The FIU New Music Ensemble

Founded in the fall of 1987 by Orlando Jacinto Garcia, the FIU New Music Ensemble specializes in the performance of contemporary chamber, experimental and electronic music with an emphasis in the music of the last 50 years. The ensemble’s instrumentation changes from semester to semester allowing for the presentation of a variety of repertoire.  Performances include those on campus each semester as well as those in the community at galleries, libraries and other universities/colleges.  The ensemble includes some of the best student performers in the FIU School of Music and has been featured at the Subtropics Music Festival, The Society of Composers National and Regional Conferences, the National Conference of the College Music Society, the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Stetson University, Miami Dade Community College, among others. To date the ensemble has presented music by numerous composers representing a wide range of 20th and 21st century aesthetics.

The NODUS Ensemble

Initiated by faculty composer Orlando Jacinto García, NODUS is the contemporary professional chamber music ensemble in residence at Florida International University's School of Music. Specializing in the cutting edge Art music of our time, the makeup of the ensemble varies for each concert depending on the works being presented. The ensemble’s repertoire includes recent music by composers from around the world as well as works written specifically for the ensemble. In addition, selected works by advanced FIU composition students are included from time to time.

NODUS debut at the FIU Festival of the Arts in November 1998 and shortly thereafter was featured at the January 1999 New Music Miami Festival. Subsequent performances have included the 1999, 2000, and 2001 FIU Music Festival, the 2001 Music of the Americas Festival, the 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 New Music Miami ISCM Festival, the 2004 International Computer Music Conference, and numerous other concerts held at a variety of South Florida venues over the past several seasons.

The ensemble has been featured at the Norton Museum, Wertheim Performing Arts Center, the Wolfsonian, Spanish Cultural Center, Miami Art Central, among other performing spaces in the region. The musicians in NODUS include internationally acclaimed performers, flutist Elissa Lakofsky, clarinetist Paul Green, saxophonist Roby George, pianists Jose Lopez and Jennifer Snyder, percussionist Michael Launius, violinist Saul Bitran, violist Laura Wilcox, cellist Phillip Lakofsky, contrabassist Luis Gomez Imbert, sopranos Michelle Cohen and Karen Neal, tenor Robert Dundas, among others.

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The New Music Miami Festival

(formerly the May in Miami Music Festival)

Initiated in the May of 1993, the May in Miami Festival has provided opportunities for young composers from around the world to attend master classes with internationally renowned composers while hearing their and the master artists works performed by members of the New World Symphony Orchestra, international and national guest performers, the Miami String Quartet, and other FIU faculty artists.  Master composers featured in the past have included Jonathan Kramer, Earle Brown, Morton Subotnick, Joan LaBarbara, Tania Leon, Donald Martino, Pauline Oliveros, Bernard Rands, George Crumb, Olly Wilson, Tomas Marco, Lukas Foss, Mario Lavista, and Donald Erb, as well as FIU faculty composers Orlando Jacinto Garcia and Fredrick Kaufman. 

In the fall of 1997 the festival was been renamed the New Music Miami Festival to allow the flexibility of presenting the festival at different times of the year.  The 1997 festival was presented simultaneously with the Forum of Composers from the Caribbean held at FIU, providing a unique opportunity for the participating composers to hear the work of the composers from this part of the world.  The 1999 Festival was presented in January and featured the Italian virtuoso ensemble Music 2000 and guest composers Donald Erb and Bernard Rands.  The 2000 New Music Miami Festival was realized in February and featured guest composers Charles Dodge and Chinary Ung, the Duo Contemporain from Holland and the Maya Beiser Steven Schick Project as well as FIU faculty artists and composers.

Beginning in 2002 the festival format changed and the festival was renamed New Music Miami ISCM festival. The change in format was realized to allow more opportunities for FIU students to interact with participants in the festival increasing the number of established composers attending the festival. The change in name reflects FIU’s involvement as an associated chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music based in Holland. This international organization started by composers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Webern, Bartok, among others is the most important international organization for the presentation of new music.  Held in April of each year the New Music Miami ISCM festival includes the presentation of music by composers from around the world performed by first class performers from the US and abroad.  Many of the composers and performers participating in the festival present master classes and other related events for our students. The 2002 festival focused on chamber and electronic music, the 2003 on music for strings, the 2004 music for winds, and in 2005 keyboards were featured.  In 2006 the festival once again featured mixed chamber and solo works as well as the FIU Symphony Orchestra. The 2007 Festival included the FIU Wind Ensemble and focused on music for winds and percussion. Each year the festival has included the participation of over 30 composers and performers from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the US. For more information about the New Music Miami ISCM Festival please visit the FIU School of Music web page.

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