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Festival of New American Music
About the Festival
Mark your calendars for the next 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 California State University, 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
The 3rd Annual Call for Scores is open to composers of any age. Applicants must reside in the United States, Mexico, or Canada. The competition is judged by composition faculty and ensemble directors at the California State University, Sacramento School of Music as well as by nationally and internationally recognized festival guest composers. The winning pieces in each category will receive a performance at the 2025 Festival of New American Music. The submission deadline is July 15. The application fee is $15 for each work submitted.
This year's categories are:
- Category A (Four Corners Ensemble): Submitted works may be scored for any subset of the full instrumentation of flute (doubles piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (A and Eb clarinets), violin, cello, and piano. One work will be selected and performed by the resident ensemble, Four Corners Ensemble.
- Category B (Saxophone): Submitted works must be scored for any of the following instrumentations: Solo Saxophone, Saxophone and Piano, Saxophone Duo (two Saxophones), Piano Trio (2 Saxophones with Piano), Solo Saxophone with Fixed Media, and Saxophone Duo with Fixed Media. One work will be selected and performed by the resident artist and saxophonist, Carrie Koffman and other guest artists.
- Category C (Chorus): Submitted works must be scored for mixed choir in 4-6 parts, with moderate divisi, with keyboard accompaniment. One winning work will be performed by Sacramento State University Chorale with director Dr. Brett Judson.
- Category D (Wind Ensemble) : Submitted works should be scored for standard wind band instrumentation (Piccolo, Flute 1.2, Oboe 1.2, Bassoon 1.2, Bb Clarinet 1.2.3, Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax 1.2, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Trumpet 1.2.3, Horn 1.2.3.4, Trombone 1.2.3 (bass), Euphonium, Tuba, Double Bass, Precision (5 players). One winning work will be performed by Sacramento State Symphonic Wind Ensemble with director Dr. Matthew Morse.
NOVEMBER 2 - Opening Gala, 3:00pm
The Festival opens with the Gala performance on Sunday, November 2 at 3:00 p.m. Featured on the program will be the Sac State Choirs performing the Call for Scores winner, as well as Metaphor Percussion, and more TBA.
NOVEMBER 3 - Faculty Jazz Nonet, 7:00pm
Our faculty jazz nonet 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 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 8 - Closing Concert, 7:00pm
The Festival wraps up on Saturday, November 8 with performances by Sac State's Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, with featured guest composer Clarice Assad. Assad, who will be giving a keynote speech/pre-concert talk at 6:00pm, 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
Sac State 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 Guest Account, 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