Back to Press Release List > 09/18/2007 - American Composers Orchestra Kicks off Orchestra Underground in Zankel Hall

On Friday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall presents the American Composers Orchestra, led by Principal Guest Conductor Steven Sloane, in a program that includes world premiere performances of four new works in Zankel Hall. Composers join the orchestra for the evening’s program, entitled Hybridity, which will feature percussionist Susie Ibarra’s Pintados Dream (The Painted’s Dream) with visual projections by Makoto Fujimura; saxophonist Steve Coleman’s The Illusion of the Body; Ken Thomson’s Wait Your Turn, which features special guest ensemble gutbucket; electric guitarist Scott Johnson’s Stalking Horse; and Anna Clyne’s Paintbox, with projected drawings by Joshue Ott. Also included on the program is Charles Mingus’ Revelations. Please see attached listings for complete information.

Following a solo performance with the American Composers Orchestra last season, Susie Ibarra returns with a concerto for drums and orchestra, and visual imagery by Makoto Fujimura. Entitled Pintados Dream (The Painted’s Dream), Ms. Ibarra’s concerto is formed in two movements with material that emerged from her documentary fieldwork with the indigenous people of Japan and the Philippine Islands. Steve Coleman’s new work for alto saxophone and orchestra, entitled The Illusion of the Body, continues his exploration of the M-BASE musical philosophy of expressing experiences through music that uses both improvisation and structures as its main components. Brooklyn-based composer Ken Thomson explores the juxtaposition of the concepts of “classical” and “jazz” with Wait Your Turn, a piece for two different orchestras. The multi-genre, art-rock ensemble, gutbucket, joins the orchestra on stage in a side-by-side performance. Known for blending chamber and rock music for mixed electro-acoustic ensembles, Scott Johnson appears as electric guitar soloist in his first work for orchestra, Stalking Horse. The piece is based on his 1994 chamber work, Rent Party. Cellist Anna Clyne collaborates with visual artist and designer Joshue Ott on Paintbox, a piece for amplified cello and tape that was composed from a small palette of vocal and cello recordings. Mr. Ott joins Ms. Clyne on stage to provide on-the-spot drawings.

Additional ACO concerts during the 2007–2008 season take place in Zankel Hall and include:

•   Friday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m.: Conductor David Allan Miller leads the orchestra
    in a program entitled Culture Shock, which features world premiere works by Michael
    Tenzer, Uri Caine, and Fred Ho. Terry Riley’s Remember This O Mind receives its New
    York premiere with the composer appearing as vocalist and synthesizer player. Please
    note, David Allan Miller replaces previously announced conductor Dennis Russell-Davies
    for this performance.

•   Friday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m.: Conductor Jeffrey Milarsky leads the orchestra in a
    program entitled Playing It Unsafe, a laboratory for the creation, reading, and performance
    of experimental new works by American composers. Participating composers will be
    announced at a later date.

Steven Sloane made his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) in March 2002. At the end of 2005–2006 season, he concluded his tenure as Music Director of the ACO and assumed the role of Principal Guest Conductor. As the ACO’s Music Director, Mr. Sloane led the orchestra in more than 20 world premieres by composers ranging from Milton Babbitt to Michael Gordon and from Danny Elfman to Lisa Bielawa. He also championed many of America’s early New England School composers as well as today’s leading European composers, including Luciano Berio and Mauricio Kagel. Mr. Sloane also serves as general music director of the City of Bochum Symphony and was awarded the prestigious German Publishers Award for Best Programming of the Year.

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 (ACO) has presented works by 500 composers, including over 100 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 kicked off the Orchestra Underground series in Zankel Hall with the world premiere of Gotham, a multimedia piece written by composer Michael Gordon.

Program Information
Friday, October 19, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
Steven Sloane, Principal Guest Conductor
Anna Clyne, Spotlight Composer and Cello
Steve Coleman, Saxophone
Susie Ibarra, Percussion
Scott Johnson, Electric Guitar
Makoto Fujimura, Visual Projections
Special guest: gutbucket
Joshue Ott, Drawings and Projections

HYBRIDITY

SUSIE IBARRA Pintados Dream (The Painted's Dream) for percussion, visual projections, and orchestra (World Premiere)
CHARLES MINGUS Revelations
STEVE COLEMAN The Illusion of the Body for saxophone and orchestra (World Premiere)
KEN THOMSON Wait Your Turn (World Premiere)
SCOTT JOHNSON Stalking Horse for electric guitar and orchestra (World Premiere)
ANNA CLYNE Paintbox for Amplified Cello and Tape
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Friday, February 8, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
David Allan Miller, Conductor
Uri Caine, Piano
Fred Ho, Saxophone
Terry Riley, Voice and Synthesizer

CULTURE SHOCK

TERRY RILEY Remember This O Mind (New York Premiere)
MICHAEL TENZER Resolution/Tabuh Gari for Balinese Percussion and Orchestra (World Premiere)
URI CAINE New work for piano and orchestra (World Premiere)
FRED HO When the Real Dragons Fly! for saxophone and orchestra (World Premiere)
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Friday, April 25, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
Jeffrey Milarsky, Conductor

PLAYING IT UNSAFE

What happens when today’s most innovative musical thinkers pour their creative energies into no-holds-barred experiments designed to stretch the limits of what’s possible with an orchestra? The results of this nationwide search are brought together in an “on-the-edge” display of uncharted musical territory.
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