CLASSICALLY UNTRAINED: Exploring New Orlean’s THRIVING symphonic music scene AND AN INTERVIEW WITH MENDEL LEE, FOUNDER OF THE BATTURE CONTEMPORARY FESTIVAL
The Versipel Collective performing their season finale at the New Marigny Theatre, 2025 (Photo by Kevin Mah)
By David S. Lewis
(*this feature can be read in its compact or expanded form - click where indicated for more information if you prefer the longer read)
New Orleans may be best known for its cutting edge jazz and vibrant funk or twerk-tastic bounce music, but for centuries, New Orleans has also been home to some of the most innovative symphonic/art music in the country.
(*this feature can be read in its compact or expanded form - click where indicated for more information if you prefer the longer read)
New Orleans may be best known for its cutting edge jazz and vibrant funk or twerk-tastic bounce music, but for centuries, New Orleans has also been home to some of the most innovative symphonic/art music in the country.
A MORE DETAILED INTRODUCTION TO THIS NEW COLUMN
Art music is any composed, structured music, typically expressed within an artistic system or theory. Unsurprisingly, it often overlaps with its cousins, folk and popular music (after all, Brahms, Beethoven, and many other famous symphonic composers drew heavily from folk music, real or imagined, and opera was directed squarely at the masses, so its “popular” appeal is difficult to deny).
New Orleans was home to the first opera performed in the New World, in 1796. Our contributions to the world of art music extends from Joseph Arquier to Edmund Dede all the way through now, with artists like Courtney Bryan and Malcolm Parsons debuting significant works with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra to Terrence Blanchard’s operas performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The season for art music begins in the fall, with multiple chamber music festivals, three full symphony orchestras (including the Grammy-winning LPO, which is the only professional symphony between Houston and Tampa Bay.) The city is also home to a ballet troupe and two opera companies (one of which is the amazing Opera Creole, which debuted the earliest opera written by a Black composer only last year, to international plaudits), numerous composers of film and television, and have dozens of smaller ensembles playing in a variety of venues, musicians of all kinds, a ballet and an opera.
This column seeks to contextualize the city’s booming art music scene, and to introduce readers to the music, and perhaps to dispel longstanding misunderstandings about it. Some perhaps think they don’t like “classical music”...but that’s a weird term used to describe music that has existed in countless forms for hundreds of years. Also, you’ve been listening to it your entire life as the soundtrack to countless film and television productions. A recent study by the Royal Philharmonic suggests that classical music of all kinds is, in fact, very much on the rise with listeners of all ages, as listeners use the power of social media and the internet to search for music that feels authentic.
Symphonic music is also protest music: Beethoven’s thundering denunciation of Napoleon Bonaparte’s appointment as Emperor in his 3rd Symphony (“Eroica”) is a great example, or Shostakovich’s satirical 9th Symphony, mocking the militarism of Stalinist Soviet government. Often it’s politically subversive less because of the intention of the composer and more the setting in which it’s played…and we’re living in a moment where censorship is on the rise. We’ll explore 'forbidden composers' and artistic revolutionaries and their contexts in many of these columns.
And symphonic art music offers an alternative to the commercialism of much of the manufactured music that you hear on streaming platforms or the radio: algorithmically tailored to be popular, it is often so much of so many things that it becomes nearly nothing at all. Another song about how nice it is to sit in a field in a truckful of beer, or the difficulties of finding love while relatively rich and safe – these are the musical equivalent of a pneumatic bolt to your forehead. But experiencing art music in a performance space, whether a small bar or an enormous art-deco theater, involves coming together in community and sitting without the glowing screen telling you what to think. You can sit and listen, just as hard as you care to, for an hour and a half, and experience art for your ears, provided by real musicians playing instruments made of wood and brass and hair.
