American Composers Orchestra Honors BMI Foundation with Creative Catalyst Award

The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) named BMI Foundation, Inc. a 2024 Creative Catalyst honoree at their third annual Gala and Creative Catalyst Awards in New York City on Tuesday, October 15. The Creative Catalyst Awards honor the contributions of visionary leaders who exemplify the ACO’s core values of artistry, creativity, community and equity. The night, which had the theme of “Raise up!”, also honored violinist and composer Regina Carter and ‍Verve Group Emeritus Creative Director and VP Hollis King.

Upon receiving the award, BMI Foundation President Deirdre Chadwick shared, “Receiving this particular award from the American Composers Orchestra is especially meaningful as our missions are so aligned. Like ACO, we believe at the Foundation that a great composer can come from anywhere. And our primary responsibility as artistic administrators is to ensure that no voices are lost. Thank you, ACO, for this wonderful honor; we are proud to call you a partner in this work.”

Founded in 1977, The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is a national discovery and development pipeline for new orchestral music, focused on bringing the full spectrum of American music to orchestral stages, providing a gateway to the orchestral composition and performance process, and amplifying the expressive power of orchestral music to enable a vibrant future for all Americans. To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including over 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. Recent and notable commissioned composers include John Luther Adams, Andy Akiho, Clarice Assad, Carlos Bandera, Courtney Bryan, Valerie Coleman, Dai Wei, Du Yun, inti figgis-vizueta, Marcus Gilmore, Vijay Iyer, Yvette Janine Jackson, Joan La Barbara, Steve Lehman, Tania León, Paula Matthusen, Trevor New, Mendi + Keith Obadike, Ellen Reid, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Carlos Simon, Henry Threadgill, and many more.

The 2024 Gala and Creative Catalyst Awards were co-chaired by Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Melin Tan-Geller, MD, and Lana Turner. The night featured performances by Laura Ortman, Kebra-Seyoun Charles, Claudia Acuña, Harlem Samba and the Sam Bardfeld Trio. Proceeds from the gala support ACO’s full suite of programs, including Earshot Readings, which provide emerging composers the opportunity to hear their scores rehearsed and performed by top orchestras across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; EarShot CoLABoratory Fellowships, a platform for composers whose work is experimental and/or rooted in musical traditions underrepresented in the orchestral repertoire; and Sonic Spark Lab, programs that offer musical training and composing instruction to more than 500 middle school to college-age students in New York City and Detroit.