Photo by Jean Radel
International Contemporary Ensemble: Boulez Rebooted
This cutting-edge concert is a vital part of Carnegie Hall’s Pierre Boulez centennial celebration, combining the creative forces of the International Contemporary Ensemble with the latest breakthroughs in responsive music-performance technology. It features a world premiere that incorporates the machine-learning advancements of SOMAX 2, developed with researchers at IRCAM (Boulez’s world-renowned institute for computer and electro-acoustic music and innovation). The program also includes works by Boulez and leading composers inspired by his legacy, including longtime IRCAM researcher and visionary composer Philippe Manoury; genre-defying American multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey; and the late Kaija Saariaho.
PROGRAM
Kaija Saariaho: Sombre (2012)
for bass flute, baritone, harp, percussion, and bass
Philippe Manoury: Hypothèse du Sextuor (2011)
for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion
Tyshawn Sorey: Sentimental Shards (2014)
for string quartet, two vibraphones, glockenspiel, and piano
Pierre Boulez: Anthèmes II (1997)
for violin and electronics
ICEensemble + Somax AI: IRCAM Variations (2025)
for voice, piano, harp, percussion, and electronics
PERFORMERS
Will Liverman, voice
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Alice Teyssier, voice and flute
Campbell MacDonald, clarinet
Gabriela Diaz, violin
Modney, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello
Erika Dohi, piano
Nuiko Wadden, harp
Randy Zigler, bass
Nathan Davis, percussion
Ross Karre, percussion
Levy Lorenzo, electronics
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) 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. Co-founded in 2001 by flutist and MacArthur “genius” Fellow Claire Chase, the Ensemble has premiered over 1,000 works. The Ensemble has given performances at Warsaw Autumn, TIME:SPANS, Berliner Festspiele, HEAR NOW Los Angeles, Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, Ojai Music Festival, and Big Ears Festival as well as in venues such as the Dutch National Opera, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, Japan Society, Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, Fridman Gallery, Chelsea Factory, NYU Skirball and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
CREDITS
The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2024-25 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, Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, The Arlene and Larry Dunn Fund for Afrodiasporic Music, Fromm Music Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, 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.