The Next Festival of Emerging Artists’
10th Anniversary Season Wrap Up
The 2023 Next Festival of Emerging Artists was a two-week experience consisting of performances, individual lessons, coachings, and workshops for 30 participating string Fellows, composers, choreographers, and dancers.
With residencies and performances in upstate New York (PS21/Performance Spaces for the 21st Century) and New York City (American Composers Orchestra’s SONiC Festival), Fellows collaborated with some of today’s most exciting composers, performed a program of all world premieres, participated in workshops and recording sessions of new works, and explored multi-disciplinary collaboration and improvisation. As part of our commitment to supporting the artists of tomorrow, the program is, and always has been “pay-what-you-can.”
The 2023 Next Festival of Emerging Artists celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a program of world premieres for string orchestra, including by 2023 Guest Artist and guitarist/composer Yvette Young, 2022 Pulitzer-Finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer/violinist (and 2022 Festival alum) Che Buford, saxophonist/composer Matthew Evan Taylor, and Peter Askim (The Next Festival’s Artistic Director).
As part of our 2023 Season, The Next Festival was an American Composers Orchestra EarShot Partner Orchestra, supporting emerging composers and the creation of new music and will be presented by ACO as part of its 2023 SONiC Festival in New York City.
The Festival will be going into the recording studio in early 2024 to make the World Premiere recording of Yvette Young’s music. Join us on the journey by donating to our fundraiser here. Proceeds will pay for 2023 Fellows to reunite and make this amazing music available to the whole world!
Stay tuned for news about our 2024 Season soon! | more info
Support Yvette Young’s World Premiere Recording
Yvette Young’s 3 Pieces for Strings and Guitar perfectly fuses her classical music and alt rock history. Support the world premiere recording with our String Orchestra through GoFundMe!
Your contribution will cover fees, lodging, flights, and other travel expenses for 18 string players. Last June, Next Fest commissioned and premiered Yvette’s score (her first for orchestra) to packed houses and standing ovations with PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century and American Composers Orchestra.
Donate to our GoFundMe to help us re-hire our 2023 Performance Fellows and fund a studio recording of what we performed together so you can listen to it in high quality forever. This is an independent endeavor with no label support. Your tax-deductible donations truly make the difference and we thank you!
Fund the Future!
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists is designed to cultivate the next generation of 360° artists by focusing not only on contemporary music, but also on entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and developing artist citizens. The Festival was founded on the idea that deserving artists can participate regardless of financial circumstances and we offer a unique “pay-what-you-can” model. Your support will help us fund the future of this amazing opportunity for young artists. Learn more!
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With Gracious Support From


Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University • The Amphion Foundation • The Williamson Foundation • The Heineman Foundation