American Composers Orchestra
Entering its 37th season, 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, and commissions, ACO identifies today's brightest emerging composers; champions
prominent established composers as well as those lesser-known; and increases regional,
national, and international awareness of the infinite variety of American orchestral music,
reflecting geographic, stylistic, and temporal diversity. 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 700 American composers, including nearly 300 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; coLABoratory: 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 multidisciplinary 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 activities, including composer
residencies and fellowships. In 2008, ACO launched EarShot, a multi-institutional network
that assists orchestras around the country in mounting new music readings. Recent EarShot
programs have included the Nashville, Memphis, Colorado, and San Diego symphonies; New York
Youth Symphony; and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Upcoming EarShot readings include the
Berkeley Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. Visit
earshotnetwork.org for more information.
Among the honors ACO has received are special awards from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters and from BMI recognizing the orchestra's outstanding contribution to American
music. ASCAP has awarded its annual prize for adventurous programming to ACO 35 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 Community 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 digital albums include Playing It UNsafe
(March 2011), Emerging Composers Series: Vol. 1 (February 2012), and the orchestra's latest
release, Orchestra Underground: X10D (June 2012). Visit americancomposers.org for more
information.
Robert Spano
Robert Spano is music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he has enriched and
expanded its repertoire and elevated the ensemble to new levels of international
prominence. In 2012, he became music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Mr. Spano has appeared with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra,
and Orchestra of St. Luke's. He was music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from
1996-2004. Respected as a collaborative pianist, composer, and educator, Mr. Spano recently
conducted the Juilliard Orchestra as well as the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Philadelphia.
He has been Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Emory University, an honor bestowed upon
only seven other individuals, including the Dalai Lama, President Jimmy Carter, and author
Salman Rushdie.
With a discography of 16 critically acclaimed recordings for Telarc and Deutsche
Grammophon, Mr. Spano has garnered six Grammy Awards. In February 2011, the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra and Naxos created the ASO Media recording label; the label's first
recording was released in April 2011. Musical America's 2008 Conductor of the Year, Mr.
Spano is on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has received honorary
doctorates from Bowling Green State University, Curtis Institute of Music, Emory
University, and Oberlin.