New Orleans was home to the first opera performed in the New World, in 1796. Our contributions to the world of art music extends from Joseph Arquier to Edmund Dede all the way through now, with artists like Courtney Bryan and Malcolm Parsons debuting significant works with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra to Terrence Blanchard’s operas performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The season for art music begins in the fall, with multiple chamber music festivals, three full symphony orchestras (including the Grammy-winning LPO, which is the only professional symphony between Houston and Tampa Bay.) The city is also home to a ballet troupe and two opera companies (one of which is the amazing Opera Creole, which debuted the earliest opera written by a Black composer only last year, to international plaudits), numerous composers of film and television, and have dozens of smaller ensembles playing in a variety of venues, musicians of all kinds, a ballet and an opera.
This column seeks to contextualize the city’s booming art music scene, and to introduce readers to the music, and perhaps to dispel longstanding misunderstandings about it. Some perhaps think they don’t like “classical music”...but that’s a weird term used to describe music that has existed in countless forms for hundreds of years. Also, you’ve been listening to it your entire life as the soundtrack to countless film and television productions. A recent study by the Royal Philharmonic suggests that classical music of all kinds is, in fact, very much on the rise with listeners of all ages, as listeners use the power of social media and the internet to search for music that feels authentic.
Symphonic music is also protest music: Beethoven’s thundering denunciation of Napoleon Bonaparte’s appointment as Emperor in his 3rd Symphony (“Eroica”) is a great example, or Shostakovich’s satirical 9th Symphony, mocking the militarism of Stalinist Soviet government. Often it’s politically subversive less because of the intention of the composer and more the setting in which it’s played…and we’re living in a moment where censorship is on the rise. We’ll explore 'forbidden composers' and artistic revolutionaries and their contexts in many of these columns.
And symphonic art music offers an alternative to the commercialism of much of the manufactured music that you hear on streaming platforms or the radio: algorithmically tailored to be popular, it is often so much of so many things that it becomes nearly nothing at all. Another song about how nice it is to sit in a field in a truckful of beer, or the difficulties of finding love while relatively rich and safe – these are the musical equivalent of a pneumatic bolt to your forehead. But experiencing art music in a performance space, whether a small bar or an enormous art-deco theater, involves coming together in community and sitting without the glowing screen telling you what to think. You can sit and listen, just as hard as you care to, for an hour and a half, and experience art for your ears, provided by real musicians playing instruments made of wood and brass and hair.
MENDEL LEE AND THE BATTURE CONTEMPORARY FESTIVAL
Batture Contemporary Festival founder Mendel Lee (photo: Mendel Lee)
The Batture Contemporary Festival (taking place in New Orleans Sept 18th-20th) is all new music, so don’t expect to hear any Beethoven or Brahms. While the term 'new music' might seem self-explanatory, new music composers (sometimes referred to as 'classical contemporary'), while varied in phonic approach and aesthetic, are the avant-garde of the music world. Many look to explore the boundary points of tonality and rhythm, so this festival is going to feel more like an art gallery opening for your ears. Novel and exciting, these shows are also taking place at some really amazing spots to hear music around town. Festival organizer Mendel Lee joined me via email; we spoke of what comprises 'new music' and his journey from traditional music to contemporary art music and, later, the Versipel collective of new music composers that is putting on this one-of-a-kind festival.
David S. Lewis: I think most people see violins and clarinets and expect to hear something that sounds a bit like Beethoven. Will festival attendees be surprised by the music they hear? What really characterizes 'New Music' in the contemporary classical sense of the phrase?
Mendel Lee: I don’t believe that it’s possible to take a broad term like “New Music” and describe specific characteristics of how it sounds any more than we can broadly describe how a 'reality competition show' looks. In the same way that the latter can be one of a wide variety of types (cooking, nature survival, romance), new music covers a diverse spectrum of sonic vocabulary ranging from traditional and familiar sounds and forms to the weirdest and most experimental and avant garde.
David S. Lewis: I think most people see violins and clarinets and expect to hear something that sounds a bit like Beethoven. Will festival attendees be surprised by the music they hear? What really characterizes 'New Music' in the contemporary classical sense of the phrase?
Mendel Lee: I don’t believe that it’s possible to take a broad term like “New Music” and describe specific characteristics of how it sounds any more than we can broadly describe how a 'reality competition show' looks. In the same way that the latter can be one of a wide variety of types (cooking, nature survival, romance), new music covers a diverse spectrum of sonic vocabulary ranging from traditional and familiar sounds and forms to the weirdest and most experimental and avant garde.
