Mission

New Downbeat's mission is to present accessible, engaging, and diverse new music performances featuring women musicians and living composers. Rooted in a foundation of intersectional feminism, New Downbeat champions women musicians as an act of equity, and performs works written by living composers to collaborate on and create unique, never before heard pieces.

Our Story

New Downbeat is a new music collective featuring women musicians who perform works exclusively by living composers. Founded in 2019 by bassoonist Caroline Sackleh, New Downbeat began as a group of likeminded, classically trained musicians and composers who wanted more - to create performance opportunities that celebrate women’s musicianship and to collaborate with living composers to create something special, together.

By nature of our mission, we actively work with musicians and living composers in everything we do, prioritizing those at the intersection of race and gender. Through our work, we have come to collaborate with organizations including New Music Gathering, Hear Us, Hear Them, Lives United/Vidas Unidas, and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; with many more promising partnerships being planned for the future.

Since its inaugural concert in 2019, New Downbeat has commissioned, collaborated on, and performed 45 new music premieres written by their Composers in Residence. Other programming includes concerts dedicated to living composers from around the world, and a virtual International Women’s Day commission each season. We are fortunate to have the tight knit audience of new music enthusiasts that we do here in Cincinnati, as well as our supporters online from across the world.

Currently, New Downbeat’s roster includes 28 musicians, 6 composers, and is administered by Directors Caroline Sackleh, Alexis Shambley and Julianna Eidle.