St. Louis is home to one of North America’s most successful presenters of avant-garde music, The New Music Circle. Founded in 1959, NMC is the longest-established organization of its kind, introducing local audiences to the world’s most adventurous and accomplished composers and performers, and providing a respected venue for local creative musicians.
The New Music Circle is not itself a performing group. It is dedicated primarily to the promotion of adventure in the arts through the presentation of new and exciting music to area audiences. NMC sponsors an annual season of concerts, bringing to St. Louis a diverse host of musicians from around the globe who otherwise would not appear here. These artists often present master classes at local universities to give students and the public more in-depth exposure to the concepts and techniques behind the music. In addition NMC fosters local creativity through performances by ensembles of musical innovators, giving them an opportunity to perform their most adventurous work before an attentive and sophisticated audience. These homegrown affairs may involve collaborations with artists working in other forms such as film, video, dance, and theater. Despite its name, NMC does not limit itself to explorations exclusively of a musical nature: NMC has presented multimedia performances in environments ranging from corporate lobbies to the natural world, and from an aural, visual, and tactile walkthrough installation in a shuttered shoe factory over 40 years ago to audience-participatory “Spring into Summer” events in Forest Park. Additionally, the popular “Circle/Cinema” series at the St. Louis Art Museum screens silent films with contemporary live musical accompaniment provided by NMC.