Composer wins artist grant

Funds will support new work for debut at 2019 performing arts festival

MIDDLETOWN — The Guilford Performing Arts Festival has awarded its inaugural Guilford Foundation/Guilford Performing Arts Festival Artists’ Awards to jazz pianist/composer Noah Baerman of Middletown and playwright/ screenwriter Susan Cinoman of Woodbridge.

The two were chosen by festival programmers and independent judges from a field of applicants from throughout Connecticut. Each will receive a $2,500 grant toward the creation of new work, according to a news release.

GPAF created the awards this year with the Guilford Foundation’s support to encourage the development of new work by professional Connecticut artists and to provide a vehicle for the debut of original material at the festival. Cinoman’s and Baerman’s works will be performed in full for the first time at the next Guilford Performing Arts Festival, Sept. 26 to 29, 2019.

Baerman, winner in the music category, will develop an extended instrumental jazz composition in tribute to Claire Randall, a musical collaborator and former student who was murdered at the age of 26, according to the release. The piece, “Cliff Palace,” is part of a larger body of work addressing Randall’s life and the impact of her passing. It will be performed live by an ensemble, featuring piano, acoustic bass, drums and wind instruments.

Baerman has released 10 CDs as a bandleader and published 10 instructional books with the Alfred Publishing Company. His ninth CD, “Ripples,” issued in 2014, is one of his many works of socially conscious music, addressing subjects including disability, community engagement and the American foster care crisis, according to the GPAF. His 2003 release, “Patch Kit,” revolved around his struggles with EhlersDanlos Syndrome, an incurable connective tissue disorder with which he was born.

Musicians on that CD included bassist Ron Carter and the late drummer Ben Riley. Baerman also has collaborated with trombonist Robin Eubanks, percussionist Warren Smith and saxophonist Steve Wilson, among many others. Baerman was the recipient of a 2008 New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Foundation. He teaches at several institutions, including Wesleyan University, and is the founder and artistic

Baerman will develop a jazz composition in tribute to Claire Randall, a musical collaborator and former student who was murdered at the age of 26.

director of Resonant Motion, a nonprofit that explores connections between music and positive change, the GPAF said.

Cinoman, who won in the drama category, will complete work on a full-length play, “Guenevere,” that uses the King Arthur legend to illuminate the struggle for power and control between women and their closest male friends, in love, at work and at play.

The 2019 Guilford Performing Arts Festival will feature a diverse program of music and theater, opera, poetry, storytelling, ballet and contemporary dance, circus acts, buskers and spontaneous happenings. Performances and workshops will take place on and around the Green as well as in various other places in town: the community center, library, schools, churches, coffee shops, markets, bookstores, farms, arts centers and historic homes.

Kate Ten Eyck / Contributed photo Pianist and composer Noah Baerman, of Middletown, won a $2,500 grant from the Guilford Founation and the Guilford Performing Arts Festival. He and Susan Cinoman, of Woodbridge, the other winner, will perform their works at the 2019 festival.