Members of the critically-acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in a program exploring the female experience of sound and place through the lens of living women composers from around the world. This program will blend unconventional, beautiful, and ethereal music and sounds in the first time ICE has been heard in Charlotte.

PROGRAM

Hannah Kendall: Tuxedo: Between Carnival and Lent (2022/2023)
Osnat Netzer: away dream all away (2015)
Caroline Shaw: Limestone and Felt (2012)
Yu-Hui Chang: Under a Dim Orange Light (2012)
Kaija Saariaho: Changing Light (2002)
Wang Lu: Trinkets (2013)
Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Rain (2010)
Pauline Oliveros: Earth Ears (1989)

PERFORMERS

Alice Teyssier, voice and flute
Josh Modney, violin
Michael Nicolas, cello
Dan Lippel, guitar

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

International Contemporary Ensemble: World Premieres & Recent Works

We’re thrilled to return to Chelsea Factory to present an evening featuring world premieres by Call For ____ composers, Bonita Oliver and Sylvain Souklaye and works composed and performed by Ensemble members.

Last names are the focus of Bonita Oliver’s FOR NAMESAKE - how migration has impacted last names and the people who hold them, the power those names have represented, the impact on shaping communities and the subsequent impact on the earth.

Sylvain Souklaye’s What is left inside? focuses on the origin of language and the discovery of phrases—creating a sociological experience for the audience.

Other featured works include a new percussion duo created by Nathan Davis and Clara Warnaar, a bassoon duo by Fay Victor performed by Varun Rangaswamy and Rebekah Heller. Alice Teyssier and Fay Victor will also perform a duo version of Cathy Berberian's Stripsody.

Note: To participate in Bonita Oliver’s “FOR NAMESAKE,” add your last name here.

PROGRAM

Bonita Oliver: FOR NAMESAKE (2024, World Premiere, commissioned by ICE)
Fay Victor: BassoonIIBassoon (2021)
Cathy Berberian: Stripsody (1966)
Sylvain Souklaye: What is left inside? (2024, World Premiere, commissioned by ICE)
Nathan Davis & Clara Warnaar: Estuary (2024, World Premiere) 

PERFORMERS

Alice Teyssier, voice and flute
Eric Umble, clarinet
Fay Victor, voice
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Varun Rangaswamy, bassoon
Nathan Davis, percussion
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Sylvain Souklaye, performer
Nicholas Houfek, lighting designer

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

Bonita Oliver’s FOR NAMESAKE was commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble with lead support from the Jerome Foundation.
Sylvain Souklaye’s What is Left Inside? was commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble with lead support from the Jerome Foundation.

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

The more diverse the perspectives, the more possibilities. This seemingly simple core idea forms the starting point of the international concert series “Polyaspora” by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). The title is borrowed from the novel “ The Shards of the Earth ” by the British science fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky, published in 2021. Polyaspora describes a state of dispersal of human life throughout the galaxy. Unlike in the diaspora, there is no longer a fixed place that could be called home. Everything is constantly in flux. According to ICE’s Artistic Director, George Lewis, our lives and our perception of the world are already shaped like this today. This is particularly true of the ensemble, founded in 2001, whose practice has always expressed a planetary perspective, which Lewis himself describes as intercultural, intermedial and interdisciplinary. In this sense, ICE will also bring the “previously unheard” to life as part of MaerzMusik. The program includes pieces by Aida Shirazi, Laure M. Hiendl, Raven Chacon and Samir Odeh Tamimi, among others. They will be rehearsed and performed over the course of a five-day residency by six musicians from ICE who work with Berlin artists. The aim is to create a polyaspora of compositions and performances: a complex artistic flow.

PROGRAM

Aida Shirazi: Crystalline Trees (2020)
Raven Chacon: (Bury Me) Where The Lightning [Will] Never Find Me (2019)
Samir Odeh-Tamimi: Philaki (2009)
Jessie Cox: Existence Lies In-Between (2017)
Laure M. Hiendl: String Quartet No. 1 (Tubular—Mondo) (2018)
Charles Uzor: Go (Ballet imaginaire) (1999, rev 2019-2021)

PERFORMERS

Kazem Abdullah, conductor
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flutes
Campbell MacDonald, clarinets 
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Katinka Kleijn, cello

Zafraan ensemble:

Emmanuelle Bernard, violin
Caleb Salgado, double bass
Anna Viechtl, harp

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

International Contemporary Ensemble:
Anthony Davis & Leila Adu-Gilmore

The International Contemporary Ensemble returns to NYU Skirball with a program of works by composer/pianist Anthony Davis and composer/vocalist Leila Adu-Gilmore. The evening will feature Adu-Gilmore’s Mahakala Oratorio (2020-23, world premiere of the live version) and Alyssum (2014); and Davis’s Wayang No. II (Shadowdance) (1982), Clonetics (1983), and a special solo performance by Davis. Drawing on an ultra-cosmopolitan range of musical and cultural sources, Leila Adu-Gilmore and Anthony Davis exemplify some of the many ways in which Afrodiasporic new music becomes revealed as an intercultural, multigenerational space of innovation that offers new subjects, histories, and identities.

After the concert, there will be a post-show talk with Artistic Director George Lewis and composer-performers Anthony Davis and Leila Adu-Gilmore.

