About

Bowling Green State University proudly presents the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, an award-winning organization devoted to the study and promotion of contemporary music and technology. Founded in 1987 with funding from an Ohio Board of Regents Academic Challenge Grant, the Center builds on the strong and internationally-recognized activities of the College of Musical Arts, presenting concerts and symposia, disseminating information, sponsoring research and collecting archival materials. The Center enriches the lives of northwest Ohio residents and assists music professionals from throughout the United States. As a result of these activities, the Center received the 1992 and 1998 Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.

The MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music provides mission-critical support to the College of Musical Arts, serving as the hub for its distinctive specialty in contemporary music. MACCM promotes and coordinates new music creation, production, research, and innovation, enhancing the vitality of the College and community.

At the heart of the Center’s activities is the renowned New Music Festival. This annual event celebrates the contemporary arts through concerts, panels, art exhibitions, seminars, master classes and papers. Begun in 1980, the festival has hosted John Adams, John Luther Adams, Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Anthony Braxton, John Cage, Chen Yi, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Anthony Davis, Dai Fujikura, Philip Glass, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Jennifer Higdon, Karel Husa, Aaron Jay Kernis, Joan La Barbara, David Lang, Paul Lansky, George Lewis, Steven Mackey, Robert Morris, Pauline Oliveros, Shulamit Ran, Bernard Rands, Terry Riley, Christopher Rouse, Frederic Rzewski, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Bright Sheng, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Steven Stucky, Morton Subotnick, Augusta Read Thomas, Joan Tower, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Evan Ziporyn and more than 800 other guests and artists.

The MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music also sponsors a variety of ongoing services and events including the yearly Music at the Forefront concert series. Awards for research and development activities in contemporary are available to BGSU students, faculty and staff members. The archives of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music contain more than 10,000 scores and provide invaluable resources for research and study. The Center also spearheads the College's New Music From Bowling Green initiative, which organizes faculty and student performances at the country's most prestigious new music venues, and an eponymous radio series, produced by WGTE Public Media and internationally syndicated through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX).