Violinist Eric Segnitz has been with Present Music since its early days. When the ensemble’s founder and artistic director, Kevin Stalheim, retires at the end of this season, Segnitz will assume greater responsibility as co-artistic director. “I met Kevin outside of a movie theater, the Downer Theatre,” he recalls. The movie? Appropriately enough, it was Local Hero (1983).
Present Music hasn’t simply been an ensemble based here for the convenience of its members. “Milwaukee had as much to do with Present Music’s direction as Kevin did,” Segnitz says. “He molded the group to this city. We’ve got a strong thread of community ties.” Would Milwaukee’s globally regarded (oxymoron alert!) “contemporary classical music ensemble” have sounded different had it played from Cleveland or Omaha? “Absolutely,” Segnitz insists.
Starting in fall, Segnitz will co-direct Present Music alongside New York conductor David Bloom. The young New Yorker is familiar to Present Music’s audience after participating in a handful of the group’s Milwaukee concerts in recent years. “He’s risen to prominence in the competitive jungle of conducting,” Segnitz says. “He’s got the skills and the smarts. Kevin has been preparing [for his retirement] in subtle ways, bringing people in [who might fill his role]. Everybody in Present Music likes David—the new arrangement has unanimous support from the musicians.”
Meanwhile, Present Music’s audience will get a glimpse of possible futures at the group’s upcoming performance, programmed not by Stalheim but by Segnitz. “In the New Chamber” will consist of works by 12 female and non-binary composers. Among them are a pair of names familiar well beyond the usual precincts of Present Music’s fun yet challenging repertoire. Laurie Anderson’s “National Anthem of America” and Yoko Ono’s “Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City” will be performed alongside works such as Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s prepared piano piece “Scape” and a world premiere of Sonia Possetti’s new arrangement for the serrated intricacies of “Bullanguera.”
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Present Music has long made a point of programming music by living women composers and “In the New Chamber” continues on Stalheim’s trajectory. “In recent years, Kevin considered this a pressing issue,” Segnitz explains. “Programming work by women has not been a high priority in many other realms,” he adds, especially symphony orchestras. In keeping with Stalheim’s aesthetic, “In the New Chamber” will include sonic variety as well as continuity.
“There is quite an array of talent on this next concert,” Segnitz says. And in the future? “There is still much work to do, encouraging young women to start writing music, gain access to opportunities and actually see it demonstrated in concert form. We can provide a platform for these composers to be heard.”
Present Music will perform “In the New Chamber” at a catered RSVP dinner concert on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m., and at a general public concert Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. at Jan Serr Studio, 2155 N. Prospect Ave.