PROGRAM

Leila Adu-Gilmore, Mahakala Oratorio (2020-23), for large ensemble (world premiere of the live version)

Leila Adu-Gilmore, Alyssum (2014), for harp and string quartet

Anthony Davis, Wayang No. II (Shadowdance) (1982), for chamber ensemble

Anthony Davis, Clonetics (1983), for chamber ensemble

Anthony Davis, solo piano

PERFORMERS

Anthony Davis, piano
Leila Adu-Gilmore, voice
Kalena Bovell, conductor
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Alice Teyssier, flute & voice
Emmalie Tello, clarinet
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Hugo Moreno, trumpet
Nicolee Kuester, horn
Kalia Vandever, trombone
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Pala García, violin
Kal Sugatski, viola
Chris Gross, cello
Nuiko Wadden, harp
Vicky Chow, piano
Edward Kass, bass
Nathan Davis, percussion
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Pheeroan akLaff, drumset

Aaron Sherwood, Video Artist
Nicholas Houfek, lighting designer

Adu-Gilmore will sing Mahakala Oratorio, which draws inspiration directly from the Buddhist deity of the same name, live for the first time as part of this world premiere performance. In her work, Adu-Gilmore uses ancient texts describing Mahakala as a tool to empower listeners to consider the idea of radical compassion in this era of social, political, and environmental extremism. The music itself reflects Adu-Gilmore’s genre-mixing style, which draws on the traditional music of New Zealand; her informal training in punk, indie, and hip-hop as well as freely improvised music in the African-American free jazz tradition; and formal training for chamber ensemble and orchestra.

Davis’s Wayang series of compositions feature strong, memorable melodies carried by tricky polyrhythms, and sustained by forms of repetition strongly informed by Javanese and Balinese musical culture, particularly wayang kulit, the theatrical son et lumiére form that uses the shadows of articulated two-dimensional puppets in conjunction with gamelan orchestras. Wayang No. II deploys cycles within cycles, advancing complex, overlapping syncopated gestures that seem almost to spontaneously recombine. Clonetics is the fifth and final movement of Davis’s 1983 suite Hemispheres, originally written to accompany the choreography of Molissa Fenley. Davis’s sonic “clones,” or metric blocks of meaning of differing durations, frequently invoke West African forms of musical spirituality. Improvisation in these works requires both virtuoso technique and an ability to rapidly code-switch between different meters and even musical idioms. Davis himself will provide a solo piano reflection during the performance.

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS

Anthony Davis
An internationally recognized composer of operatic, symphonic, choral, and chamber works, Anthony Davis (b. 1951) is one of the best-known composers of his generation in the United States. A virtuoso pianist, Davis is a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow, Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Davis is best known for his pioneering work in opera. Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for his opera The Central Park Five, his now-classic X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which played to sold-out houses at its premiere at the New York City Opera in 1986, was the first of a new American genre: opera on a contemporary political subject. A new production of X was launched in May 2022 at Detroit Opera. Directed by Robert O’Hara to great acclaim, the production made its Metropolitan Opera debut in November 2023, where it was pronounced an American classic.

Leila Adu-Gilmore
Leila Adu-Gilmore, Assistant Professor of Music Technology at NYU, is a composer-performer who has released five solo albums, as well as composed for So Percussion, Useful Chamber, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, the Brentano String Quartet and K.A.T.E.S. She has performed her compositions internationally at Ojai Festival (2016) and as Orchestra Wellington’s Emerging-Composer-in-Residence (2014). Dr Adu-Gilmore composes and produces for dance, theatre, and short film, including rotations on the BBC Knowledge and Fox networks. Of New Zealand Pākehā and Ghanaian descent and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, with family in London, Dr Adu-Gilmore is passionate about the role of music in social change, mental well-being, and human connection. She has worked with musicians across multiple genres including Steve Albini, Kwame Write, GAIKA (Warp Records), Silent Poets, Useful Chamber, Federico Ughi, Jeff Snyder, David Long (The Mutton Birds, Lord of the Rings), Jeff Henderson, Lord Echo, Hannah Marshall, Steve Beresford & Jack Body.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

The pioneering German composer Carola Bauckholt is fond of using noisy sounds, particularly ones produced by unconventional means. Her work focuses on the phenomena of perception and understanding, and her music blurs boundaries between visual arts, musical theater, and concert music. The adventurous International Contemporary Ensemble performs a selection of her works spanning 20 years, anchored by Oh, I See, written for clarinet, violin, cello, video, and two balloons.

PROGRAM

CAROLA BAUCKHOLT Treibstoff (1995)
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT Schlammflocke II (2012)
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT Membran (2014)
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT Oh, I See (2015-16)

PERFORMERS

David Fulmer, conductor
Alice Teyssier, voice
Gareth Flowers, trumpet
Michael Lormand, trombone
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Emmalie Tello, clarinet
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Adrian Morejon, bassoon
Josh Modney, violin
Kyle Armbrust, viola
John Popham, cello
Randy Zigler, bass
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Vicky Chow, piano & voice
Levy Lorenzo, percussion
Nathan Davis, percussion

Nicholas Houfek, lighting designer
Caley Monahon-Ward, audio engineer
Ross Karre, video designer

About The Composer

Carola Bauckholt was born in Krefeld, Germany, in 1959.

After working at the Theater am Marienplatz (TAM), Krefeld for several years, she studied composition at the Musikhochschule Köln with Mauricio Kagel (1978 - 1984). She founded the Thürmchen Verlag (music publisher) along with Caspar Johannes Walter in 1985, and six years later they founded the Thürmchen Ensemble.

​She has received numerous residencies and prizes such as the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Scholarship from the city of Cologne (1986), a residency at the Villa Massimo in Rome (1997), in 1998 she was designated the Artist of the Year by the State of North Rhine Westphalia, and she was selected to represent Germany at the World Music Days in Mexico City 1992, Copenhagen 1996, Seoul 1997 and in Zurich 2004. She was awarded the German Composers Prize from the GEMA in the category of experimental music in 2010. From London International Animation Festival 2019 she received the "Best Sound Design Award" for "The Flounder" in collaboration with Elizabeth Hobbs and Klangforum Wien. For 2021 she has been invited to a three-month stay at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.