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I would instead characterize new music more by its sentiment of discovery. As a composer, my work is a constant journey of discovering my creative voice and my place in the creative landscape. As a performer, I work to learn and discover what the composer is trying to express with their music, how I can derive my own meaning into my performance, and how I can communicate those things to the audience. As an audience member, I walk into a new music concert with a strong sense of curiosity and inquisitive wonder - I get excited about hearing sounds and textures both familiar and unfamiliar. That journey of discovery is different at every stage of that process from a composer’s head to the performer’s page to the listener’s ears, and that’s what makes new music so special. For festival attendees, I certainly hope that they will be surprised by what they hear! Whether that surprise is because a piece of music reframes sounds that are familiar to them or because a piece of music does something unlike anything they have ever heard before, I would definitely feel like I have failed my audience - even those with deep knowledge of new music - if they were not surprised by something.
Tell us about your own introduction to New Music, and why it appealed to you so much. Was there a moment where you said, 'Wow, this is really the kind of thing I want to explore?'
While I had a glimpse of new music when I was in high school thanks to a friend who introduced me to Steve Reich, my true introduction to new music was in the third year of my undergraduate degree as a struggling music education major. At the time I was feeling burnt out and uninspired by my potential future as a K-12 music teacher, enough that I was in danger of failing out of my degree.
While I had a glimpse of new music when I was in high school thanks to a friend who introduced me to Steve Reich, my true introduction to new music was in the third year of my undergraduate degree as a struggling music education major. At the time I was feeling burnt out and uninspired by my potential future as a K-12 music teacher, enough that I was in danger of failing out of my degree.
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At the beginning of my spring semester that year, I randomly decided to go to a new music concert that was being presented by the composition department, not knowing what to expect. Much of the music was unlike anything that I had ever heard before, and it resonated with me so profoundly, single-handedly saving my college career and changing the trajectory of my life. I left that concert with a fresh spark of passion and inspiration, knowing even then that new music was going to be an essential part of the rest of my life. I changed my major to composition soon after, and never looked back.
The degree to which that one concert decades ago still impacts me is the biggest reason why I work so hard to cultivate a new music community and create new music events wherever I go as a means of paying that gift forward. I want to be a conduit that can inspire other people in the same way that I was inspired and pave the way for a new generation of new music enthusiasts, whether creator, performer, or fan.
The degree to which that one concert decades ago still impacts me is the biggest reason why I work so hard to cultivate a new music community and create new music events wherever I go as a means of paying that gift forward. I want to be a conduit that can inspire other people in the same way that I was inspired and pave the way for a new generation of new music enthusiasts, whether creator, performer, or fan.
All of these musicians are perfectly capable of playing more traditional symphonic music, so what makes them want to play music that is perhaps atonal, and sometimes sounds dissonant or even abrasive?
Every new music performer has different motivations that draw them to new music, but I think one of the overarching commonalities is that new music has the capacity to give performers more agency to inject their own unique creative personality that historic music generally doesn’t allow.
Every new music performer has different motivations that draw them to new music, but I think one of the overarching commonalities is that new music has the capacity to give performers more agency to inject their own unique creative personality that historic music generally doesn’t allow.
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For example, there are so many recordings of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas by the best violinists in the world - as a violinist today, what else can they bring that is uniquely theirs to the table? What else is there to say? With new music, performers can claim more ownership, particularly with composers that are writing specifically for them. The best collaborations I’ve had as a composer have been ones where I felt like I wasn’t writing the work for them as much as I was writing the work with them. There’s something really special about that creative relationship that isn’t possible with a non-living composer.
I also think it’s important to dissect the exact wording of your question. I would stress that “atonal” and “dissonant” do not necessarily coincide with “abrasive” or “ugly”. I’ve heard atonal and dissonant music that I find beautiful, peaceful, or joyful, just like I’ve heard tonal and consonant music that has felt so tense to me that it made me physically anxious. The more an audience can be exposed to a variety of sonic vocabularies that spread across a wide and broad spectrum of tonality or nontonality, the easier it becomes to shed these kinds of default associations and form more objective opinions that are unique and true to every individual.
