Mr. Karchin’s work as a conductor and organizer of new music events began as an undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music, where he and colleagues Morris Rosenzweig, Bruce Hangen, and Henry Gwizda organized Zeitgeist in Musik, a new music ensemble. At the time, Eastman’s Musica Nova was on hiatus, and Zeitgeist filled the gap, presenting concerts at Eastman primarily in the 1971-72 season.

At Harvard University, Karchin and colleague Paul Salerni formed the Harvard Group for New Music, dedicated to the presentation of works by both Harvard graduate student composers and established senior figures. The organization presented concerts from 1975-6 through 1977-78, and performers included a mix of professional musicians and Harvard students. After Karchin and Salerni completed their studies and left Harvard, the Group was dormant for a while, but later resumed activities. It subsequently received a generous endowment and is now (in 2026) the primary forum for the presentation of graduate student composition at Harvard.

Shortly after arriving in New York in 1979, Mr. Karchin was invited to become a member of the League-ISCM, and from 1981 to ‘83 served as president of the organization. In 1984, he and colleagues Robert Black and Morris Rosenzweig founded the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM to recognize the expert performers regularly presenting new works on its behalf. The Chamber Players performed numerous concerts over the next decade at Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Hall) and Merkin Concert Hall. Mr. Karchin frequently conducted the ensemble, as did Mr. Rosenzweig and Mr. Black.

In 1992, Mr. Karchin organized a graduate program in music composition (M. A. and Ph. D.) for the Faculty of Arts and Science Music Department at NYU. He also co-directed the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society (WSCMS) with his NYU colleague, composer Brian Fennelly. In 2003, the Society formed a resident ensemble, the Washington Square Ensemble, and with this group, Karchin, along with conductor Paul Hostetter, conducted performances both at the NYU Theater (now the Lowe Theater) and at Merkin Concert Hall. The group was also invited to perform at Miller Theater, Columbia University, and at Harvard University’s Paine Hall. In 2007, it performed as the accompanying ensemble of Karchin’s first opera, Romulus, at the Guggenheim Museum’s Peter B. Lewis Theater. The group continues to perform as part of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, and the Society is now in its 48th season (as of 2026).

In 2009, Mr. Karchin, along with colleagues David Gordon (president of the League-ISCM) and flutist Sue Ann Kahn, founded the Orchestra of the League of Composers. The ensemble gave its debut concert at Miller Theater, Columbia University, on June 10, 2009, with Mr. Karchin conducting. The orchestra garnered widespread attention and favorable reviews, including one by NY Times’s chief critic, Anthony Tomassini. (Note to Mark: link here to Times review, which is in Special Projects). Orchestral concerts (“Seasons Finales”) followed in subsequent seasons, with a hiatus only during the pandemic years. During this time, Mr. Karchin served as Music Director and principal conductor.

Videos of the orchestra’s performances between 2013 and 2025 may be found on the League-ISCM website, at https://www.youtube.com/user/leagueiscm. (Audio-only documentation exists for earlier concerts.) Videos of works conducted by Mr. Karchin are listed below. Other videos are conducted by James Baker, David Fulmer, and Luke Poeppel.

2025

  • Roger Reynolds, Journey
  • Pamela Madsen, Melting Away: Gravity

2024

  • Cynthia Lee Wong, Carnival Fever
  • Robert Carl, White Heron

2023

  • Eleanor Cory, Canyons
  • Jessica Meyer, GAEA Concerto for Viola

2019

  • Friedrich Heinrich Kern, Von Taufedern und Sternen
  • Louis Karchin, Four Songs on Poems of Seamus Heaney
  • Thea Musgrave, Aurora

2018

  • Hayes Biggs Symphonia Brevis
  • Du Yun Impeccable Quake

2017

  • Avro Pärt: Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
  • Sheree Clement, Stories I Cannot Tell You
  • Fred Lerdahl, Time and Again

2016

  • Felipe Lara, Fringes
  • Huck Hodge, Alêtheia

2015

  • Kaija Saariaho, Leino Songs
  • Paul Moravec, Sempre Diritto!

2013

  • Eve Beglarian, Waiting for Billy Floyd
  • Keith Fitch, In Memory