She teaches as guest professor in Santiago di Chile (2010), Ostrava Tschechische Republik (2011 and 2013), Amsterdam (2012 and 2014), Krakau (2012), Zürich (2012), Apeldoorn (2013), Kiev (2013) Oslo (2014 and 2015), Mexiko City (2014), Monterrey (2015), London (2015), Moskau and Tschaikovsky City (2016), Valencia (2018), Barcelona (2018 und 2021), Bludenz (2018, 2019), Haifa (2019) Chicago (2019), Luxembourg (2020), Graz (2021) and in Germany.

In 2013, she was elected as a member of Akademie der Künste in Berlin, from November 2021 on as the director of the music section. In 2015, she was appointed as professor of composition with focus on contemporary musictheatre at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz, Austria. In 2020, she was elected as a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.

A central theme of Bauckholt's work is the examination of the phenomena of perception and understanding. Her compositions often blur the boundaries between visual arts, musical theater and concert music. She is especially fond of using noisy sounds, which are often produced by unconventional means (such as extended instrumental techniques or bringing everyday objects to the concert hall). It is important to note that these noises are not just part of some kind of a predetermined compositional structure, but rather they are carefully studied and left free to unfold and develop at their own pace lending the compositions their own unique rhythm.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

We’re excited to return to Roulette with a program of works by composer and installation artist Yvette Janine Jackson! The evening will feature the world premiere of T-Minus, commissioned by the Ensemble and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. This radio opera is part of a series themed around the environmental and socioeconomic impact of space tourism on local communities near launch sites. Also on the program is her piece, Swan, a radio opera without words, a musical journey via acousmatic sound. Not to be missed!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Yvette Janine Jackson’s T-Minus is part of a series of radio operas themed around the environmental and socioeconomic impact of space tourism on local communities near launch sites. The idea was prompted by the livestream of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 in May 2020 which took place at a time when people around the world were taking to the streets in protests against police brutality and systemic racism. The juxtaposition of events evoked a 1970’s Gil Scott-Heron poem come to fruition. T-Minus builds on Left Behind, which was premiered by Jackson’s Radio Opera Workshop ensemble at the Venice Music Biennale, and The Coding, a video concréte influenced by Samuel Delany’s Babel-17 novel that examines the power of language.

Radio opera is a term Jackson first used to describe her narrative electroacoustic compositions, such as the Invisible People series, that frequently forefront historical events and social issues. The term continues to take on new meaning for the composer as she expands these ideas to include live performance, visuals, lighting, and interactivity. Influenced by productions from the Golden Age of Radio Drama, Jackson’s radio operas leave room for the listener’s experiences to give meaning to the music.

Also on the program is Jackson’s Swan. Swan is a musical journey that unfolds in three scenes: it opens aboard the tallship Swan transporting Africans along the Middle Passage to the Americas and gradually morphs into a spacecraft headed to freedom. Swan is a radio opera without words; the fixed media performance allows the audience to be at the center of the narrative and experience the journey. The work is composed from original foley, analog synthesis, and recordings from studio sessions by Jackson’s Invisible People Ensemble (Yvette Janine Jackson (piano), Kjell Nordeson (vibraphone), Shayla James (viola), Judith Hamann (cello), Sam Dunscombe (bass clarinet) interpreting her traditionally notated and graphic scores, as well as guided improvisations.

The composition of T-Minus is commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

PROGRAM

Yvette Janine Jackson: Swan

Yvette Janine Jackson: T-Minus (World Premiere)

PERFORMERS

Vimbayi Kaziboni, conductor
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Joshua Rubin, bass clarinet
Kristina Teuschler, bass clarinet
Gareth Flowers, trumpet
Sam Jones, trumpet
Michael Lormand, bass trombone
Ben Stapp, tuba
Lester St. Louis, cello
Clare Monfredo, cello
Randy Zigler, bass
Levy Lorenzo, percussion
Nathan Davis, percussion
Ross Karre, electronics
Serena Wong, lighting designer
Caley Monahon-Ward, audio engineer

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Artists studio: George Lewis

This evening, part of the AACM’s year-long Artists Studio residency at the Park Avenue Armory, will feature the music of George Lewis and Amina Claudine Myers. MacArthur “genius” fellow Lewis is a composer, musicologist, computer-installation artist, trombonist, and Columbia University professor who also serves as Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble. On the first half of the program, the Ensemble will present the US premiere of Lewis’s Blombos Workshop (2020) for piano, which engages an overarching concern of Jamaican critical theorist Sylvia Wynter—the promise and potential of the human. This is followed by his Assemblage (2013) for nonet, which presents the sounds of contingency, heterogeneity, nonlinearity, emergence, and bricolage. The second half of the program features a performance by pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, improvisationist, actress and educator Amina Claudine Myers, who will be joined by her trio and actress, vocalist, and playwright Richarda Abrams to perform Stay in the Light, a composition that highlights Myers’s spiritual connection to the universe and reinforces positivity, faith, and love for all living things.

