The New World Symphony has gained an international reputation for the quality and style of its multifaceted performances. Under the artistic direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the New World Symphony regularly performs to sold-out halls at the New World Center in Miami Beach and the Knight Concert Hall at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. The New World Symphony fellowship program consists of an in-depth course of performance and instructional activities designed to expand the musical and professional horizons of NWS Fellows. In the last 24 years, more than 850 musicians have participated in the fellowship program. To date, 90% of NWS alumni have embarked on careers in music, the large majority in full-time orchestra positions. The New World Symphony's 2013-2014 academic program season will begin in early September 2013 and extend until early May 2014. NWS is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music.
The fellowship program places major emphasis on the study, rehearsal and performance of the orchestral literature, ranging from the earliest works composed for orchestra to works commissioned for world premiere by the New World Symphony. Under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and leading guest conductors, NWS presents a full season of orchestral performances at the New World Center in Miami Beach and the Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. In addition, NWS holds frequent reading sessions of major orchestral repertoire to provide its Fellows with additional exposure to this literature.
An intensive four-day audition preparation seminar, involving visiting coaches from major orchestras, is held each year. This seminar consists of a series of audition training exercises and private audition coaching, as well as a panel discussion of the audition process from the perspective of the orchestra audition committee. In addition, Fellows organize monthly mock auditions intended to replicate the conditions of professional orchestra auditions, with the occasional participation of guest conductors and coaches. To assist Fellows in achieving optimal performance in audition and performance settings, NWS presents an annual series of workshops with psychologists Dr. Don Greene and Dr. Noa Kageyama. Their groundbreaking work with NWS Fellows includes individual training and group exercises.
NWS annually presents a week-long Baroque music project with diverse programs of orchestral, chamber, vocal and dance music, offering NWS Fellows the opportunity for in-depth study of Baroque performance practice with renowned period-practice specialists. These have included Ton Koopman, Bernard Labadie and Nicholas McGegan.
NWS Fellows are afforded multiple opportunities to study and perform chamber music under the guidance of Michael Linville, Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music Activities. Among these are a season-long series of performances by NWS Fellows together with leading chamber music artists. Chamber music activities also include the innovative Musical Xchange series, which serves as a vehicle for the development of public speaking and stage presence skills. At these casual, somewhat improvisatory events musicians speak informally from the stage, and lighting, audio and video effects and props are often used to add immediacy and atmosphere. Musical Xchanges offer a variety of solo and small ensemble repertoire, and Fellows work with a drama coach or stage director in creating and developing their presentations. Musicians' Forums afford NWS Fellows valuable experience in concert promotion and production. An exciting part of the South Beach scene, Musicians' Forums programs have included solo, chamber, and chamber orchestra repertoire, as well as Fellows' own jazz, rock and pop compositions.
Training for community outreach is an essential part of the NWS program. Activities come in the form of professional development seminars, theoretical and practical training sessions, and a range of real-life experiences such as mentoring in local schools, free concerts in community centers and more, providing opportunities to communicate and connect musically with a diverse audience, as well as to establish direct artist-to-audience connections while sharpening presentation, speaking and teaching skills.
Each season, NWS Fellows take the spotlight performing as soloists in two types of programs. Winners of NWS’ annual concerto competition perform center stage with the orchestra in one of two Concerto Showcase programs. Fellows may also compete for a chance to perform a recital in the Solo Spotlight series. Taking place in the New World Center’s SunTrust Pavilion, these intimate presentations allow Fellows to conceive and design their own content and structure.
In addition to the frequent presentation of 20th- and 21st-century music on chamber and orchestral programs, a series of three performances are dedicated exclusively to contemporary repertoire for orchestra and ensembles of varying size. Conductors and composers who have led these concerts include John Adams, Thomas Adès, Reinbert de Leeuw, HK Gruber, and Oliver Knussen. Guest composers who have worked with NWS include Louis Andreissen, Henri Dutilleux, John Harbison, Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, Steven Mackey, Kevin Puts, Steve Reich, Joan Tower and Dan Welcher.
The New World Symphony has performed around the world, appearing on tour in such prestigious venues as New York's Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, London's Barbican Centre, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Paris' Opéra Comique, Bastille Opera and Cité de la Musique, Rome’s Santa Cecilia and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Such tours accustom NWS musicians to maintaining peak levels of performance in the face of intensive travel and performance schedules, and are designed to include vital training components.
The New World Symphony has pioneered the use of Internet2, an advanced broadband technology, in the field of arts education. Musicians give and receive lessons, work with composers, and share musical insights with specialists in related fields through this real-time, digitally brilliant medium.
Each season approximately 100 instrumental coaches visit NWS in brief instructional residencies, offering an intensive schedule of master classes and private lessons. In addition, these coaches regularly participate in the preparation of performance repertoire, lead sectional rehearsals, coach within ensemble settings, and play side-by-side with NWS Fellows in rehearsal. On occasion, a team of principal players from a top-rank professional orchestra participates in a coaching residency, lending a cohesive approach to the development of ensemble and musical style.
