Foundation for Modern Music Inc. (FMM) makes modern music accessible and enjoyable. It was established in 1986, originally to produce high-quality recordings of music by 20th-century composers. Then in 1999, acclaimed composer and performer Robert Avalon became artistic director. He initiated new programs and turned the organization into one of the leading sources of modern music in Houston today. In addition to producing recordings of 21st-century music, FMM now offers concerts, educational programs and a competition for composers that attracts applicants and attention from across the nation.

“Our first three annual competitions were restricted to young composers in the Houston area,” says president Gary Chamness. “But for the upcoming fourth annual Robert Avalon Composers Competition, we now have high school, college and professional categories, and we have received almost 40 applications from all over the country and beyond. We named the competition in Robert’s honor after he passed away in 2004, before his vision of the competition became a reality. Now the competition brings new music and world premieres to Houston, adding to the city’s reputation as a major cultural center.”

Artistic director Raúl Orlando Edwards explains, “We want to create a new generation of music lovers, who will keep the art form alive for many years to come.” In addition to the competition, FMM’s Music of Today concerts, under Edwards’s guidance, bring modern music to the city throughout the year and in a variety of venues. The concerts, which feature music by composers of our time, are performed by both seasoned and rising young musicians. As Chamness explains, the concerts dispel common notions about the genre. “The aversion to modern music occurred when composers were producing very cerebral music by extremely complicated formulas and rules; they forgot that music was to be listened to and enjoyed,” he says. “We present music that may be more dissonant, more percussive and edgier than was popular 100 years ago, but there is much produced now that is quite beautiful and worth hearing.” FMM has presented the work of more than 140 composers and employed over 200 performers through its popular concert series.

Chamness says, “Our modern era can be edgy and noisy, so it’s not inappropriate for some new music to sound the same way. But like life, it’s not always like that. There are new expressions to be made in music, in poetry, in art of all sorts, and they all reflect, inform and grace our time.”