PERFORMERS

Rebekah Heller, conductor
Cory Smythe, piano
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Erin Rogers, saxophone
Ben Melsky, harp
Erika Dohi, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Sterling Elliott, cello
Kyle Flens, percussion

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. Under the leadership of composer and Artistic Director George Lewis, the Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

THIS SHOW IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT

limited additional seating will be made available soon

Live stream tickets here

Thursday, December 7, 7:30 pm
   —Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
   —Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members

In collaboration with experimental sound artists Tania Caroline Chen and Victoria Shen, Tomomi Adachi recreates the essence of John Cage’s historic visit to Japan in 1962, often referred to as “Cage Shock.” Through renditions of Cage’s iconic pieces, such as Haiku and 0’00”, Adachi captures the spirit of that transformative tour. The program also features Toshi Ichiyanagi’s Sapporo, which premiered in 1962 and was conducted by John Cage. Ichiyanagi (1933-2022), an esteemed Japanese composer and the first husband of Yoko Ono, developed a close friendship with Cage during his 1950s residency in New York City and played a pivotal role in organizing Cage’s inaugural trip to Japan, with visits to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and the city of Sapporo.

A lecture on how the pieces in this radical program were received in Japan at the time, led by John Cage scholar Dr. James Pritchett, precedes the concert.

Performers

Tomomi Adachi, performer
Victoria Shen, sound artist
Tania Caroline Chen, sound artist
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Michael Nicolas, cello
Katinka Kleijn, cello
Mike Lormand, trombone

about the international contemporary ensemble

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. Under the leadership of composer and Artistic Director George Lewis, the Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).

Credits

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the Ensemble’s board, 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Cheswatyr Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Preview performance of Noh-opera newly added

at 5:15 pm on Thursday, November 16!

THIS SHOW IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT

limited additional seating will be made available soon

Thursday, November 16, 7:30 pm—Followed by an artist Q&A

In response to John Cage’s unrealized project, Noh-opera: Or the Complete Musical Works of Marcel Duchamp, which he envisioned to premiere in Japan, Tomomi Adachi seamlessly integrates the alluring aspects of opera and noh, using AI to compose music and lyrics from koan—short Zen Buddhist riddles. This audacious composition fuses together the distinct vocal styles of Gelsey Bell, recognized as the “future of experimental vocalism” (NY Times), and Japanese female noh actor Wakako Matsuda, with five wind instruments performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Performers

Tomomi Adachi, performer
Gelsey Bell, voice
Wakako Matsuda, noh actor
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
James Austin Smith, oboe
Kristina Teuschler, clarinet
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Mike Lormand, trombone

about the international contemporary ensemble

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

Credits

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the Ensemble’s board, 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Cheswatyr Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Thursday, November 16, 5:15 pm

In response to John Cage’s unrealized project, Noh-opera: Or the Complete Musical Works of Marcel Duchamp, which he envisioned to premiere in Japan, Tomomi Adachi seamlessly integrates the alluring aspects of opera and noh, using AI to compose music and lyrics from koan—short Zen Buddhist riddles. This audacious composition fuses together the distinct vocal styles of Gelsey Bell, recognized as the “future of experimental vocalism” (NY Times), and Japanese female noh actor Wakako Matsuda, with five wind instruments performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Performers

Tomomi Adachi, performer
Gelsey Bell, voice
Wakako Matsuda, noh actor
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
James Austin Smith, oboe
Kristina Teuschler, clarinet
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Mike Lormand, trombone

about the international contemporary ensemble

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

Credits

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the Ensemble’s board, 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Cheswatyr Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

COMPOSING WHILE BLACK

VOLUME ONE, TWO WORLD PREMIERES by Courtney Bryan and Adegoke Steve Colson

The Ensemble is thrilled to present a program of chamber music featuring world premieres by 2023 MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient and Rome Prize winner Courtney Bryan, commissioned by Arlene and Larry Dunn, and Grammy nominee and decorated longtime member of the famed Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians Adegoke Steve Colson, commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation. Conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music of his generation, this program reveals the new Afromodernism as an intercultural, multigenerational space of innovation.

PROGRAM

Brittany J. Green  –  Thread and Pull (2022)
Adegoke Steve Colson  –  MIRRORS (2023, World Premiere)
Wendell Logan  –  Runagate, Runagate (1989)
Courtney Bryan  –  DREAMING (Freedom Sounds) (2023, World Premiere)

PERFORMERS

Vimbayi Kaziboni, conductor
Alice Teyssier, voice
Fay Victor, voice
Tariq Al-Sabir, tenor
Damian Norfleet, voice
Laura Cocks, flute/piccolo
Kemp Jernigan, oboe
Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon
Joshua Rubin, clarinets
Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Ross Karre, percussion
Gabriela Díaz, violin
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Clare Monfredo, cello
Randall Zigler, double bass

About the composers

Courtney Bryan, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, is “a pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (New York Times). She is currently the composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia.

Byran’s compositions have been performed by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (Creative Partner, 2020-2023), Jacksonville Symphony (Mary Carr Patton Composer-In-Presidence, 2018-2020), New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Chicago Sinfonietta, and London Sinfonietta in a wide range of renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Blue Note Jazz Club.

Recent accolades include the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2018), Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition (2019-2020), United States Artists Fellowship (2020), and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (2020-2021). She is the Albert and Linda Mitz Professor of Music at Newcomb College in the School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University

Adegoke Steve Colson - decorated pianist, composer, historian, educator - has written over 200 pieces for small ensemble, several of which are performed and have been recorded by other artists, He has also received several commissions for large works. His work can be heard on labels such as ECM, Columbia/Sony,Black Saint and Silver Sphinx - a label co-owned with his wife Iqua. Select innovators on his projects include musicians Reggie Workman, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis, Andrew Cyrille, and Tyshawn Sorey; poet/activists Amiri and Amina Baraka, dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and playwright/screenwriter Richard Wesley. Commissions include scoring and conducting the music of piano stride master Willie “The Lion” Smith for the National Lost Jazz Shrines project, and a tribute premiered at New Jersey Performing Arts Center for two pianos, septet and choir celebrating the 350th Anniversary of Newark, NJ. – the third oldest city in the U.S. Recent premieres; Incandescence ( 2021) commissioned by American Composers Forum, and Suite Harlem (2022), part of a South Arts Initiative supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

A New Jersey native, Colson spent time in Chicago joining the influential Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1971 before graduating from the Northwestern University School of Music. He was inducted into the East Orange Hall of Fame in 2018, joining fellow hometown musicians Dionne Warwick, Naughty by Nature and Whitney Houston. Colson continues to teach in Bloomfield College’s Creative Arts Technology Department - an initiative he helped launch 35 years ago - and is currently completing a book, “Thoughts for a New Discussion of History”.

