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 in contributing to the city’s cultural life

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 nearly 25,000 public elementary school students in the past six years. Musiqa's outreach has been awarded 2008, 2009 and 2010 Access to Artistic Excellence Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Musiqa’s innovative inter-disciplinary 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, Douglas Mitchell and Craig Wright, films by Lenka Clayton, Alfred Guzzetti, Hal Hartley, Isaac Julien, Miranda July and Leighton Pierce, and dance by the Houston Ballet, 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, 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.

In addition to the three NEA awards, Musiqa’s recognition includes national awards from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund and the BMI Foundation and statewide support from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Musiqa was awarded a prestigious Incubator from the Houston Arts Alliance, and has also won major grants from Chase, the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, the Farb Foundation, the Herzstein Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., the Powell Foundation, the Simmons Foundation, the Strake Foundation, the Toomim Foundation, UBS and the Wolff Foundation.

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 October 2012.