American Composers Orchestra
Now in its 35th year, American Composers Orchestra is the only orchestra in the world
dedicated to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American
composers. ACO makes the creation of new opportunities for American composers and new
American orchestral music its central purpose. Through concerts at Carnegie Hall and other
venues, recordings, internet and radio broadcasts, educational programs, New Music Readings
Sessions, and commissions, ACO identifies today's brightest emerging composers; champions
prominent established composers and those lesser-known; and increases regional, national,
and international awareness of the infinite variety of American orchestral music. ACO also
serves as an incubator of ideas, research, and talent; as a catalyst for growth and change
among orchestras; and as an advocate for American composers and their music.
To date, ACO has performed music by some 750 American composers, including 250 world
premieres and newly commissioned works. Among the orchestra's innovative programs have been
SONiC: Sounds of a New Century, a nine-day citywide festival in New York of music by more
than 100 composers age 40-and-under; Sonidos de las Américas, six annual festivals devoted
to Latin American composers and their music; Coming to America, a program immersing
audiences in the ongoing evolution of American music through the work of immigrant
composers; Orchestra Tech, a long-term initiative to integrate new digital technologies in
the symphony orchestra; Improvise!, a festival devoted to the exploration of improvisation
and the orchestra; Playing it Unsafe, a new laboratory for the research and development of
experimental new works for orchestra; and Orchestra Underground, ACO's entrepreneurial
cutting-edge orchestral ensemble that embraces new technology, eclectic instruments,
influences, and spatial orientation of the orchestra, new experiments in the concert
format, and multimedia and multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Composer development has been at the core of ACO's mission since its founding. In addition
to its annual Underwood New Music Readings and Commission, ACO also provides a range of
additional educational and professional development opportunities, including composer
residencies and the Van Lier Emerging Composer Fellowship. In 2008, ACO launched EarShot, a
multi-institutional network that assists orchestras around the country in launching new
music readings sessions. Recent EarShot collaborations have included the Nashville,
Memphis, and Colorado symphonies; New York Youth Symphony; and Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Among the honors ACO has received are special awards from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters and from BMI in recognition of the orchestra's outstanding contribution to American
music. ASCAP has awarded its annual prize for adventurous programming to ACO 33 times,
singling out ACO as "the orchestra that has done the most for American music in the United
States." ACO received the inaugural METLife Award for Excellence in Audience Engagement,
and a proclamation from the New York City Council. ACO recordings are available on ARGO,
CRI, ECM, Point, Phoenix USA, MusicMasters, Nonesuch, Tzadik, New World Records,
InstantEncore.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes. ACO's next album will be devoted to emerging
composers and will be released on February 14, 2012. Visit americancomposers.org for more
information.
Dennis Russell Davies
Internationally acclaimed musician Dennis Russell Davies is avidly sought out for his
extraordinary breadth of repertoire, technical brilliance, and fearless music making. A
maverick in his field, he is hailed as one of the few conductors whose unquestioned
commitment to new music has not severed his connections to the standard repertory. At the
forefront of both orchestral and operatic worlds, Mr. Davies is also an accomplished
pianist who is in demand by orchestras, composers, and fellow musicians worldwide for his
inspiring collaborations and interpretive mastery.
A frequent guest conductor with major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world,
Mr. Davies has held music directorships of prestigious orchestras for over 40 uninterrupted
years. He is currently chief conductor and music director of the Bruckner Orchester Linz,
chief conductor of the Linz Opera, and music director of the Sinfonieorchester Basel in
Switzerland. Additionally, Mr. Davies is a professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum, as well as
conductor laureate of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. In the US, he continues as conductor
laureate of American Composers Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1977 and with whom he has
premiered more than 150 new works.
As conductor and pianist, Mr. Davies has released more than 60 recordings, which have
earned numerous awards. Recent recording highlights include the complete Bruckner
symphonies with the Bruckner Orchester Linz for Arte Nova / Sony BMG, and the complete
Haydn symphonies with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra for Sony Classical / Sony BMG. Mr.
Davies has also recorded the complete symphonies of Philip Glass.
Mr. Davies was born in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated from The Juilliard School. He is a
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.