Brittany J. Green is a North Carolina-based composer, creative, and educator. Her music facilitates intimate musical spaces that ignite visceral responses at the intersection of sound, video, movement, and text. Recent works engage sonification and black feminist theory as tools for sonic world-building, exploring the construction, displacement, and rupture of systems. Her artistic practice includes spoken and electronic performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, experiential projects, and acoustic and electroacoustic chamber and large ensemble works. Her music has been featured at NYC Electronic Music Festival, WoCo Fest, and Experimental Sound Studio. Her collaborators include the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Transient Canvas, Castle of our Skins, Emory University Symphony Orchestra, and Wachovia Winds. Brittany holds awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP Foundation, and New Music USA. She is a doctoral candidate at Duke University, pursuing a PhD in music composition as a Dean’s Graduate Fellow.

Wendell Logan was a composer and jazz musician born and raised in Thomson, Georgia. In 1962, Logan graduated from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in music, in 1964 he graduated from Southern Illinois University with a Masters in music, and in 1968 he graduated from University of Iowa with a Ph.D. in music theory and composition. From a young age, Logan was taught to play the saxophone by his father. Along with playing the saxophone he also played the trumpet. Wendell Logn began working at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and founded the jazz department and was the director of African American music and jazz studies. During his time at Oberlin, Logan was able to create jazz studies into a major instead of it just being a hobby.

His work has been recorded on Orion, Golden Crest, University of Michigan Press, Morehouse College Press and RPM labels, among others.

He composed more than 200 works that have been performed on three continents including Europe, Africa, and the Carribeans. n 2001, Logan’s large, operatic composition, Doxology Opera: The Doxy Canticles, premiered in Chicago. His influences include euro-American classical, jazz, blues and African American church music.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

Courtney Bryan's DREAMING (Freedom Sounds) is commissioned by Arlene and Larry Dunn in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.
Adegoke Steve Colson's MIRRORS is commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation.
This performance is made possible, in part, due to support from the Fromm Music Foundation. 

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

The International Contemporary Ensemble presents a concert focused on new works and collaborations by members of the Ensemble. Jacob Greenberg (harmonium) and Cory Smythe (keyboard) premiere a new work by David Byrd-Marrow. Nathan Davis creates undulating, prismatic soundscapes on a psaltery using bows and ebows, as Liz Liguori creates immersive projections, bending light with prisms and mirrors. Rebekah Heller premieres new compositions and improvisations for solo bassoon. Isabel Lepanto Gleicher (flute), Fay Victor (voice), and Rebekah Heller also play a set together. With Lighting Design by Nicholas Houfek.

PERFORMERS

Fay Victor, Voice
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, Flute
Rebekah Heller, Bassoon
Nathan Davis, Percussion
Jacob Greenberg, Harmonium
Cory Smythe, Keyboard
Liz Liguori, Artist-Sculpture
Nicholas Houfek, Lighting Designer

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

This matinee performance will feature an alternate configuration.

Inspired by the Zen rock garden of the renowned Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, which John Cage personally visited in 1962, he composed Ryoanji (1983) using a non-ordinal graphical notation. Embracing Cage’s free-spirited approach to the score, composer/musician/vocal performer Tomomi Adachi brings his composition to life in a cutting-edge concert that connects two cities remotely. New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble will perform alongside musicians in Kanazawa City, Japan–Hitomi Nakamura on the ancient hichiriki woodwind and Maki Ota on vocals–streaming live from a tea house. Immerse yourself in the hypnotic 3D visuals depicting the raked sand of the Zen garden created by Dr. Tsutomu Fujinami, a researcher at the prestigious Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, as a captivating backdrop for this one-of-a-kind concert.

Performers

Tomomi Adachi, composer/performer
Hitomi Nakamura, hichiriki
Maki Ota, vocals
Mike Lormand, trombone
Lizzie Burns, double bass
Clara Warnaar, percussion

about the international contemporary ensemble

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

Credits

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the Ensemble’s board, 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Cheswatyr Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

THIS SHOW IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT

Additional performance of Ryoanji newly added on
Sunday, October 22 at 2:00 PM!

Saturday, October 21, 8:30 pm—Pre-concert lecture at 7:30 pm

Inspired by the Zen rock garden of the renowned Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, which John Cage personally visited in 1962, he composed Ryoanji (1983) using a non-ordinal graphical notation. Embracing Cage’s free-spirited approach to the score, composer/musician/vocal performer Tomomi Adachi brings his composition to life in a cutting-edge concert that connects two cities remotely. New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble will perform alongside musicians in Kanazawa City, Japan–Hitomi Nakamura on the ancient hichiriki woodwind and Maki Ota on vocals–streaming live from a tea house. Immerse yourself in the hypnotic 3D visuals depicting the raked sand of the Zen garden created by Dr. Tsutomu Fujinami, a researcher at the prestigious Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, as a captivating backdrop for this one-of-a-kind concert.