The NWS fellowship program encompasses not only a wide range of musical experience but explores issues of concern to Fellows in all aspects of their developing professional lives. Seminars and workshops address an array of issues in career and personal development, while roundtable discussions offer insider perspectives of the music world from critics, orchestra managers, record company executives and other industry leaders. In addition NWS’ Dean, Ayden Adler, is available to advise Fellows on issues relating to their professional development, as are NWS' visiting coaches.
The recording studio is an important component of professional orchestral life, and NWS Fellows gain invaluable exposure to the challenges and demands of the medium. The New World Symphony has produced a catalog of eight recordings for the BMG Classics, London/Argo, and CRI labels, receiving a Grammy nomination for Tangazo, Music of Latin America. NWS Fellows also gain experience in appearing before television cameras in both performance and interviews. In addition to such projects as the PBS telecast Beethoven Alive!, NWS has been profiled by CBS’s Sunday Morning and London's South Bank Show, and has appeared with pop star Gloria Estefan in a special for Univision. NWS Fellows have also been featured on CNN's Showbiz Today, NBC's Today Show, and on John Adams’ profile in The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. With the opening of the New World Center, WALLCAST™ concerts are broadcast on the exterior of our building allowing our audience to experience select events throughout the season at Miami Beach SoundScape through a striking use of visual and audio technology on a soaring, 7,000-square-foot projection wall.
Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Andreas Delfs, Stéphane Denève, Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Zdenĕk Mácal, Sir Neville Marriner, Alasdair Neale, John Nelson, Sir Roger Norrington, Peter Oundjian, David Robertson, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Maximiano Valdes, Osmo Vänskä, Hans Vonk, and Mark Wigglesworth
New World Symphony fellowships are awarded on a season-to-season basis for up to three seasons. The package of fellowship benefits outlined below is offered to allow Fellows to fully benefit from the extensive array of educational and performance activities offered by NWS. The NWS fellowship program is in no way to be considered as professional employment. The benefits described are current as of the printing of this brochure and are subject to change.
NWS Fellows receive a living allowance, referred to as a stipend, during the NWS academic program season. The weekly stipend is intended to cover basic living expenses aside from the NWS-provided housing. All Fellows receive a weekly stipend of $450. Fellows who join NWS after the beginning of the season receive a stipend from their first day of participation in the program.
New Fellows receive a one-time travel grant of $300. This grant is intended to assist new fellows with their relocation expenses.
The New World Symphony owns and operates a complex of residences in Miami Beach. These beautifully appointed apartments serve as housing for NWS Fellows. A large furnished studio or one-bedroom apartment with central air-conditioning, private bath, kitchen facilities, and private washer/dryer is provided to each Fellow. The residences are located less than a mile from both the beach and the New World Center. The complex features a spacious patio area, outdoor pool, grilling area, indoor recreation area with large-screen TV, and on-street parking as well as interior bicycle parking. Pets of any kind are not permitted. A one-time security deposit of $150 is deducted from the stipend of all new Fellows (in increments of $25). This deposit is held until the Fellow, upon leaving the New World Symphony, has vacated the apartment in a satisfactory manner, at which time the deposit (with accrued interest, less any deductions for damage) is returned to the Fellow.
NWS Fellows periodically need to take time off for auditions and to participate in other activities intended to enhance their professional development. A Fellow may take time off at any time subject to approval by NWS. The exceptions to this policy are periods of critical artistic importance (e.g., preparing for and producing recordings and tours), known as "blackout" periods. All NWS Fellows may take up to three occasions per season for auditions without loss of stipend. Fellows may also use one of these audition time-off periods to pursue a significant non-paying performance activity or career-development opportunity outside NWS (e.g., to appear as a soloist with another orchestra). Fellows may also take additional time off (without stipend) for professional engagements and auditions in excess of three per season subject to the approval of the Dean of Musicians.
Fellows may purchase health insurance plans. In addition, NWS Fellows are covered for $10,000 in accidental death and dismemberment insurance and up to $2,500 in medical insurance for accidents that occur during, or while traveling to and from, any scheduled NWS activity in the Miami area.
The New World Symphony covers, through a policy with Crystal & Company, the cost of insuring each Fellow's primary instrument (e.g., violin and bow; flute and headjoint; trumpet and mouthpiece). If appropriate, the New World Symphony also covers the cost of insuring a Fellow's auxiliary instrument (e.g., piccolo, English horn, E-flat or bass clarinet, flugelhorn or cornet). Fellows may purchase coverage for additional instruments for $35 per instrument per year. The policy provides full coverage at all times anywhere in the world.
The New World Symphony has a limited pool of funds available to extend low-interest loans of up to $10,000 to Fellows for the purchase of new instruments. Full details are available upon request.
Fellows may be eligible for student loan deferment during their period of participation in the New World Symphony.