Ilya Gringolts and Ilan Volkov create organisation to match performers and composers

The Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts and Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov have created a new organisation to bring together performers and composers.

I&I Foundation aims to generate funded commissions, to speed up the time it takes for new music to be performed and offer composers fair and timely payment, while ensuring high-quality results.

Selecting emerging composers and offering them micro-commissions – short pieces of around 10 minutes for small combinations- the foundation expects to generate around 20 new works a year, starting from 2021. Composers are paid on commission, offering them the chance to focus on their work. In addition, the Foundation will link musicians, concert organizers, festivals and sponsors, increasing the performance possibilities of new music.

For 2020 the I&I Foundation has commissioned pieces from five composers:  Lawrence Dunn (UK), Marina Khorkova (Russia), Yair Klartag (Israel) , Yu Kuwabara (Japan) and Sky Macklay (US).

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Ilya Gringolts says: ‘Without composers we wouldn’t have any music – they are the creators. It’s easy to forget that. And yet today’s young composers are on the periphery as far as public opinion is concerned. Even the little that is spoken about the arts now is often about orchestras, theatres and education. Hardly anything is said about the one truly creative part – the creation of the music. There’s a lot of exciting cross-contamination between different traditions and cultures at the moment and I hope that will help to bring audiences back, but it will also take a more creative spirit from everyone, and we hope to foster that spirit through our foundation. We want people to understand what the composers are doing and thinking, and how fascinating it is.’

Ilan Volkov says: ‘I love performing works by established composers, but for me, my most important role is to look towards the unseen. With the foundation I look forward to starting a long and positive process of working with composers – helping them develop their careers, having their music heard, recorded and better known. It’s about recognising talent but also making sure that these composers are heard by people who need to hear them. If we see some of these names suddenly being commissioned by huge organisations, then we’ll know we’ve done the right thing at the right time.’