A lecture on the origins of John Cage’s fascination with Japanese culture, led by Cage scholar Dr. James Pritchett, precedes the concert.

Performers

Tomomi Adachi, composer/performer
Hitomi Nakamura, hichiriki
Maki Ota, vocals
Mike Lormand, trombone
Lizzie Burns, double bass
Clara Warnaar, percussion

about the international contemporary ensemble

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

Credits

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the Ensemble’s board, 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Cheswatyr Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

George Lewis: Hearing Voices

These recent works by George Lewis for solo instrument, small ensembles and voice, with texts by some of the most audacious literary figures of our time – Fred Moten, Lyn Hejinian, and Sylvia Wynter – are part of the composer’s ongoing exploration of what decolonization might sound like. Performed by International Contemporary Ensemble

Program

Melodies for Miles (2022): violin solo
a whispered nine (2019): soprano, flute, guitar, viola, percussion
Apis (2019): baritone, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone
H.narrans (2020 /  US Premiere): soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion, violin, double bass
Creative Construction Set™ (2015): open instrumentation

PERFORMERS

Tony Arnold, soprano
Damian Norfleet, voice
Alice Teyssier, soprano/flute
Emmalie Tello, clarinet
Gareth Flowers, trumpet
Mike Lormand, trombone
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Dennis Sullivan, percussion
Oren Fader, guitar
Josh Modney, violin
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Lizzie Burns, bass
Nick Houfek, lighting designer

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

The innovative TIME:SPANS Festival 2023 presents the International Contemporary Ensemble in an evening that exemplifies its concept of Polyaspora, including two premieres: the US premiere of the large ensemble work Invisible Self by Andile Khumalo, named one of the top five South African composers by BBC Music Magazine and one of the top composers and performers to watch in 2023 by the Washington Post; and the New York premiere of Gondwana: Earth, a Blue Sanctuary, Oceans, Seas, Lakes, Rivers, Springs and Lagoons; Paradise Gardens and Skies, a large ensemble work by American composer Wadada Leo Smith, hailed as “an anchor of American experimental music” by the New York Times. Also on this exciting and diversely creative program are works by internationally renowned contemporary Korean-German composer Younghi Pagh-Paan and emerging Iranian composer Aida Shirazi, whose work has been described as “affecting” by the New Yorker.

PROGRAM

Younghi Pagh-Paan
Wundgeträumt, 2005
for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello

Andile Khumalo
Invisible Self, 2020*
for piano and large ensemble
* US premiere

Aida Shirazi
Crystalline Trees, 2020
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello

Wadada Leo Smith
Gondwana, 2022*
for solo cello, three ensembles, conductor
* NY premiere

PERFORMERS

Vimbayi Kaziboni, conductor
Alice Teyssier, flute
Jillian Honn, oboe
Campbell MacDonald, clarinet
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
Priscilla Rinehart, horn
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Nathan Davis, percussion
Jacob Greenberg, piano (soloist on Invisible Self)
Cory Smythe, piano
Gabriela Díaz, violin
Josh Modney, violin
Yezu Woo, violin
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Pala Garcia, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Ashley Walters, cello (soloist on Gondwana)
Katinka Kleijn, cello
Lizzie Burns, double bass

About the Composers

Younghi Pagh-Paan (*1945 Cheongju, South Korea) is one of the most important female composers of her generation. She was the first woman to receive a commission for an orchestral work at the Donaueschinger Musiktage (1980) and the first woman to be appointed professor of composition at a German university (Bremen, 1994). As a composer and teacher, she has influenced several generations of composers.
Pagh-Paan studied from 1965 to 1971 at Seoul National University before a DAAD Scholarship took her to Germany in 1974. There she continued her studies at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Klaus Huber (composition), Brian Ferneyhough (analysis), Peter Förtig (music theory) and Edith Picht-Axenfeld (piano), graduating in 1979.
The conflict between Self and Other strongly influenced her artistic thinking; many of her works bear Korean titles and seek a balance between these two poles. Another important mainstay of her output is a preoccupation with political subjects such as flight, displacement, statelessness, violence and resistance.
In 1980/81 she had a fellowship from Southwest German Radio’s Heinrich Strobel Foundation and in 1985 from the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation. She has received numerous international prizes for her work: the Heidelberg Prize of Women Artists (1995), the Lifetime Achievement Award of Seoul National University (2006), the Republic of Korea’s Order of Civil Merit (2007), the 15th KBS Global Korean Award (2009), the Senate’s Medal for Art and Science from the city of Bremen (2011), the Paiknam Prize (Seoul, 2013), the European Church Music Prize and, in 2020, the Grand Art Prize from the Academy of Arts in Berlin, of which she has been a member since 2009.

Andile Khumalo, born in uMlazi in the environs of southwest Durban, is currently a music lecturer at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. His music studies in composition took him to the University of KwaZulu - Natal before he moved to Columbia University in New York, where he studied composition with Tristan Murail, Fabien Levy and George Lewis. As well as to Stuttgart where he studied composition with Marco Stroppa.

Stroppa introduced Khumalo to spectralism, a sensitive approach towards constructing sound as the foundation for composition. This was further developed during his studies with Tristan Murail. Sound as the foundation is one of the fundamental aspects of the amaXhosa people of South Africa, where bow instruments provide the fundamentals from which the overtone melodies are developed. This sensitivity to sound is found in the music and their language and is ultimately part of their daily living experiences. For example, a change in intonation could easily change the meaning of a word or sentence without changing how it is written.

