Posted: August 12, 2024

Position Available: NOW Ensemble Operations Manager

NOW Ensemble seeks an operations manager to work closely with its Artistic Director (AD) and ensemble members to ensure effective and efficient NOW Ensemble operations in support of NOW’s mission to build community through the cultivation, promotion, and fostering of new music. The operations manager will work with the AD on key functions related to concerts/tours; recording projects; fundraising and other development campaigns; board liaison; and other matters. The operations manager will report directly to the AD.

Responsibilities/Duties

Primary Responsibilities will Include:

Concerts/Tours

  • Maintaining lines of communication with presenters

  • Organizing ensemble member availability for tours and other events

  • Confirming terms of contracts in consultation with the AD

  • Organizing parts/reference recordings for concerts and recording sessions

  • Helping to coordinate travel logistics such as flight, rental car, and hotel booking

  • Creating and updating tour schedules in consultation with the AD

  • Helping organize rehearsal schedules and logistics

  • Keeping an organized list of communications with presenters

  • Being available to join the ensemble on tours or for concerts as available.

Finances

  • Maintaining a list of expenses and income throughout the year

  • Regularly downloading bank statements

  • Updating NOW financial transactions in QuickBooks

  • Acting as liaison between NOW and tax preparers

  • Maintaining documents needed for tax purposes and reports

  • Issuing reimbursements as needed

General

  • Keeping website updated in coordination with members of the ensemble

  • Developing a plan for social media posts

  • Developing a plan for curated emails to followers

  • Scheduling photo shoots in coordination with members of the ensemble

  • Coordinating merchandise to sell at shows

  • Keeping up to date with ensemble members’ individual artistic projects

  • Scheduling regular board meetings

  • Assisting with development campaigns

Depending on area of interest and expertise, secondary responsibilities may include:

Board

  • Assisting the AD in preparation of board documents

  • Preparing minutes at board meetings

  • Understanding the role of each board member and each board subcommittee

Recording

  • Coordinating recording project logistics in consultation with AD, including budgets, schedules, communication with recording engineers and producers

  • Coordinating publicity around record release dates, in conjunction with the AD and the record label(s)

Development

  • Coordinating fundraising efforts with AD and board

  • Developing fundraising campaigns in consultation with AD, including online and snail mail campaigns

  • Keeping track of incoming donations

  • Sending tax receipts to donors

  • Maintaining an email list

  • As needed, coordination of in-person fundraising events

Qualifications & How to Apply

Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree. Some experience with nonprofit operations or music ensemble management is preferred. Candidates should have strong analytical, writing, and organizational skills. 

This position is part-time, about 10-15 hours/week throughout the year as an average, with some weeks requiring more or fewer hours. There is some potential for growth in the average weekly hours depending on future board-approved budgets. The position is paid at an hourly rate of $23.50, commensurate with experience. There is no benefits package associated with this position. 

Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter to the review committee at: info@nowensemble.com. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

About NOW Ensemble

NOW Ensemble is a dynamic group of performers and composers dedicated to making new chamber music. With a unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass, and piano, the ensemble brings a fresh sound and a new perspective to the classical tradition, infused with musical influences that reflect the diverse backgrounds of its members. Over the past fifteen years, they have brought some of their generation’s most exciting composers to national and international recognition.

NOW Ensemble is a registered 501(c)3 arts organization with an active board.

NOW Ensemble is comprised of:

Patrick Burke, piano and composer

Logan Coale, double bass

Mark Dancigers, electric guitar and composer

Judd Greenstein, composer

Alicia Lee, clarinet

Michael Mizrahi, piano (Director)

Alex Sopp, flute

Recent Highlights

In March 2024, NOW Ensemble toured throughout Michigan, giving concerts and masterclasses at the University of Michigan, Wayne State, Michigan State, and Western Michigan University, premiering Griffin Candey’s “Everybody leaves if they get the chance”.

In December 2023, NOW Ensemble presented concerts and masterclasses at Bard College, Mannes School of Music, and The Owl in Brooklyn.

In October 2022, NOW Ensemble premiered Judd Greenstein’s opera “A Marvelous Order” at the Penn State, receiving a glowing review in the Wall Street Journal.

In December 2021, NOW Ensemble appeared at (le) poisson rouge in NYC, for its first live NYC concert in two years.

