MKI Artists proudly announces that Alicia Horwitz has joined the agency in the role of Director of Booking and Artist Management. This appointment underscores MKI's dedication to evolution, tapping into the industry's top talents to deliver unparalleled service to its roster. Alicia joins the senior leadership team alongside John Zion, President and CEO and Brooke Quiggins Saulnier, Director of Operations.

With over a decade of experience, Alicia's credentials are impressive. Prior to joining MKI, she served as Vice President of Booking at Columbia Artists and played a pivotal role in co-founding Artist Management Partners Worldwide LLC. Alicia's tenure in the performing arts shines through with her commitment to relationship-building and positions her as a trusted partner in bringing performing arts visions to life onstage.

Her robust academic background further complements her professional achievements. Alicia earned her Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham Law School. This diverse foundation converges at MKI, where Alicia seamlessly integrates her skills as an entrepreneur, flutist, lawyer, and artist manager.

John Zion remarked on the addition: "Having Alicia join our team is genuinely exciting. Her profound understanding of the performing arts, combined with her multifaceted skill set and spectacular track record, resonates with MKI's values. In this key leadership position, Alicia will undoubtedly elevate our ability to represent some of the world’s premier artists, furthering our mission. A warm welcome to Alicia!”

Alicia further shared: "I am thrilled and honored to join MKI Artists! I look forward to working with a roster of inspiring classical music artists and to do this work in collaboration with equally inspiring colleagues."

MKI would like to thank Bobby Asher, who was retained by MKI as an independent executive search consultant. Bobby led the search with dedication and expertise, smoothly identifying and onboarding Alicia in this newly created role.

The Miró Quartet gave the West Coast premiere of Caroline Shaw’s “Microfictions, Volume One,” her new work for string quartet, at the La Jolla Summerfest. The new work was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Premiere Performances (Hong Kong), and the La Jolla Music Society. For the performance in La Jolla, Caroline also joined them on stage as a violist performing Mendelssohn’s String Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 87 to close the program.

The San Diego Union Tribune raved: “The Miró Quartet was dramatic and highly polished…” with “impeccable ensemble work,” and “riveting.”

Read more here.

MKI Artists is excited to welcome the leading vocal ensemble Cantus to our roster for general management. 

MKI’s Managing Director John Zion shares: “We’re thrilled to partner with Cantus to help support and expand their touring career. I’m inspired by their world-class music making, and equally so by their significant commitment to music education and social justice which align strongly with MKI’s values.” 

Now in its 27th season, the “engaging” (The New Yorker) low-voice ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming and riveting performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Washington Post has hailed Cantus’ sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the group nothing short of “exquisite.”

Learn more here.

Jessie Montgomery is currently serving as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence through June 2024. In her role, Jessie will receive commissions to write three new orchestral works for the CSO, in addition to curating the orchestra’s MusicNOW programs. She will also collaborate with the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute, which oversees the orchestra’s educational and community activities, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Riccardo Muti and the CSO premiered Hymn for Everyone, the first of three orchestral commissions during Jessie’s residency, premiered on April 28, 2022.

Composer/singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane's new album, Magnificent Bird, is out now. The record, his fifth solo LP and second for Nonesuch Records, is his most personal since 2011's Where are the Arms. Kahane revels in the tension between his own experiences of grief, nostalgia, shame, and salvation, and the roiling chaos of a nation and planet in crisis. “Sit Shiva,” the album’s first single, finds Kahane mourning, online because of pandemic travel restrictions, the death of his maternal grandmother; in typical fashion, he mines not just pathos, but humor and grace amidst his family’s grief.

In October 2020, the final month of a year he spent off the internet, Kahane set out to write a song every day. “I wanted to create an aural brain scan at the end of this experiment,” he explains, “and to give myself permission to write about small things, rather than trying to distill the enormity of the moment into grand statements.”

Listen to Magnificent Bird here.

The Miró Quartet and clarinetist David Shifrin recently complete an East Coast tour performing “Rendezvous with Benny.”

This program pays tribute to the chamber music contributions of the “King of Swing,” Benny Goodman. It features David Schiff’s new arrangement Homage to Benny, Alan Shulman’s Rendezvous, Peter Schickle’s captivating Spring Forward, and Mozart’s clarinet quintet (which Benny Goodman performed and recorded with the Budapest String Quartet).

This program is a continuation of the Miró Quartet’s Quartet Archive Project which you can read more about here.

Rachel Barton Pine recently premiered a new violin concerto written for her by composer Billy Childs that was co-commissioned by the Grant Park Orchestra, the Interlochen Arts Center, Anchorage Symphony, and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra.

Listen to Rachel and Billy discuss their longtime collaboration and the new work on The Strad’s podcast.