The change experienced in sound deeply affects the listener's connection between the lived experiences and the spiritual world. My studies with George Lewis heightened the search for one's own identity. In deepening one's own understanding of oneself, as Ngunis and Africans, we believe in a deeper connection with the spiritual world of our ancestors. In my recent work, I have been deeply interested in our sense of existential spirituality through sound.

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi (1987) is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Shirazi’s music is described as ”unfolding with deliberation” by The New York Times, “well-made” and “affecting” by The New Yorker, and “unusually creative” by San Francisco Classical Voice. In her works for solo instruments, voice, ensemble, orchestra, and electronics, she mainly focuses on timbre for organizing structures inspired by Persian and other languages and literature.

Shirazi’s music has been featured at festivals and concert series, including Manifeste, Mostly Mozart, OutHear New Music Week, MATA, Marlboro Music Festival, Direct Current, Taproot, and Tehran Contemporary Music Festival in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Maison de la Radio France, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center. Her works are performed by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Miranda Cuckson, International Contemporary Ensemble, Oerknal, Quince Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Shirazi has earned her Ph.D. in composition and music theory from the University of California, Davis. She has studied with Mika Pelo, Pablo Ortiz, Kurt Rohde, Yiğit Aydın, Tolga Yayalar, Onur Türkmen, and Hooshyar Khayam. Shirazi has participated in workshops and masterclasses by Kaija Saariaho, Mark Andre, Riccardo Piacentini, Zeynep Gedizlioğlu, and Füsun Köksal, among others. She holds her B.A. in classical piano from Tehran University of Art (Iran) and her B.M. in music composition and theory from Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey). She has studied santoor (traditional Iranian hammered dulcimer) with Parissa Khosravi Samani. Shirazi is an alumna of IRCAM’s “Cursus Program in Composition and Computer Music.”

Wadada Leo Smith defines his music as “Creative Music,” and his diverse discography reveals a recorded history of music centered in the idea of spiritual harmony and the unification of social and cultural issues of his world. He has created Ankhrasmation, a symbolic image-based language for performers or musicians. He started his research and designs in search of Ankhrasmation in 1965, and his first realization of this language was in 1967, when it was illustrated in the recording of The Bell (Anthony Braxton: ‘Three Compositions of New Jazz’). Ankhrasmation has played a significant role in Wadada’s development as an artist, ensemble leader and educator. Since, he exhibited his Ankhrasmation language scores in major American museums including The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, the Hammer Museum, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Michigan, and the Kadist Art Foundation in San Francisco. Significantly, Smith was also a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Ten Freedom Summers, (Defining Moments in the History of the United States of America) and is a Doris Duke Artist.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

pROGRAM

Cathy Berberian: Stripsody (1966)
Fay Victor, voice

Golfam Khayam: Lost Wind (2019)
Laura Cocks, flute and Ross Karre, gongs

Du Yun: Vicissitudes Alone (2003)
Dan Lippel, guitar

Josh Modney: Ascender (2023)
Josh Modney, violin and distortion pedal

Eliza Brown: The Barely Cycle
Barely (2011)
Laura Cocks, Alto Flute
Wax Figure (2013)
Dan Lippel, for steel-string guitar

Brittany J Green: Maps (2017)

Sarah Hennies: Settle (2012)
Clara Warnaar and Ross Karre, vibraphone

Fay Victor: Factions (2023)

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Ensemble Evolution is the International Contemporary Ensemble’s summer intensive designed to foster a holistic understanding of the artist as a global citizen in collaboration with The New School’s College of Performing Arts in New York City. Ensemble Evolution participants engage in music-making, community-building, and creative producing through workshops, conversations, and radical artistic collaborations with faculty and other participants. From June 26th to June 29th, the program offers unique and collaborative performance opportunities with musicians dedicated to transforming the way music is created and experienced.

This year is the first time the program is fully in-person at The New School, Arnhold Hall!

There will be an Ensemble Evolution Festival on June 26 and June 29, open to the public and via live-stream, in order to experience the work of many involved in Ensemble Evolution.

Closing Night on June 29th in Stiefel Hall, will feature a program of works led and curated in collaboration with faculty, participants, and Evolution Directors Fay Victor and Rebekah Heller. In alignment with the ethos of Ensemble Evolution, allowing participants to take the lead in programming and producing, the concert program will be announced the morning of the show.

Program performed by evo23 participants

Nicole Mitchell: Inescapable Spiral
Miguel Zazueta, vocalist
Juliana Gaona Villamizar, oboe
Ian McEdwards, clarinets (Bb and bass)
David Cortez, baritone saxophone
Camilla Caldwell, violin
Rocío Díaz de Cossío, cello
Devon Gates, bass
Kamilla Arku, piano
Murphy Severtson, accordion
Kenyon Duncan, percussion 
Yoona Kim, ajaeng

George Lewis: Artificial Life 2007
Eli Berman, voice
Delfina Cheb Terrab, voice
Ana Luisa Diaz de Cossio, violin
Teresa Diaz de Cossio, flute
Mariana Flores-Bucio, voice
Ryan Ghassemi, bassoon
Marcella Keating, trumpet
Connie Li, violin
Li-chin Li, sheng
Vartan Mailiantz, violin
Carlos Pascual Cippelletti, piano

Brittany Green: Intersections
Francisco del Pino, guitar
Wesley Hornpetrie, cello
Clae Lu, chinese zither
Natalia Merlano Gomez, voice
Varun Rangaswamy, bassoon
Diyora Tursunova, piano

Lulu West: Hey it’s me, your mom, hope you’re doing well
Michele Cheng, performer
Isuel Kim, voice/piano
Mac Waters, viola

Shasha Chen: Relation
Alexandra Andreeva, voice
Sarah Marie Bugeja, voice
Shasha Chen, performer/composer
Noah Franche-Nolan, piano
Lulu West, guitar

Wenbin Lyu: Duke’s Fantasy
Wenbin Lyu, guitar/composer
Jonathan Reisin, saxophone
Jonathan Yuan, flute
Yifeng Yuan, voice

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Ensemble Evolution is the International Contemporary Ensemble’s summer intensive designed to foster a holistic understanding of the artist as a global citizen in collaboration with The New School’s College of Performing Arts in New York City. Ensemble Evolution participants engage in music-making, community-building, and creative producing through workshops, conversations, and radical artistic collaborations with faculty and other participants. From June 26th to June 29th, the program offers unique and collaborative performance opportunities with musicians dedicated to transforming the way music is created and experienced.

