National Sawdust, the Brooklyn-based new-music presenter, has launched Digital Discovery Festival, featuring two live-streamed series. The first series will feature performances hosted by vocalist Helga Davis; the second will feature masterclasses with established artists hosted by National Sawdust co-founder and artistic director Paola Prestini. Beginning on April 27, content will be posted free of charge on National Sawdust social-media platforms and the Live@NationalSawdust site. Participants will include Samora Pinderhughes, Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran, Brooklyn Rider, Kinan Azmeh, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Emel Mathlouthi, Conrad Tao, and Lucy Dhegrae. National Sawdust will pay each artist $1,000 for a 30-minute performance and provide audio-visual equipment and training on live-streaming. On May 15, National Sawdust will launch a commissioning competition for short works by 20 emerging composers; each selected composer will receive $3,000, with premieres in fall 2020 by National Sawdust Ensemble and other groups. In announcing Digital Discovery Festival, Prestini said, “We’re committed more than ever to supporting and expanding our community of artists through these difficult and uncertain times. By offering these digital performances for free, we are excited to build new audiences of music devotees … while the physical venue is closed.”
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