Georges Aperghis and the New Generation | ICElab on the MCA Stage, conducted by Ludovic Morlot

May 26, 2012 | 7:30pm
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago
MCA members $22 | Non-members $28 | Students $10

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
Ludovic Morlot, guest conductor
Tony Arnold, soprano

Georges Aperghis is one of Europe’s most influential experimental composers. His aggressive yet playful music pushes the boundaries between classical performance and performance art, asking musicians to stretch the expressive capacities of their instruments and their bodies to create a frenetic wash of sonic energy. Yet despite his substantial European following, Aperghis’s work is almost unknown in the United States. With the support of the French American Cultural Exchange, ICE has commissioned a major new evening-length work from Mr. Aperghis, playfully entitled A Shot in the Dark and will give the work’s Chicago premiere. Also featured on the program are two new chamber works by rising stars and ICElab 2012 composers Patricia Alessandrini and Juan Pablo Carreño.

Georges Aperghis (b. 1945):

Georges Aperghis: Signaux, for two violins and two violas (1978)
Juan Pablo Carreño: Golpe en la diafragma ensemble (2011)
Patricia Alessandrini: Omaggio a Berio -- Sketch (2012)
Georges Aperghis: Shot in the Dark, for flutes, clarinet, horn, trumpet, piano, percussion, strings, and soprano (2011)

ICElab receives leading support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, alongside generous funding from the Greenwall Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

ICE’s collaboration with Patricia Alessandrini and Juan Pablo Carreño is supported by the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE with major support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, Institut Français and the Florence Gould Foundation.

ICE’s 2011-12 MCA Performances are supported by generous grants from the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Amphion Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and a CityArts Program 2 Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.