David Gompper, Director
Chris Gainey, Res. Asst.
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The History
of the Center
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e-mail the Director
or call: (319) 335-1626
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The Center was originally funded by a $100,000 matching grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1966. From the start, the Center sparked the composition of new works expressly for the ensemble, and brought professional realizations of both local and international repertoires to the University community as well as to tour audiences throughout the state of Iowa and beyond.
With the success of the Center, the same foundation granted $456,000 (again to be matched by the University) for an interdisciplinary Center for New Performing Arts (1969-1975). Since that time, the Center for New Music has been continuously funded by the University through the School of Music.
Over virtually the entire span of its existence, the Center has enjoyed the guidance of its
founding members, Richard Hervig and William Hibbard. Its brilliant
success is indeed a tribute to their imagination, wisdom and devotion. With Hervig's
retirement and Hibbard's death, the administrative direction of the Center was passed to
D. Martin Jenni, a long-standing composer-participant of the organization, and
then in 1991 to David K. Gompper.
A large part of the Center's mission has been to bring new music to a wide and diverse public, for many of whom the Center occasions a first encounter with new music, in schools and colleges as well as at town forums and in farming communities. A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts made it possible, in 1973, for the Center to present new works from Iowa at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Shortly thereafter, Center personnel participated in the production of a CRI recording of New Music from The University of Iowa, including several works that had been composed for the ensemble.
The Center has directed much of its energy to the production of the work of composers in
residence at Iowa (as staff, students and guests), many of whom have since become leading
figures in American music. It also has to its credit the first world or American performances
of major works such as: Traces by Luciano Berio and
Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death (1969) by George Crumb,
Couleurs de la Cité Céleste (1973) by Olivier Messiaen and
Triple Duo (1983) by Elliott Carter.
Many visiting artists have enriched the musical offerings of the School of Music since the
inception of the Center. A sampling includes the composers George Crumb (1969),
Larry Austin (1971), Alcides Lanza (1972), Charles Wuorinen
(1972, 1974), Morton Feldman (1973), Salvatore Martirano (1973),
Jaap Spek (1976), Gunther Schuller (1980), Lukas Foss (1982),
Louise Talma (1982), Kenneth Gaburo (1983), John Ronsheim
(1985), Libby Larson (1986), Ralph Jackson (1986), William Albright
(1992, 1995 & 1996), Bernard Rands (1993), Bright Sheng (1994),
Noel Zahler (1997), Theodore Antoniou (1998), Jeremy Dale Roberts
(1999), Charles Dodge (1999), Bernhard Lang (1999), Beat Furrer
(1999), Shulamit Ran (2000), Robert H.P. Platz (2005).
Performers include Janet Steele (1970), David Burge (1973),
David Tudor (1973), Paul Zukofsky (1976), Harvey Sollberger
(1978), Robert Hagopian (1981), Steven Schick (1983, 1985, 1988),
Garrick Ohlsson (1988) and Jeff Lyman (1994 & 1999).
In November of 1998, the ensemble from the Center for New Music (which included both
faculty and students) mounted an East Coast tour, and performed at UI, Yale, Merkin
Concert Hall in New York City, Harvard and Connecticut College. The latter was part
of a larger festival of music comprising an SCI Region I conference and a series of
concerts and lectures honoring Pierre Boulez.
Albany Records will release a new CD entitled Into the Future: the Center for New Music
at 40 in August 2007 (Berners, Dangerfield, Dahn, Eckert, Fritts and Gompper). A
previous CD entitled 20th century American Music (Capstone-CPS8762) includes
music of the New York tour mentioned above. A third CD is currently underway, featuring
contemporary works written for solo strings and large ensemble (Dale-Roberts, Donatoni,
Gompper, Hu and Nez).
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