The International Contemporary Ensemble Announces Billy Fidler as Executive Director

For Immediate Release
Contact: Leah Rankin | Morahan Arts & Media
leah@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

The International Contemporary Ensemble Announces 
Billy Fidler as Executive Director

iceorg.org

September 4, 2025 (New York, NY) —  The International Contemporary Ensemble announced today that Billy Fidler has proudly joined the Ensemble as its Executive Director.

The International Contemporary Ensemble is a leading force shaping the future of new music, curating each season with a spirit of adventure, exploration, and freedom. By cultivating deep relationships with artists to develop groundbreaking new works, the Ensemble continues to influence the direction of the field and redefine the possibilities of contemporary music worldwide. 

“I’m thrilled to welcome Billy as the new executive director of the International Contemporary Ensemble,” says Sayiddah McCree, Co-President of the Board. “He brings a visionary approach centered on collaboration with the musicians, staff, and artistic director—strengthening the Ensemble through its collective genius. His exceptional administrative and managerial skills, combined with a profound commitment to deep listening, will empower the Ensemble as it enters its next chapter.”

“I am honored to join the International Contemporary Ensemble,” says Billy Fidler, “and could not be more excited to work together with the incredible and talented musicians, Artistic Director George Lewis, staff, and Board in the next chapter of this storied group. At every level, the Ensemble's commitment to innovation, collaboration, and creative risk-taking is unmatched, and its championing of diverse artistic voices is more important than ever. I am energized for the new work ahead of us, continuing to build on the spirit of exploration and experimentation with artists and audiences alike.”

A classically trained percussionist with over a decade of leadership experience in New York City’s most dynamic arts and philanthropic institutions, Billy Fidler brings a rare blend of artistic insight, strategic fundraising expertise, and entrepreneurial awareness to the role. He has held key development roles at leading cultural institutions, including Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, City Parks Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation, and most recently served as Campaign Director for the NYC Green Fund, where he led a $25 million fundraising effort to support community-led work in parks and public spaces across the five boroughs. Fidler is driven by a belief that transformative art should be accessible to all, and is honored to help lead the Ensemble into its next chapter of bold artistic innovation.

“I am most excited that Billy has joined us,” says Artistic Director George Lewis. “His vast experience as an arts professional and his progressive and creative ideas bode well for our journey together. Billy understands the life-changing potential of the new and experimental in encouraging audiences to embrace the practice of freedom.”

This season, the Ensemble embarks on a journey of collaborative exploration, presenting bold projects that challenge and expand how we experience sound. Season highlights include groundbreaking collaborations with multidisciplinary artists Jennie C.?Jones and Stephen?Prina, reflecting the Ensemble’s fearless spirit of innovation. The acclaimed Composing While Black series also returns, with powerful concerts and residencies at Wien Modern and Oberlin Conservatory, spotlighting visionary composers such as Hannah Kendall, Anthony Braxton, Tyshawn Sorey, and Courtney Bryan.

The International Contemporary Ensemble is excited to carry forward its mission this season under the experienced leadership and thoughtful direction of Executive Director Billy Fidler.

About the International Contemporary Ensemble
Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is dedicated to supporting living composers through commissioning, developing, and premiering new works. Now in its third decade, ICE has premiered over 1,000 works and plays a pivotal role in launching and shaping the careers of today’s most influential composers. Through its bold programming and innovative curation, ICE continues to redefine the possibilities of contemporary music.

ICE has brought its vision of a mosaic musical ecosystem to festivals and venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall, Maerzmusik/Berliner Festspiele, Warsaw Autumn, Miller Theatre Composer Portraits, Museum of Modern Art New York, Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow, HEAR NOW Los Angeles, Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, NYU Skirball, Pioneer Works, Oberlin College, House of World Cultures, Ojai Music Festival, Peabody Conservatory, TIME:SPANS Festival, Big Ears Festival, Adelaide Festival, the Dutch National Opera, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Walt Disney Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Japan Society.

Through trailblazing initiatives such as the Call for ____ Commission Program and Ensemble Evolution (in partnership with The New School’s College of Performing Arts), the Ensemble has had a major impact on the contemporary performance ecosystem in New York City, nationally, and internationally, supporting the creativity of its composer-collaborators and presenting workshops and performances for hundreds of student composers. Many of the Ensemble’s composer-collaborators have developed highly influential careers, such as Du Yun, who won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for the opera Angel’s Bone, which the Ensemble developed and premiered, and MacArthur Fellows Courtney Bryan and Tyshawn Sorey, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize.

The Ensemble’s Digitice platform provides high-quality video documentation for artist-collaborators, as well as public access to an archive of composers’ workshops and performances. In addition, the Ensemble continues to build space for dialogue on equity, and has facilitated New Music Virtual Town Hall meetings for peer organizations and individual musicians to share resources, processes, and initiatives around equity and inclusion.

Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the Ensemble. Read more at www.iceorg.org 

??The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2025-26 concert season are made possible by the generous support of our board of directors, many individuals, as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, The Arlene and Larry Dunn Fund for Afrodiasporic Music, Fromm Music Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State Legislature. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Photo credit: Eryc Perez de Tagle

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