MusicNOW Festival

The 2006 Festival was held at the Contemporary Arts Center, April 26–30, and featured Awadagin Pratt, CelloProject, Bell Orchestre, Glenn Kotche, Clogs, The Books, David Cossin, Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Erik Friedlander, Bell Orchestre,

The 2007 festival took place April 5-7 and featured Amiina, My Brightest Diamond, Pedro Soler, Clogs, David Cossin, Amiina, Irena & Vojtech Havel, Sufjan Stevens

In 2008, Andrew Bird, fresh from recording, shared many of the songs from his recent release. The first evening of festival featured world premieres from Doveman and Aaron Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens.

Additional performances by Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bill Frisell, Grizzly Bear, The Dirty Projectors, Ben Verdery, and Glenn Kotche.

For 2009, the Kronos Quartet was in residence. Acclaimed kora player, Toumani Diabate performed a solo concert at the Cincinnati Zoo. The Books made a return appearance previewing material from their 2010 release. Festival commissions included two pieces for the Kronos Quartet, one from Richard Reed Parry and one from Tyondai Braxton.

The fifth annual event featured three nights of music from March 30 to April 1, including performances from Robin Pecknold, Joanna Newsom, yMusic, St. Vincent, Colin Stetson, and Justin Vernon

In its sixth year, the MusicNOW Festival featured performances from The National, Sharon Van Etten, Little Scream, Owen Pallett, Tim Hecker, Shara Worden, Richard Reed Parry, yMusic, Megafaun, and Sounds of the South, a collaboration between Megafaun and Fight the Big Bull.

In its seventh year, the 2012 MusicNOW Festival featured performances by Sandro Perri, eighth blackbird with Philip Glass, Sam Amidon, Pedro Soler and Gaspar Claus, James McVinnie and a workshop presentation of the Planetarium song cycle from Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens, Richard Reed Parry, This is the Kit and Bryce Dessner.

In its eighth year, the MusicNOW Festival featured performances from Glen Hansard, Tinariwen and Steve Reich among others. It also featured artwork by Cincinnati-born artists Nathlie Provosty and Jessie Henson.

In its ninth year, the MusicNOW Festival featured performances from eighth blackbird, Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Olga Bell, Louis Langree, Bonnie "prince" Billy and more. It featured musical compositions by Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Nico Muhly, Scriabin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jonny Greenwood, David Lang, and Prokofiev.

MusicNOW celebrated its decennial with five nights of music spread throughout three venues. Performers included Lone Bellow Perfume Genius, Mina Tindle, The National, and Will Butler. This year also celebrated the release of a ten-year compilation album, featuring a decade of music performed at the festival.

In its eleventh year, MusicNOW Festival featured Punch Brothers, Sam Amidon, Luluc and Chris Thile, as well as performances by Kronos Quartet, Musical America Artist of the Year Jenny Koh, and Composer-in-Residence and Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Wolfe. The weekend also included a special world premiere full orchestra version of Bryce Dessner's Aheym, performed by the CSO and Kronos Quartet, as well as the U.S. premiere of Dessner's Réponse Lutoslawski, performed by the CSO.

In its twelfth year, MusicNOW Festival featured Bob Weir and the Campfire Band, Lisa Hannigan, and LNZNDRF. In collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the festival presented the acclaimed Play by Grawemeyer Award winning composer Andrew Norman, as well as the Pulitzer shortlisted The Banister Chronicles performed and composed by Timo Andres. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto performed György Ligeti's violin concerto as well as two pre show concerts. The orchestra was conducted by Matthias Pintscher, also performed Aerialty composed by Anna S Þorvaldsdóttir and Idyl by Pintscher and accompanied Lisa Hannigan with new orchestrations written by Timo Andres, Bryce Dessner and André_de_Ridder.

This was supposed to return after two years following its last in 2018. The Black Lives Matter protests, coupled by the pandemic, caused the 14th festival to defer to 2021.

• Official website
• MusicNOW Festival retrospective
• 2009 headliners from Nonesuch Records
• 2008 local preview from Soapbox