2024 NEXT Fest

From June 1 to June 7, the PS21 campus was abuzz with the sounds of string instruments and the electric energy of new work in development. The NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists were back for their second year at PS21 — 26 fellows along with Artistic Director Peter Askim, guest artist Seth Parker Woods, and composers Curtis Stewart and Michael R. Dudley.

After a week of rehearsal, a day at the Chatham Middle School, and more, the residency culminated in a wonderful performance on Friday night at the PS21 Pavilion Theater, with all proceeds going to Chatham’s Crellin Park Summer Camp Fund. The breadth of the program was stunning—Askim’s energetic Soar, Stewart’s Essay #1: Leave the People (asking the question “What is American music without Blackness?”), and Dudley’s gorgeous …There Is Yet Beauty all saw their premieres. Parker Woods then came on stage to shine for Rebecca Saunder’s ambitious Ire, and the performance concluded with Andrea Casarrubios’s Herencia for String Orchestra.

Mother nature responded to the work, as a heavy sunshower, stunning sunset, and a chorus of birdsong all accompanied—and augmented—various points in the program. After a standing ovation, the fellows and composers came into the theater to chat with audience members. It was a night to remember at PS21!