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Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 10/07/2008 - American Composers Orchestra Kicks Off Orchestra Underground in Zankel Hall, 11/14
Most current program information 
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA KICKS OFF ITS
ORCHESTRA UNDERGROUND SERIES OF CONCERTS IN ZANKEL HALL
WITH JEFFREY MILARSKY CONDUCTING FIVE PREMIERES
ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
Works by Clint Needham, Keeril Makan, and Fred Ho Receive World Premiere Performances, With New York Premieres by Greg Spears and Kamran Ince
Additional Concerts This Season Take Place on February 20 and May 1
with George Manahan and Dennis Russell Davies Conducting
On Friday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall presents the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), led by conductor Jeffrey Milarsky, in a program that includes premiere performances of five new works in Zankel Hall. The evening’s program which will feature the world premieres of Clint Needham’s Chamber Symphony; Keeril Makan’s Dream Lightly with electric guitarist Seth Josel; and Fred Ho’s When the Real Dragons Fly! with the composer performing on baritone saxophone. Also included on the program are the New York premieres of Greg Spears’ Finishing and Kamran Ince’s Domes. Please see listings below for complete program information.
About the Premieres
Clint Needham’s Chamber Symphony is laid out in three five-minute movements that explore various colors. The work comprises a wide variety of moods and textures, ranging from very intimate chamber music sections to larger orchestral colors. Keeril Makan’s Dream Lightly will showcase electric guitar soloist Seth Josel, a leading new music interpreter. Using live electronic processing, the work is not so much a traditional concerto for a popular instrument as it is a sophisticated exploration of shifting timbral layers and possibilities, in which the orchestra is augmented with the sound of mark trees, dog whistles, and small tape recorders. In Greg Spears’ Finishing, instruments work together to produce a soft ambient finish that overlays a series of looping trumpet calls. Domes by Kamran Ince is an extended orchestral movement, drawing on Mr. Ince's Turkish-American heritage. The piece offers a succession of contrasting moods and tempos that unfold within a larger, time-space continuum. Fred Ho, following a two-year battle with cancer, celebrates with his first orchestral commission. Mr. Ho describes When the Real Dragons Fly! for saxophone and orchestra as a liberation song bidding "farewell to obstructionists and gatekeepers who prevent the real creative forces in humanity" from soaring. The composer will join the orchestra on baritone saxophone to combine asynchronous tunes and melodies of various musical traditions.
Additional ACO concerts during the 2008–2009 season include:
• Friday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m.: Conductor George Manahan leads the orchestra in a program which features world premiere works by David Schiff, Fang Man, Kati Agócs, and Rand Steiger, as well as Margaret Brouwer, who in collaboration with video artist Kasumi, will premiere her sample-based hybrid opera in one act entitled BREAKDOWN.
• Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.: ACO's co-founder and current Conductor Laureate, Dennis Russell Davies, returns after a two-season hiatus. The concert is a gathering of friends old and new, with commissions and premieres by ACO Artistic Director Robert Beaser and Music Alive Composer-in-Residence Derek Bermel, as well as Lukas Ligeti and Thomas Larcher. Soloists include guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk, Mr. Larcher as pianist, and Mr. Ligeti on marimba lumina (electronic percussion).
Artist Information
Jeffrey Milarsky, a leading conductor of contemporary music in New York City, is a frequent collaborator with ACO and a former member of the orchestra. In the US and abroad, he has premiered and recorded works by contemporary composers, including Charles Wuorinen, Fred Lerdahl, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Lasse Thoresen, Gerard Grisey, Jonathan Dawe, Tristan Murail, Ralph Shapey, Luigi Nono, Mario Davidovsky, and Wolfgang Rihm. Milarsky is professor of music at Columbia University, where he is the Music Director/conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra and the newly formed Manhattan Sinfonietta, which concentrates on 20th- and 21st-century scores. He is also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music as Artistic Director and conductor of the percussion ensemble and directs AXIOM, Juilliard's newest contemporary music ensemble. Mr. Milarsky's most recent foray with ACO was last season's Playing it UNsafe, a weeklong laboratory for the development of experimental new orchestra music that included five world premieres.
Founded in 1977 by composers Francis Thorne and Nicholas Roussakis, Music Director Dennis Russell Davies, and Resident Conductor Paul Lustig Dunkel, the American Composers Orchestra has presented works by 500 composers, including over 125 world premieres and commissions. Notable artists who have worked with the orchestra include Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, Leonard Bernstein, and Keith Jarrett. Among the honors received by the ACO are special awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and from BMI recognizing the orchestra’s contribution to American music; and an annual ASCAP prize singling out the ACO as “the orchestra that has done the most for new American music in the United States.” During the 2003–2004 season, the orchestra launched the Orchestra Underground series in Zankel Hall with the world premiere of Gotham, a multimedia piece written by composer Michael Gordon.
Program Information
Friday, November 14, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
Jeffrey Milarsky, Conductor
Fred Ho, Baritone Saxophone
Seth Josel, Electric Guitar
KAMRAN INCE Domes (NY Premiere)
FRED HO When the Real Dragons Fly! (World Premiere)
GREG SPEARS Finishing (NY Premiere)
KEERIL MAKAN Dream Lightly for Electric Guitar and Orchestra (World Premiere)
CLINT NEEDHAM Chamber Symphony (World Premiere)
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Friday, February 20, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
George Manahan, Conductor
Derek Bermel, Clarinet
Miller Puckette, Electronics
Rand Steiger, Electronics
Kasumi, Film/Video-Art
DAVID SCHIFF Stomp
FANG MAN Resurrection (World Premiere)
MARGARET BROUWER/KASUMI BREAKDOWN:
A sample-based hybrid opera in one act (World Premiere)
KATI AGÓCS New work (World Premiere)
RAND STEIGER Cryosphere (World Premiere)
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Friday, May 1, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor
Eliot Fisk, Guitar
Thomas Larcher, Piano
Lukas Ligeti, Marimba Lumina
ROBERT BEASER Guitar Concerto (NY Premiere)
DEREK BERMEL New work (World Premiere)
LUKAS LIGETI New Commission for Electronic Mallet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
THOMAS LARCHER Böse Zellen (Malignant Cells) for Piano and Orchestra (US Premiere)
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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Ticket Information
Tickets, priced at $38 and $48, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, www.carnegiehall.org.
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