News and Events
These posts include performances, concerts, recordings, and general activity from ACA, ACA's composers, and music in ACA.
News and events posts from the previous iteration of ACA's website (2009-2024) can be found on the Archived News and Events page.
News and Events
Earl Louis Stewart's Symphony No. 4 Juneteenth Celebration, at UCLA Royce Hall, June 5
Juneteenth Day Celebration: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future
Hosted by the UCLA African American Studies Department
This event promises a bounty of musics, dance, spoken word, and more. Join together for reflection, celebration, and community as we commemorate Juneteenth, the nationally celebrated commemoration of slavery’s official end in the United States. This year, the UCLA African American Studies Department is proud to host a series of performances and talks that highlight the significance of this day in history and its relevance to our present and future.
Honoring the resilience and achievements of the African American community and the ongoing fight for freedom, equality, and justice for all. Together, we can all appreciate where we come from, the journey it took to get us where we are today, and envision a future of progress and community.
Register for free tickets here:
Prelude to Juneteenth Day Celebration
Event Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Royce Hall at UCLA
Brief note on the Symphony No. 4 Juneteenth (Identity 34:1), by Earl Louis Stewart:
This work for chorus and orchestra was written to commemorate the early 19th-century Juneteenth celebrations and is musically designed to reflect the format of those celebrations. To this extent, the work may be deemed programmatic.
Though the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and became effective January 1, 1863, it was not until June 19, 1865—two and a half years later— that the people of Texas, including 250,000 enslaved people, were informed that slavery had been abolished. This day became known as Juneteenth and is celebrated not only in Texas, but also in some form from Washington State to New York, and from Illinois to Texas.
Composer Earl Louis Stewart, on traveling from Louisiana to Texas during his college years, became aware of the (now) federal holiday, which was first recognized in Texas in 1980. Stewart also participated in activities surrounding Juneteenth celebrations as a Fulbright fellow in Ghana, and through these experiences over the years, the idea for his Symphony No. 4: Juneteenth (Identity 34:1) was born.
The composition utilizes two prominent forms of African American music in the last half of the 19th century: ragtime and spirituals.
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Robert Carl's White Heron premiere with League of Composers Orchestra, May 23
White Heron by Robert Carl will have a premiere in a new arrangement for chamber orchestra by the League of Composers Orchestra conducted by Louis Karchin.
On Thursday, May 23, at 7:30 PM at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018).
The League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music presents a concert of vibrant new music for orchestra by Robert Carl, Paul Novak, Allen Cohen, and Cynthia Wong, featuring the Orchestra of the League of Composers conducted by Louis Karchin and Luke Poeppel.
$25 Advance | $30 Doors | $15 Student/Senior (w/ ID, Senior 65+) | Doors 7pm
Richard Cameron-Wolfe's Music Featured in Resis Festival
On Saturday, May 18, in A Coruña, Galicia, northwestern Spain, Richard Cameron-Wolfe’s 2016 Bridge of Souls will be premiered during the annual Resis Festival by Camerata OSG (Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia). It will be conducted by its director Wladimir Rosinskij and features pianist Dasha Rosinskij Prokopenko. The event, which also includes Luigi Nono’s Post/Praeludium per Donau, Wladimir’ Rosinskij’s Animal Insomne, and the premiere of En Concreto by Leticia Goas, takes place at 8:00PM in the Palacio de la Opera.
Admission free.
SOLI Chamber Ensemble to Premiere Elliott McKinley's "Symphony No. 2 for Four Players"
Elliott McKinley's Symphony No. 4 for Four Players, commissioned by the SOLI Chamber Players for the total solar eclipse in April 2024, will be premiered by SOLI on May 13th at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. The program, Macrocosm, is the final concert of their season and occurs on the 30th anniversary of SOLI’s first concert in 1994, and spans the past, present, and future of SOLI’s commissioning output with the whole of their oeuvre. Alongside McKinley's second symphony, the program includes works by Paul Moravec’s and Adam Schoenberg.
Turning Point by Gilbert Galindo, premiere at Queens New Music Festival, May 12
The latest concert work by Gilbert Galindo, Turning Point for clarinet, drums, mandolin, guitar, piano, & bass will be premiered by Music Kart on Sunday, May 12, 7PM on the Queens New Music Festival at The Secret Theatre in Woodside, Queens. The Queens New Music Festival takes place from Thursday, May 9 - Sunday, May 12.
