New Amsterdam Presents is an independent organization that developed as a natural extension of the presenting wing of New Amsterdam Records, which was founded in 2007 as a record label to serve the needs of New York’s burgeoning mixed-genre new music community. New Amsterdam quickly grew into an artists’ service organization that, in addition to releasing over twenty highly-lauded recordings of original new classical and jazz music, presented over 40 concerts of groundbreaking new music from 2008 to 2010, featuring world premieres, semi-staged operas, record releases, special one-off shows, music festivals, and chamber music series.  Highlights included 2009′s Undiscovered Islands series, a month of record releases and world premiere events, and the 2009-10 Archipelago series, a full season of new chamber music featuring, among others, Nadia Sirota, Roomful of Teeth, Tristan Perich, NOW Ensemble, Son Lux, Corey Dargel with ICE, and Craig Wedren with ACME.

New Amsterdam is an associate presenter of the Ecstatic Music Festival, presented by the Kaufman Center at New York’s acclaimed Merkin Concert Hall.  This unprecedented event, which has been called “…the most bracing combinations of adventurous, fulfilling music in recent memory” by NPR’s Joel Harrison, brings together artists with classical and non-classical backgrounds for collaborative evenings that allow participants to explore new musical territory. Collaborations have included Dan Deacon with So Percussion (2011); tUnE-yArDs, William Brittelle, and Caleb Burhans with Roomful of Teeth (2011); Nadia Sirota, Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), and Owen Pallett (2011); Clogs with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus (2011); Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurðsson with the Chiara String Quartet (2011); Dan Deacon with NOW Ensemble and the Chiara String Quartet (2012); Rhys Chatham and Oneida (2012); yMusic, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and Ryan Lott (2012); and many more.  In addition to the yearly festival, New Amsterdam recently helped expand the Ecstatic programming into the summertime by partnering with Arts Brookfield and the World Financial Center to present Ecstatic Summer, a series of three free in-and-outdoor concerts that included pairings such as the Grammy-nominated Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society with acclaimed Brooklyn disco group Escort; and Oneohtrix Point Never with David Lang.  As part of its ongoing programming, New Amsterdam has made a priority of forming partnerships with other like-minded organizations, including Cantaloupe Music (the label of Bang on a Can), MATA, Galapagos Art Space, Nonclassical (UK), the Manhattan New Music Project, Search and Restore, and AMC’s Counterstream Radio.

Increasingly active as a presenter around the country, New Amsterdam has sponsored and supported concerts in twenty states (plus the District of Columbia), including multi-state tours by Victoire, NOW Ensemble, and Matt Marks. In the spring of 2011, New Amsterdam partnered with a host of Minneapolis- and St. Paul-based organizations, including the Southern Theater, to present the acclaimed String Theory Music Festival in the Twin Cities. New Amsterdam is also extending its reach outside the country, sending Victoire to the Netherlands as part of the Cross-linx Festival, with further scheduled engagements in Germany. Future seasons will extend these connections, around the country and the world, sowing the seeds for new musical possibilities in the years and decades to come.

New Amsterdam Presents also continues to run New Amsterdam Records as a fully-taxable subsidiary organization. Over the past three years, the New Amsterdam Records catalogue has grown to include nearly two dozen artists, including soloists and orchestras, small and large ensembles, big bands and rock bands, pop vocalists and opera singers. Far from crafting a label “sound”, this diverse catalogue reflects New Amsterdam’s commitment to supporting and nurturing projects that wholly fulfill the intent of their creators, disregarding existing genre norms and opening the doors to all influences from the entire world of music. The label specializes in music without filters, made by musicians who bring the breadth of their listening experience and the love they have for many different kinds of music into their own playing, writing, and producing – music without walls, without an agenda, and without a central organizing principle. For more information, please visit www.newamsterdamrecords.com.