Dave received a grant from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music to produce his fourth album Rivers in the Desert.
“There is much to lament [in American society], in Meder’s view. But there is still a shared American life to celebrate, and anyone — with faith or none — can practice hope as a spiritual discipline.” - Lucinda Breeding-Gonzales
Dave is selected for 2024-2026 cohort of the Texas Touring Roster. Interested presenters can receive state grant funds to present Dave at their venue, festival or school.
Dave was selected for the 2024 cohort of the Performing Arts Discovery program of the Western Arts Alliance. He will perform a live showcase at the organization’s annual conference in 2024 and a virtual showcase video is stored here for interested presenters.
Dave received a second competitive touring grant from South Arts to take the ‘New American Hymnal’ Quartet on a short tour through Florida.
“New American Hymnal is strong and commanding…Meder has created compelling compositions and brought together a great quartet performing non-religious songs of worship which directly address our American civic and cultural experiment.” - Anna Steegmann
‘New American Hymnal’ makes the Jazziz Editor’s Choice for late October 2023 releases, alongside albums of Samara Joy, Aaron Diehl, Joey Alexander, John Scofield, and others.
John Chacona for AAJ writes: "Hymn tunes are having a bit of a moment…Meder goes a step further by making the communal nature of hymn-singing a metaphor for the current state of society in the United States…Sing Hallelujah!”
S. Victor Aaron writes: “Meder has made records touching on the topic of religion. These aren’t religious records, they are pondering, probing and practiced records…the whole quartet seems to be having so much fun just testifyin’ that you could almost forget there’s a thoughtful melody being played, here…”
Dave is one of twelve composers selected to receive the 2022 New Jazz Works commissioning grant from Chamber Music America, funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This grant supports the creation, premiere, and recording of a new extended work over the grant period (2023-2025).