Think “The Voice” for classical composers.
THE VOTING QUESTION:
“Do you want to hear it AGAIN?”
Classical will come back to life when LOTS of composers write LOTS
of short pieces that LOTS of people want to hear LOTS of times.
OUR STORY
We announced THE EAR in composerland in MAY 2015.
1100 composers immediately signed up.
EAR1 – OCT 2015
THE EAR put on its first show.
A packed house encored seven out of nine pieces.
Unprompted, strangers formed pockets to discuss their reactions.
EAR2 – FEB 2016
The owner of Le Poisson Rouge,
the underground classical venue in the Village,
invited us to perform.
We experimented with our first comedy bits.
The audience loved it.
EAR3 – NOV 2017
Chopin (piano) and U2 (guitar+singer) faced each other
in a duel of melodies. (It was a draw.)
We expanded from piano-only to piano-or-string 4tet.
EAR4 + EAR5 – FALL 2018
This was a big RAMP UP.
A comedian warmed up the crowd.
A panel of hilarious know-nothings commented between pieces.
(People yelled “Panel!” when I almost forgot them once.)
A jazz pianist, Davis Whitfield, performed
an improvisation on the piece that won EAR4.
We partnered with string orchestra, Shattered Glass.
Composers flew in from all over the world.
The crowd was both young and old, all having a great time together.
CROWD RESPONSE
MUSIC
winner of EAR5
TEAM
ALF BISHAI
founder/artistic director
Composer, music director/professor in New York for twenty years, serial out-of-the-boxist, totally obsessed with rebooting classical.
DANIELA HOLBAN
director of operations
Art curator, non-profit executive. Named one of Brooklyn’s 50 Most Fascinating People of 2023 by Brooklyn Magazine. Brooklyn Arts Council fundee.
PROSPECTIVE PARTNERS
ENSEMBLES + SOLOISTS
Contact us for more info about a possible collaboration!
COMPOSERS
Join our mailing list HERE.