Since its inception in 2011, I’ve been the curator and artistic director of the Ecstatic Music Festival, an annual gathering of adventurous collaborations between innovative artists from different musical worlds. The festival’s musicians — soloists, bands, chamber ensembles, orchestras, and everything in between — hail from diverse musical backgrounds, representing a contemporary culture in which the incorporation of many different influences is the norm, not the exception. In this rich and vibrant post-genre landscape, the Ecstatic Music Festival stands out for its emphasis on collaboration. The festival offers the opportunity for today’s most compelling musicians to work together in exciting new combinations, allowing them to branch out in unexpected directions and explore new territory. From these often surprising collaborations, each exploring the fertile terrain between classical and popular music, a door is opened into a musical future in which artists are free to defy expectations and follow the creative roads that offer the greatest possibility of finding something new.

The Ecstatic Music Festival is presented by Kaufman Music Center in association with New Amsterdam Presents.