That’s exactly why new music festivals like Batture Contemporary or organizations like Versipel New Music exist - to widen the audience member’s comfort zone and transform their understanding of what music can be for them. Unfamiliar music that may at first feel like a harsh experience of chaotic and directionless noise can at the very least evolve to become something they identify as more deliberate and meaningful. And while achieving that familiarity will not necessarily make an audience member like some of the music - there’s plenty of new music that I don’t like - increasing that familiarity and normalizing what was once weird and avant garde can better help them discover exactly what they do or do not like and open up whole new worlds of music that they can enjoy and love.
I also think it’s important to dissect the exact wording of your question. I would stress that “atonal” and “dissonant” do not necessarily coincide with “abrasive” or “ugly”. I’ve heard atonal and dissonant music that I find beautiful, peaceful, or joyful, just like I’ve heard tonal and consonant music that has felt so tense to me that it made me physically anxious. The more an audience can be exposed to a variety of sonic vocabularies that spread across a wide and broad spectrum of tonality or nontonality, the easier it becomes to shed these kinds of default associations and form more objective opinions that are unique and true to every individual.
That’s exactly why new music festivals like Batture Contemporary or organizations like Versipel New Music exist - to widen the audience member’s comfort zone and transform their understanding of what music can be for them. Unfamiliar music that may at first feel like a harsh experience of chaotic and directionless noise can at the very least evolve to become something they identify as more deliberate and meaningful. And while achieving that familiarity will not necessarily make an audience member like some of the music - there’s plenty of new music that I don’t like - increasing that familiarity and normalizing what was once weird and avant garde can better help them discover exactly what they do or do not like and open up whole new worlds of music that they can enjoy and love.
Is there room for more 'traditional' sounding music in the New Music/contemporary category?
Absolutely there is! I think that new music as a whole is at its best when it is diverse, honest, and true in its intent, and that includes the many living composers and new music performers that resonate with the deep roots of our classical music history. Ultimately it’s up to every individual to discover the composers and performers they relate to the most and use them as reference points to expand their listening library.
Absolutely there is! I think that new music as a whole is at its best when it is diverse, honest, and true in its intent, and that includes the many living composers and new music performers that resonate with the deep roots of our classical music history. Ultimately it’s up to every individual to discover the composers and performers they relate to the most and use them as reference points to expand their listening library.
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My discovery of Steve Reich early in my life led me to discover John Adams, David Lang, Michael Gordon, and countless others that are minimalist or minimalist adjacent. The fact that that pathway of discovery is different for everyone is what makes new music exciting, because I firmly believe that while not all new music is for everyone, there is new music out there for everyone.
How would you characterize the relationship between the composers and the audience in avant garde music? It is probably fair to suggest most composers want their audience to feel something, or to think about the music. Are (non-musical, lay) audiences much of a consideration for composers working in new music?
This may seem like a cop-out answer, but I truly believe that the answer from a composer’s perspective is that there is no answer. Every composer has their own motivation for the whys and the hows behind their craft and what they are ultimately trying to achieve, and every single one of those motivations are different.
This may seem like a cop-out answer, but I truly believe that the answer from a composer’s perspective is that there is no answer. Every composer has their own motivation for the whys and the hows behind their craft and what they are ultimately trying to achieve, and every single one of those motivations are different.
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If you were to ask that question of me, I do have a natural desire for validation in my work and for audiences to like the music that I write, but at the same time, allowing the audience to dictate my whys and hows would feel dishonest. I adhere to a life principle that people are going to love me or hate me no matter what I do, so the best thing to do is be my true self, naturally pulling those that like me for who I truly am into my orbit. I try to apply this principle as a composer too, which means placing trust that there is an audience for my true creative voice that will come to me without me feeling the need to cater to them.
