Staff
Jenny Beck – Co-Founder and Executive Director of NMOP
As the Director of Point CounterPoint, a children’s chamber music camp which was started in 1963, Jenny was convinced that new music should be heard and celebrated. Beck recruited composer Kathryn Alexander, Professor at Yale University, to co-found a two-week summer festival devoted to music by young composers. And in June 2011 New Music On The Point (NMOP) entered the music world. NMOP emphasizes the creation and performance of new music including voice, reflecting Jenny Beck’s long-time love of vocal music.
Juraj Kojš – Interim-Artistic Director and Faculty
Juraj Kojš, Interim-Artisitc Director of New Music On The Point, from Slovakia and the USA, engages with various artistic disciplines such as music, sound art, poetry, mixed media, multimedia, theater, and technology. Referring to himself as an “artphibian,” emphasizing his migration between different art forms and his strong commitment to engagement. In addition to creating his own works, Juraj finds joy in producing the works of others, conducting scholarly research, and teaching. Juraj has received numerous awards for his works, including accolades from Europe—A Sound Panorama, the Miami New Times Best Off Award, the Eastman Electroacoustic Composition and Performance Competition, and the Digital Art Award. Critics describe his works as striking, unforgettable, enthralling, immersive, profound, unexpected, and enjoyable. Various organizations, such as The Knight Foundation, Miami Light Project, and Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, have commissioned works from Juraj. His compositions have been performed by renowned musicians and ensembles, including Tomoko Mukaiyama, Blair McMillen, Margaret Lancaster, and the Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble. Juraj has published research articles in respected journals like Organized Sound, Digital Creativity, and Leonardo Music Journal. He serves as the director of the Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA) based in Miami. Holding a Ph.D. in Composition and Computer Technologies from the University of Virginia, Juraj has taught at institutions such as Yale, Stanford, and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
Kerrith Livengood – Assistant Artistic Director
Kerrith Livengood’s works have been performed at SEAMUS, KISS 2018, ACO’s SONiC Festival, June in Buffalo, Bargemusic, CCM’s MusicX festivals, the North American Saxophone Alliance annual conference, the Atlantic Music Festival, the Contemporary Undercurrent of Song series, the Cortona Sessions, and Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s Conductors Festival. She has composed works for the JACK Quartet, Third Angle Ensemble, Duo Cortona, Altered Sound Duo, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie and pianist Adam Marks, soprano Amy Petrongelli, and the h2 Quartet. Her works feature unexpected musical forms, complex grooves, lyricism, noise, and humor. Her string quartet This Is My Scary Robot Voice, performed by the Argus Quartet, features speech rhythms intoning an anxious inner monologue, which the New York Times described as “sketchy seeming.” Kerrith’s set of Four Jennifer L. Knox Songs including “Hot Ass Poem” for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano, features shouting, theatrical ogling, and pretty bird-like flute chirps. Kerrith is also a flutist, drummer, and improviser. She has premiered many new works by young composers with members of the JACK Quartet, eighth blackbird and the American Modern Ensemble, and once played a wild duet in concert with Anthony Braxton. She is a native of Springfield, Missouri, and previously taught composition and music theory at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Kerrith is Assistant Director of the New Music On The Point Festival, an annual summer festival for young composers and performers.
Brian Riordan – Technical Director
Brian Riordan is a composer, performer, improviser, producer, and sound artist originally from Chicago, IL. He is currently a PhD candidate in Music Composition and Theory at University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches a class he designed called “Programming Environments in Music: An Introduction to Max/MSP”. His research interests are in temporal discontinuity, delay-based performance, real-time digital signal processing, and laptop performance aesthetics. As an avid collaborator, he has performed in numerous ensembles ranging from rock, jazz, classical, and experimental throughout North American, Europe, and Asia. His compositions have been performed by The JACK Quartet, The Callithumpian Consort, Wet Ink Ensemble, andPlay, The Meridian Arts Ensemble, Kamraton, Untwelve, The H2 Quartet, Alia Musica, Wolftrap, and his compositions have been featured at STEIM, SEAMUS, SICPP, New Music On The Point, SPLICE, and The Walden Creative Musicians Retreat. As a member of the Pittsburgh ensemble “How Things Are Made,” he produced and performed on over 70 recordings for the group and have commissioned 52 compositions.
Emmanuel Berrido – Assistant Technical Director
Emmanuel “Manny” Berrido is a Dominican-American composer with a passion for telling stories through sound and images. His work has been performed by a variety of artists including the JACK Quartet and the Amernet String Quartet, cellists Megan Chartier, and Craig Mehler, violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, the Illinois Modern Ensemble, and the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra. Notable experiences have included participation at the American Composer’s Orchestra EarShot Readings with the Grand Rapids Symphony, the New Music Miami Festival, the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, and the Ball State University Festival of New Music. He has been the recipient of the Louis Smadbeck Composition Prize in Ithaca, NY, for his work “Bend the Knee” for brass quintet, the Ithaca College Orchestral Composition Competition for his “Danza Ritual” for orchestra, and the 2022 Pittsburgh Composer’s Project by ensemble NAT 28. Manny is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Pittsburgh, and is the pianist and music director for Pittsburgh-based Latin American music group GAVAS Beat.
Noel Mitchell – Operations Manager
Noel is originally from New Haven, CT, but is no stranger to Vermont. Noel, an amateur violinist and violist started Point CounterPoint as a camper in 2011, came back as a counselor in 2021, and joined the PCP and NMOP staff in 2023. Noel received his degree in Political Science with a concentration in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Connecticut. Noel is alumna of and currently serving on the Board of Directors for Music Haven, a nationally recognized and award winning non-profit organization that provides tuition-free lessons and string instruments to students in the most underserved communities of New Haven. Noel believes that music has the capabilities to cultivate a space where all individuals feel encouraged and empowered to take part-in the creation of art and self expression. Through music, individuals are provided an opportunity for deeper understanding and self-reflection, which is an integral part of breaking down artificial barriers within all spaces for a more inclusive environment. When he is not working at NMOP, Noel can be found jamming to good tunes, cradling his dogs, Covi and Draco, or hanging out with his brothers! Noel is very excited to be back working on Lake Dunmore, and watching the participants grow as musicians and people!