new Chamber Concerto
composed by jeffrey mumford
written for clara KIM & BLACKBOX ensemble
about the project:
This new concerto promises to be a richly layered celebration of Clara’s singular musical voice, as well as her passionate, insightful virtuosity. Within the work, she will inhabit multiple roles, including that of the first violinist in a string quartet, engaging the ensemble in a wide range of relationships. At times she will pair with individual instruments in intimate, conversational exchanges; at others, those interactions will become more charged or adversarial, creating a dynamic and evolving web of interconnection across the ensemble as a whole. Through this piece, Jeffrey wanted to give Clara the opportunity to explore the many facets of her artistic personality with curiosity, introspection, and passion.
about the artists:
Born in Washington, DC, in 1955, composer JEFFREY MUMFORD has received numerous fellowships, grants, awards and commissions, including the "Academy Award in Music" from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, a Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and an ASCAP Aaron Copland Scholarship. He was also the winner of the inaugural National Black Arts Festival/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition. Mumford's most notable commissions include those from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and the Library of Congress (co-commission), the BBC Philharmonic, the San Antonio, Chicago & National Symphonies, Washington Performing Arts, the Network for New Music, ‘cellist Mariel Roberts, the Fulcrum Point New Music Project (through New Music USA), Duo Harpverk (Iceland), the Sphinx Consortium, the Cincinnati Symphony, the VERGE Ensemble /National Gallery of Art/Contemporary Music Forum, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Nancy Ruyle Dodge Charitable Trust, the Meet the Composer/Arts Endowment Commissioning Music/USA, Cincinnati radio station WGUC, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, theFromm Music Foundation, and the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress. Mumford has taught at the Washington Conservatory of Music, served as Artist-in-Residence at Bowling Green State University, and served as assistant professor of composition and Composer-in-Residence at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. He is currently Distinguished Professor at Lorain County Community College in Northern Ohio.
BLACKBOX ENSEMBLE is a New York City-based contemporary music ensemble redefining how music is created and experienced. Founded in 2018, we prioritize close collaboration as a creative laboratory for musicians, composers, and multidisciplinary artists to develop work. Inspired by the theatrical and scientific “black box” —four dark walls that can transform into anything—we explore the charged space where artistic expression and human experience meet, creating an environment ripe for experimentation and connection. Shaped by genre-defiance and interdisciplinary dialogue, our wide-ranging projects have brought us from major concert halls to museum galleries, the mountainous landscape of the Berkshires, the woods of Michigan, the Hudson River waterfront, and an underground karaoke bar in midtown Manhattan. Our 2025-2026 season included a return to The Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, debuts at National Sawdust and Bowerbird, and residencies at Penn State, George Washington University, UC Davis, San Francisco State University, and Williams College. We served a year-long appointment as Ensemble in Residence with University of Richmond, and will be featured artists on the 28th Annual MATA Festival’s Feldman Centennial in May 2026.