That said, I feel a different responsibility as a new music presenter. In that, I feel a strong obligation to curate a meaningful and worthwhile experience for all of the individuals in my audience. For a generalized public, my main objective is to dispel the common myths and biases that place all new music into this uninviting and inaccessible box and instead showcase that new music can be diverse and welcoming. If I can successfully capture that sentiment and cultivate that understanding in even one person at my event, I count that as a success.
That said, I feel a different responsibility as a new music presenter. In that, I feel a strong obligation to curate a meaningful and worthwhile experience for all of the individuals in my audience. For a generalized public, my main objective is to dispel the common myths and biases that place all new music into this uninviting and inaccessible box and instead showcase that new music can be diverse and welcoming. If I can successfully capture that sentiment and cultivate that understanding in even one person at my event, I count that as a success.
Some people struggle to listen to 'classical music' because they feel like (or have been told) they don't 'understand' it. If someone is unsure they understand Bach or Mozart well enough to get artistic satisfaction from it, how would you suggest they attempt to understand what they hear at Batture?
Personally, I think that while understanding can provide someone with a deeper listening experience, it’s not a prerequisite to having a valid opinion or reaction to what they hear. A well-crafted mystery is one where the audience can benefit from multiple viewings. The first time through, there’s the thrill of the mystery itself and the satisfaction of that mystery being unlocked. The second time and times after are opportunities for the audience to discover what sort of clues might have been revealed under their noses, recontextualized by knowing the ending, especially if the mystery has a memorable twist. New music is its own sort of mystery box, and while multiple listenings can reveal and unlock greater levels of understanding and more refined reactions with a different contextual understanding of what one hears, I think it’s important to recognize that the initial experience and any opinions that spring from that have their place and legitimacy even if they change. So for an audience member that is worried about 'understanding' classical music, particularly new music, my suggestion would be to relieve the pressure they might feel that they are required to understand anything. Just go to the concert and embrace that sense of discovery and the thoughts and feelings that arise from that. If what you hear is not for you, then no harm done, and I thank you for giving it a chance. If what you hear sparks enough curiosity to unlock more of that new music mystery box, the community is here to help.
The Batture Contemporary Festival takes place from Sept 18th-20th. Venues include NEW MARIGNY THEATRE
(2301 Marais Street), HOTEL PETER AND PAUL (2317 Burgundy Street), DIXON ANNEX RECITAL HALL
(68 Newcomb Circle) and THE DOMINO LOUNGE (3044 St. Claude Ave). Click here for event information and ticketing.
AN INTRODUCTION TO 'CLASSICALLY UNTRAINED', OUR NEW MUSIC COLUMN
Personally, I think that while understanding can provide someone with a deeper listening experience, it’s not a prerequisite to having a valid opinion or reaction to what they hear. A well-crafted mystery is one where the audience can benefit from multiple viewings. The first time through, there’s the thrill of the mystery itself and the satisfaction of that mystery being unlocked. The second time and times after are opportunities for the audience to discover what sort of clues might have been revealed under their noses, recontextualized by knowing the ending, especially if the mystery has a memorable twist. New music is its own sort of mystery box, and while multiple listenings can reveal and unlock greater levels of understanding and more refined reactions with a different contextual understanding of what one hears, I think it’s important to recognize that the initial experience and any opinions that spring from that have their place and legitimacy even if they change. So for an audience member that is worried about 'understanding' classical music, particularly new music, my suggestion would be to relieve the pressure they might feel that they are required to understand anything. Just go to the concert and embrace that sense of discovery and the thoughts and feelings that arise from that. If what you hear is not for you, then no harm done, and I thank you for giving it a chance. If what you hear sparks enough curiosity to unlock more of that new music mystery box, the community is here to help.
The Batture Contemporary Festival takes place from Sept 18th-20th. Venues include NEW MARIGNY THEATRE
(2301 Marais Street), HOTEL PETER AND PAUL (2317 Burgundy Street), DIXON ANNEX RECITAL HALL
(68 Newcomb Circle) and THE DOMINO LOUNGE (3044 St. Claude Ave). Click here for event information and ticketing.
AN INTRODUCTION TO 'CLASSICALLY UNTRAINED', OUR NEW MUSIC COLUMN