In November 2021, NOW Ensemble released its seventh album, Before and After, on the New Amsterdam Records label.

In March 2021, NOW Ensemble completed an online residency through the University of Denver. NOW Ensemble recorded parts to six graduate student compositions and assembled them for a virtual performance.

In December 2020, NOW Ensemble curated an online concert (virtual) featuring original works composed and performed by members of the ensemble, interviews with collaborators, new tracks from forthcoming albums, and archived performances. That concert drew over 200 attendees.

In December 2020, NOW Ensemble completed its seventh album, Before and After, featuring the eponymous new work by Sean Friar. New Amsterdam Records will release the album in Fall 2021.

In February 2020, NOW Ensemble appeared as artists-in-residence at the Red Note New Music Festival at Illinois State University. The group appeared in public concerts, reading sessions, and workshops with participating composers from around the world.

In December 2019, NOW Ensemble released its sixth album, Spare The Rod!, featuring music by Yevgeniy Sharlat. Spare the Rod! is a new 25-minute work by Austin-based composer Yevgeniy Sharlat that tracks a day in a child’s life, from dawn to dusk, filled with curiosity and carefree wonder. Its three movements are: “Rise,” “Play,” “Dream,” which are inspired by Play Me– a series of music boxes created by visual artist Yuliya Lanina. The Play Me music boxes present scenes from classic fairy tales that hide a dark underbelly of violence and incest behind their innocuous façade.

In October 2019, NOW Ensemble was the Ensemble-in-Residence at Antenna Cloud Farm in western Massachusetts, where the group workshopped and performed excerpts from Sean Friar’s Before and After. NOW also gave performances and workshops at the College of St. Rose and the Owl Music Room in New York City.

In June 2019, NOW Ensemble’s recent album, Rounder Songs, was awarded an Independent Music Award (IMA) for Best Eclectic EP.

During 2018-2019, NOW presented a concert of Judd Greenstein's music at (le) Poisson Rouge, with special guests David Krakauer, Tomás Cruz, and Megan Schubert. The group was able to advance large-scale projects, including new works commissioned from Gabriella Smith and Yevgeniy Sharlat and the ongoing development of Greenstein's opera, A Marvelous Order, written for NOW Ensemble.

In immediately prior seasons, NOW performed at Lincoln Center, the Apples and Olives Festival in Zürich, Switzerland, Town Hall Seattle, Da Camera Houston, and Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series. From 2016-2018 they were the inaugural ensemble-in-residence at San Diego’s Art of Élan.

Organizational History

Since 2004, NOW has worked with many of today's most exciting composers, including Judd Greenstein, Mark Dancigers, Patrick Burke, Missy Mazzoli, Sean Friar, San Fermin's Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Kathryn Alexander, Nico Muhly, Andrea Mazzariello, Timothy Andres, Jason Treuting, and Sarah Kirkland Snider. NOW has performed at such venues as Miller Theater, Merkin Hall, the Bang on a Can Marathon, The Kitchen NYC, The Stone, the Carlsbad Festival, the Festival Internacional Chihuahua, the Look and Listen Festival, The Music Gallery Toronto, Sarasota's New Music New College, the Southern Exposure Series, Pittsburgh's Music on the Edge, Cal Arts, MIT, Juilliard, Town Hall Seattle, Da Camera Houston, Lincoln Center, and the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert series.

Reviews

NOW Ensemble consistently attracts positive critical attention for its live performances and recordings. NOW Ensemble's performances have been featured on NPR's “All Things Considered” and live on WNYC. A recent major collaboration with Judd Greenstein and Joshua Frankel on the opera A Marvelous Order was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. NOW Ensemble’s sophomore album, “Awake,” charted at #1 in Amazon's Classical Chamber Music Charts. “Plan of the City,” NOW's collaboration with filmmaker Joshua Frankel, was praised in the Washington Post as “one of the best matches of visuals to music I’ve seen.” Jeffery Edelstein of International Concert Review wrote, “The vibrant sound of NOW Ensemble... does something more than offer composers an alternative to the ubiquitous 'Pierrot ensembles plus singer or percussion.' Three of NOW's founding members are composers, and a community of 35 other like-minded composers has responded to the opportunities NOW embodies: to defy specialization, reject alienation, and inspire deft musicians to convey a sense of private amusement that enlivens the music they perform."