CI Ensemble Awarded at First-Ever M-Prize Competition
Taking third prize in "Senior Open" division, Alfaia was NEC's 2014-2015 Wild Card Honors Ensemble.
Contemporary Improvisation ensemble Alfaia has placed third at the M-Prize Competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The group will take home a $3,000 prize for the Senior Open division. In its first year, the M-Prize, housed at University of Michigan, presents an unusual combination of conventional chamber music such as string quartets, and an "Open" category for less traditional configurations.
Founded in 2013 and selected as New England Conservatory’s 2014–2015 “Wild Card” Honors Ensemble, the Alfaia ensemble is composed of pianist Henrique Eisenmann '12 M.M. (currently pursuing NEC's D.M.A.), oud player Kenan Adnawi (currently pursuing NEC’s M.M.), saxophonist Gustavo D’Amico '16 M.M., and bassist Kirsten Lamb '15 M.M. Percussionist Tareq Rantisi has recently joined the group and participated in this competition with them. The group’s NEC faculty coach is accordionist, keyboard player, and composer Ted Reichman.
Alfaia explores the meeting points between Middle Eastern, North and South American music. They arrive at their sound through traditional performance practices, original composition, and contemporary approaches to instrumental techniques and improvisation. Collectively, Alfaia represents Brazilian, Syrian, Palestinian, and American cultures. Drawing on their international musical influences, they work together to create musical diplomacy, engaging audiences with a fusion of Syrian melodies, Brazilian and Middle Eastern rhythms, and jazz harmony. They have performed extensively all over the globe as individuals and a group.
Alfaia’s coach Ted Reichman discussed what the win means for the group.
“Alfaia is a truly unique combination of musical styles played with passion and great virtuosity. It is an incredible honor for this unclassifiable group—which could only have come together in New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Improvisation department—to be recognized in a competition of this scope.”
About the M-Prize Competition
In a bid to identify and showcase the highest caliber of chamber music ensembles in the world, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance department held the inaugural M-Prize Competition in 2016. This new international competition presents a grand prize of $100,000; the largest award of any competition of its kind. The competition aims to identify and showcase the most advanced international chamber arts ensembles in the world, provide a professional performance and adjudication platform for the chamber arts, help launch and advance the careers of chamber ensembles through prizes and professional development opportunities. The competition, sponsored by Office of the Provost, is open to ensembles with between three and eight members and includes categories for strings and winds as well as an "open" category for ensembles that can include mixed instrumentation, technology, voice and improvisation. In 2016, the M-Prize focused on chamber music, but in ensuing years it plans to expand to include the full spectrum of chamber arts. Aaron Dworkin, who became dean of SMTD in July, is the driving force behind the competition. The founder of the Sphinx Organization, the nation's leading nonprofit for increasing diversity in the classical music world, Dworkin's goal for M-Prize is to focus needed attention on chamber music. It is an art form that he believes will provide the most vibrant career paths for ensembles comprising conservatory-trained musicians and other performing artists.
M-Prize adjudicators include top pedagogues and performers in chamber music. The 15-member international jury includes violinist Rachel Barton Pine, saxophonist Timothy McAllister and jazz drummer/composer John Hollenbeck. The M-Prize advisory board includes a large cross-section of performers and artists along with higher education administrators and professors. The roster features chamber music icons, such as cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, the Kronos Quartet, violinist Ida Kavafian, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, saxophonist Donald Sinta and jazz pianist Geri Allen.