Musiqa's History

Founded in 2002, Musiqa is a non-profit organization dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Our aim is to present the highest quality programs from broadly diverse aesthetic viewpoints. We are working to secure a place for modern music alongside the city’s other vibrant contemporary art forms.

Now in its 11th season, Musiqa has been awarded a 2010 Chamber Music America commissioning grant: Composer Sebastian Currier and poet Sarah Manguso will create a new work for soprano, piano quintet and electronics that will be premiered in September 2012. 

Musiqa's Past Decade
 
Musiqa’s first performances took place at the Rothko Chapel. Since 2004, Musiqa has performed as part of “Uniquely Houston” series at the Hobby Center. In 2005, Musiqa initiated a series of free “loft” concerts at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. In addition, Musiqa has one of the largest outreach programs of any contemporary music ensemble in the United States: It has been been presented to close to 30,000 public elementary school students and teachers in the past seven years. Musiqa's outreach has been awarded five consecutive Access to Artistic Excellence Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (2008-2012).

Musiqa’s innovative interdisciplinary performances have featured readings by Edward Albee, Justin Cronin, Jennifer Grotz, Edward Hirsch, Tony Hoagland, Mat Johnson and Antonya Nelson, plays and scenes by Will Eno, Michael Hollinger, Douglas Mitchell and Craig Wright, films by Lenka Clayton, Alfred Guzzetti, Hal Hartley, Takashi Ishida, Isaac Julien, Miranda July, Diego Maclean and Leighton Pierce, and dance by the Houston Ballet, Dance of Asia America, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Travesty Dance Group and the Jose Limon Dance Company. Musiqa’s collaborators have included Aurora Picture Show, Inprint, Stages Repertory Theater, Ars Lyrica of Houston, the Holocaust Museum Houston and the Museum of Fine Arts. Prestigious guests have included conductors Tomasz Golka, Laura Jackson, Sara Jobin, Anne Manson, Brett Mitchell, Kevin Noe, Rebecca Miller, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Jonathan Shames, pianists Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung and Christopher Taylor, baritone Michael Chioldi, guitartist Adam Holzman and the Chiara, Enso, Flux and Maia String Quartets.

Read about Musiqa's 10th anniversary:
AArticle in the Houston Chronicle 

Musiqa has been awarded a 2010 Chamber Music America commissioning grant: Composer Sebastian Currier and poet Sarah Manguso will create a new work for soprano, piano quintet and electronics that will be premiered in September 2012.