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Festival of New American Music
About the Festival
November 2-8, 2025
The Festival of New American Music brings extraordinary musicians to Sacramento, California, each year to present high-quality performances of a broad body of recently composed or improvised music by some of America’s most exciting artists. 2025 marks the 48th annual Festival!
Through public concerts, educational events, and outreach, the Festival serves three principal communities: those of the Sacramento State School of Music; the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ, Sacramento; and the greater Sacramento region.
Committed to making music accessible to all, the Festival offers all of its concerts free of charge to the public. If you have any disability-related access needs to participate in our events, please contact us as soon as possible, and we will work with the Office for Disability Justice on arranging and meeting those needs.
The Festival concerts will be live-streamed on our YouTube page:
Questions?
Call for Scores 2025
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 3rd Annual Call for Scores!
- Four Corners Ensemble: Ethan Resnik’s “Three Urban Scenes”
- Saxophone(s): Griffin Candy’s “Kid Gloves”
- Wind Ensemble: Jackson Gearing’s “Inundation”
- Choir: Martin Rokeach’s “Remembering We’re Alive”
Read more in the Call For Scores winner's announcement, including honorable mentions and a listing of other finalists:
NOVEMBER 2 - Opening Gala, 4:00pm
The Festival opens with the Gala performance on Sunday, November 2 at 4:00 p.m. Featured on the program will be the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ's University Chorale and Symphonic Wind Ensemble performing works from the Call for Scores winners, as well as Metaphor Percussion (pictured) and Rogue Music Project.
NOVEMBER 3 - Faculty Jazz Ensemble with Vincent Herring, 7:00pm
Our own jazz faculty will be joined by guest saxophonist Vincent Herring. Herring's intense, soulful, multi-noted style and ebullient swing have excited audiences worldwide. He has appeared on stage and/or recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Hayes, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver Quintet, Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition, Larry Coryell, Steve Turre, and The Mingus Big Band (winning a Grammy in 2010), among others. His extensive guest soloist appearances include performances with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center and Jon Faddis and The Carnegie Hall Big Band, and his discography reveals over 20 titles as a leader and over 250 as a sideman.
NOVEMBER 4 - Chromatic Brass Collective, 7:00pm
The Festival of New American Music continues on Tuesday with a performance by the Chromatic Brass Collective. Founded by Black women, the CBC is an organization for brass musicians that celebrates, performs, mentors and educates in an effort to increase the visibility of racially and ethnically underrepresented women and gender non-conforming people throughout the brass world.
NOVEMBER 5 - Local Voices, 7:00pm
The Local Voices concert will feature the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ student brass quintet - Hornet Horns - along with the Sacramento State Faculty Wind Quintet and solicited chamber music within the School of Music.
NOVEMBER 6 - Carrie Koffman, 7:00pm
Solo saxophonist Carrie Koffman performs on Thursday, November 6. Koffman, Professor of Saxophone at The Hartt School of Music, has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, in 17 countries, and on six continents. Commissions and premieres include over 75 compositions. Fanfare Magazine called her playing “suave, subtly nuanced, and technically secure in its every gesture,” while Music Web International describes her as “brilliant and dauntless.”
NOVEMBER 7 - Four Corners Ensemble, 7:00pm
The Four Corners Ensemble has performed in venues throughout North America and China, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the Polish Consulate-General. As part of its international outreach, they traveled to China in May 2019 for the inaugural Jimo Ancient City International Classical Music Festival in Qingdao. Four Corners debut album, “World Map,” has received published acclaim in Gramophone, Pizzicato, Take Effect, and American Record Guide.
NOVEMBER 8 - Closing Concert, 7:00pm
The Festival wraps up on Saturday, November 8 with compositions by Clarice Assad featuring: percussion concerto with Metaphor Percussion; ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble featuring Anna Presler, solo violin; guitar chamber music featuring Clarice Assad and George England.
Assad, who will be giving a keynote speech during the program, is a Grammy Award–nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist, and educator acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. She currently holds prestigious positions as Composer-Educator in Residence with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (2023-2027) and the Albany Symphony (2024-27). The prolific composer has more than 90 works to her credit, including numerous commissions for Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo, ROCO, LA Philharmonic, Grand Teton Music Festival, Santa Rosa Symphony, Metropolis ensemble, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and the La Jolla Music Festival, to name a few.
Parking Info
¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ uses virtual parking permits. A limited number of courtesy permits will be available for our evening concerts; links will be posted here each day. You will need to create a parking , if you don't already have one, then use the link below to reserve your parking permit. (Daily permits may also be purchased from the machine on the 5th floor of the parking structure adjacent to our building, or online)
Parking Link posted here by November 2, 2025
Directions
- Click the Purchase Parking link above and select "Guest Login". This should open a window titled "Virtual Parking Permits". Sometimes the Login screen glitches and goes to the wrong window. If this happens, close the window and click on the link above again
- Clicking "Next" at the bottom of the screen should show you a $0 permit option, then a calendar to select the start date ("effective" and "expiration" date should be the same date), and then your registered vehicle. Follow through the steps to the purchase section to finish the transaction.
- After you complete the permit checkout process, you will be emailed a receipt confirming the details of your virtual parking permit. You don't need to display a permit on your vehicle; your license plate is your parking permit. If you need assistance, email parking@csus.edu