BAM Announces 2010 Next Wave Festival, Plus Fun Fact: Sufjan Stevens Got Paid $147,338 For His 2007 BQE Commission
Another year, another Next Wave Festival: the 2010 edition, BAM announced today, will feature--among many other works--the American premiere of Delusion, "a far-reaching work exploring memory and identity" from new music doyenne Laurie Anderson, Red Hot + New Orleans, a Big Easy tribute from Treme's Trombone Shorty, and Brooklyn Omnibus, a song-cycle about life in Kings County from Passing Strange's Stew and his band, the Negro Problem. The latter was commissioned specifically by BAM for the occasion, which got us wondering: what will a splashy Next Wave premiere run you these days? 
Music fans will recall Sufjan Stevens's The BQE, another BAM Next Wave commission. That "cinematic suite"-cum-hula-hoop-assisted ode to Brooklyn's most terrifying stretch of road had its premiere in 2007, long enough ago to show up on BAM's tax records, which--because of the organization's non-profit status--are public. Stevens's total compensation, for three sold-out performances of a half-hour symphony written specifically for the occasion? $147, 338. No idea whether the hula hoop money came out of that figure or not, but there you have it. Wonder if Stew's getting more or less?
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