This year is the first time the program is fully in-person at The New School, Arnhold Hall!

There will be an Ensemble Evolution Festival on June 26 and June 29, open to the public and via live-stream, in order to experience the work of many involved in Ensemble Evolution.

Opening Night on June 26th features: World premiere by Sandra Kluge and a Work in Progress Showing by Cleo Reed, both commissioned by the Ensemble. Plus performances by Ensemble Evolution faculty members including improvisation sets and works by Shara Lunon, and Roscoe Mitchell.

Program & Performers

Fay Victor & Rebekah Heller: Improv Duo

Sandra Kluge: Anything = Everything (World Premiere)*
Sandra Kluge, tap percussion
Fay Victor, voice
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Lesley Mok, drumset & percussion

Shara Lunon, Lesley Mok, Lester St. Louis, eddy kwon: Improv Set

Cleo Reed: Reeding Room: The Early Oeuvre (Work in Progress Showing)*
Alice Teyssier, voice & flute
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Nathan Davis, percussion

— INTERMISSION —

Shara Lunon: Samples No. 1: Hard Conversations
Shara Lunon, voice
Alice Teyssier, flute
eddy kwon, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Dan Lippel, guitar

Sandra Kluge: Anything = Everything — Part II

Roscoe Mitchell: Cards for ICE
Shara Lunon, voice
Alice Teyssier, flute
eddy kwon, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Lester St. Louis, cello
Dan Lippel, guitar
Lesley Mok, drumset

*commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble’s “Call for ____” program

PROGRAM NOTES

for Sandra Kluge: Anything = Everything (World Premiere)

"I've been deeply fascinated by the Jungian concept of archetypes, specifically the 12 archetypal images that translate universally across cultures, as they comprehensively describe human existence. Every single person carries all 12 archetypes within them, but the prevalence and expression of each of them uniquely varies from person to person like a fingerprint.

My composition, "Anything = Everything", explores not only the archetypes themselves, but also how they interact with each other. It is set up like a game: Prior to performing, each of the 4 musicians draws 3 archetypes from a 12-card deck. Which means all 12 archetypes will be present, but in different combinations, creating a whole different experience - essentially, a whole different human - every time the piece is played.

I would like to thank everyone at the International Contemporary Ensemble for allowing me the opportunity to create and share this work, and of course Fay, Rebecca, and Lesley for making my composition come to life!”

–Sandra Kluge

for Cleo Reed: Reeding Room: The Early Oeuvre (Work in Progress Showing)

Reeding Room: The Early Oeuvres is a collection of short hand pieces that use the technique of imitative synthesis to explore the sounds of Cleo Reed’s own childhood while living in Washington, DC—particularly the sonic elements Reed was exposed to commuting from elementary school to rehearsal at the DC Youth Orchestra between 4th and 5th grade. As Reed’s first professional composition, Reeding Room acts as a sonic memory map that reaches back into Reed’s earliest experiences with orchestra, rebuilding and presenting them in a new, contemporary context.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Walden Residency: Composers Forum IiI

CMR Composers Forums on June 13, 14, and 16 feature newly composed works by Creative Musicians Retreat participants and discussions moderated by composer-in-residence Amy Beth Kirsten and members of the CMR faculty.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Walden Residency: Performers Night

Chamber music performances by CMR participants and visiting artists.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Walden Residency: Composers Forum Ii

CMR Composers Forums on June 13, 14, and 16 feature newly composed works by Creative Musicians Retreat participants and discussions moderated by composer-in-residence Amy Beth Kirsten and members of the CMR faculty.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Walden Residency: Composers Forum i

CMR Composers Forums on June 13, 14, and 16 feature newly composed works by Creative Musicians Retreat participants and discussions moderated by composer-in-residence Amy Beth Kirsten and members of the CMR faculty.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Walden Residency: Composer-in-Residence presentation with Amy Beth Kirsten

Amy Beth Kirsten, “…one of America’s most innovative and visionary composers,” (BBC Music Magazine, March 2019) is known primarily for her multi-year, multimedia theatrical collaborations. She has cast herself in roles as varied as composer, poet, filmmaker, vocalist, and director. Kirsten will give a talk on her musical and creative practice.

Black Box Theater, Grayson Student Center, 7:30 p.m.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

WALDEN RESIDENCY: CREATIVE MUSICIANS RETREAT OPENING CONCERT

Join us for the opening concert of our 2023 Creative Musicians Retreat, featuring Rachel Beetz (flute), David Friend (piano), Jacqueline Kerrod (harp), Nicolee Kuester(horn), Dan Lippel (guitar), Josh Modney (violin), and Bonnie Whiting (percussion) performing music composed by Alex Christie, Julius Eastman, Renée Favand-See, Alvin Lucier, Osnat Netzer, and Amy Beth Kirsten, CMR 2023 Composer-in-Residence.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

CREDITS

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of 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., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.