazz, classical and experimental music to be learned and experienced firsthand by music lovers.
The festival will officially kick off its jam-packed schedule on Friday, Nov. 4 with a Gala Concert in Capistrano Hall featuring performers such as percussion group Sandbox Percussion, Bay Area-based septet Earplay and bassoonist Paul Harper.
The following eight days will include performances from the university’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble on Nov. 6, New Music Ensemble on Nov. 8, Manhattan-based Cassatt String Quartet on Nov. 9 and many more.
A number of composers like Jonny Allen, Ken Ueno and Vivian Fung will give pre-concert talks during the festival. Pianist Sarah Cahill will deliver the keynote address on Nov. 7, and perform in a peace and war inspired concert on Nov. 13.
This year will mark Cahill’s third time at FeNAM, but her first time being the festival’s keynote speaker.
FeNAM’s artistic director Steven Bloomberg said that Cahill embodies what it means to be a new American music performer and added that many composers around the nation seek to collaborate with the pianist.
“A lot of well-known composers have written pieces specifically for her or have had music by them performed by her,” Bloomberg said. “She’s a very important figure in the whole contemporary music scene.”
Another notable name in the lineup is Sandbox Percussion, a leading national contemporary percussion chamber music group making their debut at FeNAM this year. Victor Caccese, a member of the ensemble, said that the festival will be a grand opportunity to play a type of unique music that he is so passionate about.
“Percussion chamber music is a fairly new kind of music making,” Caccese said. “The work we do now commissioning and composing is so important for developing our repertoire. We often feel we’re taking on the prominence of ensembles like string quartets and pianos trios. Having the opportunity to do that at FeNAM is an honor.”
Paul Towber, a junior music major, said that attendees will see a level of complexity of the music performed during FeNAM, as well as how exciting it is to have a festival of this caliber being hosted here at Sac State.
“There’s a bit of leeway with what people mean when they say ‘new music,’ but some things that are pretty universal are the composers’ intentions toward creating music that has a less common sound to it than what you’d typically hear on the radio (or in) popular media,” Towber said.
Despite the numerous prominent artists from the country over gathered in one place, Towber said that performances from campus music faculty are always his favorites to watch. For him, it is amusing and entertaining to hear the mind of his professors displayed in front of an audience at an event like FeNAM.
“The trick to listening to new music is having an open mind and letting the sound take you on a journey that maybe your ears have never been on before,” Towber said. “It can be a very interesting experience and, as a composer, can inspire your future works to expand beyond the common musical vocabulary.”
