American Composers Orchestra
Now in 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, Detroit, and San Diego symphonies;
and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Upcoming EarShot readings include the Berkeley Symphony
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), Orchestra Underground:
X10D (June 2012), and the orchestra's latest release, Orchestra Underground: A-V, an album
of multimedia works available for free streaming at
vimeo.com/channels/OrchestraUnderground. Visit americancomposers.org for more
information.
George Manahan
In his fourth season as music director of the American Composers Orchestra, George Manahan
has had a wide-ranging and esteemed career, embracing everything from opera to the concert
stage, the traditional to the contemporary. In addition to his work with ACO this season,
Manahan continues his commitment to working with young musicians as director of orchestral
studies at the Manhattan School of Music and as guest conductor at the Curtis Institute of
Music.
Manahan served as music director at New York City Opera for 14 seasons. There he helped
envision the organization's groundbreaking VOX Contemporary Opera Lab, a series of
workshops and readings that provided unique opportunities for numerous composers to hear
their new concepts realized, and introduced audiences to exciting new compositional voices.
In addition to established composers such as Mark Adamo, David Del Tredici, Lewis Spratlan,
Robert X. Rodriguez, Lou Harrison, Bernard Rands, and Richard Danielpour, Manahan has
introduced works by composers on the rise, including Adam Silverman, Elodie Lauten, Mason
Bates, and David T. Little. Among his many world premieres are Charles Wuorinen's Haroun
and the Sea of Stories, David Lang's modern painters, and the New York premiere of Richard
Danielpour's Margaret Garner.
In May 2011, Manahan was honored by ASCAP for his "career-long advocacy for American
composers and the music of our time." Last season, he was awarded the Alice M. Ditson
Conductor's Award for his outstanding commitment to the work of emerging composers.
Manahan's extensive recording activities include the premiere release of Steve Reich's
Tehillim for ECM, a Grammy-nominated recording of Edward Thomas's Desire Under the Elms,
Joe Jackson's Will Power, Tobias Picker's Emmeline, and several digital albums of emerging
composers with ACO.