MusicNOW is a contemporary music and arts festival founded in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Chamber Music Cincinnati. President Audrey Luna and guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner curated this inaugural season. It was originally held at the Contemporary Arts Center and later moved to Memorial Hall, a small historic theater located in the city's historic Over-the-Rhine district. Festival performers have included contemporary music advocates Bang on a Can All-Stars and Kronos Quartet as well as indie rock groups such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and The National. Two annual elements of the festival have been the inclusion of visual art, including installations by Karl Jensen, and new music commissions. In 2014, MusicNOW became part of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's annual subscription season. This inclusion ceased in 2018, when MusicNOW expanded to be held in association with Homecoming, a new music festival curated and headlined by The National, essentially merging the two festivals into an expansive city-wide event, though the two festivals are ticketed separately. After a break in 2019, MusicNOW is returning, and will take place on 8-10 May 2020.
The 2007 festival took place April 5-7 and featured Amiina, My Brightest Diamond, Pedro Soler, Clogs, David Cossin, Amiina, Irena & Vojtech Havel, Sufjan Stevens Vincent Moon documented performances from the 2007 festival for a take-away show on the French website La Blogothèque in a 30 minute video special.
2008 edition
In 2008, Andrew Bird, fresh from recording, shared many of the songs from his recent release. The first evening of festival featured world premieres from Doveman and Aaron Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens. Additional performances by Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bill Frisell, Grizzly Bear, The Dirty Projectors, Ben Verdery, and Glenn Kotche.
2009 edition
For 2009, the Kronos Quartet was in residence. Acclaimed kora player, Toumani Diabate performed a solo concert at the Cincinnati Zoo. The Books made a return appearance previewing material from their 2010 release. Festival commissions included two pieces for the Kronos Quartet, one from Richard Reed Parry and one from Tyondai Braxton.
In its eighth year, the MusicNOW Festival featured performances from Glen Hansard, Tinariwen and Steve Reich among others. It also featured artwork by Cincinnati-born artists Nathlie Provosty and Jessie Henson.
MusicNOW celebrated its decennial with five nights of music spread throughout three venues. Performers included Lone BellowPerfume Genius, Mina Tindle, The National, and Will Butler. This year also celebrated the release of a ten-year compilation , featuring a decade of music performed at the festival.
2016 edition
In its eleventh year, MusicNOW Festival featured Punch Brothers, Sam Amidon, Luluc and Chris Thile, as well as performances by Kronos Quartet, Musical America Artist of the Year Jenny Koh, and Composer-in-Residence and Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Wolfe. The weekend also included a special world premiere full orchestra version of Bryce Dessner’s Aheym, performed by the CSO and Kronos Quartet, as well as the U.S. premiere of Dessner’s Réponse Lutoslawski, performed by the CSO.
2017 edition
In its twelfth year, MusicNOW Festival featured Bob Weir and the Campfire Band, Lisa Hannigan, and LNZNDRF. In collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the festival presented the acclaimed Play by Grawemeyer Award winning composer Andrew Norman, as well as the Pulitzer shortlisted The Banister Chronicles performed and composed by Timo Andres. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto performed György Ligeti's violin concerto as well as two pre show concerts. The orchestra was conducted by Matthias Pintscher, also performed Aerialty composed by Anna S Þorvaldsdóttir and Idyl by Pintscher and accompanied Lisa Hannigan with new orchestrations written by Timo Andres, Bryce Dessner and André_de_Ridder.