Turning Point, freely incorporates inspirations of various genres. Turning Point could be considered as a more lyrical and groove-oriented companion work to the composer's earlier work, Spunk for saxophone, guitar, violin, and bass which has been described as "chamber jazz" and is among the most active works distributed by American Composers Alliance in the past year. The composer explains, "my intuition and the inspiration of this unique combination of instruments yielded a tuneful, mysterious, and rhythmic piece." Turning Point was commissioned by Thomas Piercy & Random Access Music.
Random Access Music presents the 2024 Queens New Music Festival May 9 - 12, 2024. RAM Players, pianist Kathleen Supové, percussion quartet RECAP, Hypercube, clarinetist Matthew Fontana with pianist Marina Iwao, & Music Kart are slated to perform throughout the weekend.
The Ever Trio to Perform Music of Dana Richardson and Jay Anthony Gach
The Long Island Composers Alliance will feature works by Dana Richardson and Jay Anthony Gach at their 5/11 concert featuring the Ever Trio, as well as music by Margaret Collins, Laurence Dresner, and Catherine Neville.
Free admission, reception to follow.
South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation
228 S Ocean Ave
Freeport, NY 11520
Rain, River, Sea featuring Robert Gibson: UMD Symphony Orchestra
UMD College of Arts and Humanities | School of Music
Saturday, May 4, 2024 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Dekelboum Concert Hall
PROGRAM
Robert Gibson: Through the Ear of a Raindrop for Orchestra
Bedrich Smetana: The Moldau
Debussy: La Mer, trois equisses symphoniques
The UMD Symphony Orchestra's season finale concert features Robert Gibson's Through the Ear of a Raindrop, Bedrich Smetana's The Moldau, and Claude Debussy's La Mer. Each piece explores a different aspect of water, evoking its beauty, power and mystery.
Originally composed for The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center's inaugural season, Through the Ear of a Raindrop was premiered by the UMD Symphony Orchestra in 2002. It returns to Dekelboum this season in honor of Professor Robert Gibson's retirement. Gibson has been a faculty member since 1980 and served as the School of Music's director for many years.
Joel Eric Suben, piano works, album release by UNCW artist Barry David Salwen, April 29
Piano music of Joel Eric Suben, newly released on an album by pianist Barry David Salwen.
Spotify link here.
Tracks by Joel include Sonatina I,II, III, and IV; as well as Impromptu Nos 1, 3, and 4.
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Richard Cameron-Wolfe Portrait Concert April 20th in NYC
Richard Cameron-Wolfe’s Passionate Geometries – April 20
On Saturday, April 20 at 8:00PM in the Thalia/Symphony Space, the artist collective Nomads NYC presents Passionate Geometries, a 54-year retrospective concert of the creative work of composer Richard Cameron-Wolfe, featuring eight of his works – three premieres and five first stagings. The evening offers a provocative interplay of art-forms: visual art [by Kevin Teare – ***arrive by 7:30 to see projections from his Sketchbook], chamber music, drama, opera, dance, and poetry/literature.
On the program are four micro-operas - MeMarie (1970), Heretic, A Sound-Shroud for Bill Knott, and Passionate Geometries; a dance allegory – Lilith; three chamber works – Iris (2024), Time Refracted, and the 2023 guitar sextet Arcturus. The event features fourteen outstanding New York City contemporary performing artists plus special guests from New Zealand, Russia/Kazakhstan, Boston, and Los Angeles.
Tickets: $20.00
https://www.symphonyspace.org/events/vp-passionate-geometries
[Photo: Richard Cameron-Wolfe in Bloomington, Indiana, 1970]
Winners of NFA Newly Published Music Competition announced - Editions by Judith Shatin, James Pellerite, Kermit Moore, taking honors
First Place winner in Solo Flute competition of the National Flute Association is Fasting Heart, by Judith Shatin, a new work released in the ACA catalog this year. Finalists included 17 Solos for the Native American Flute, Edited by James Pellerite. Honorable Mention for works for Flute and Piano went to Kermit Moore's Music for Flute and Piano (Sonata in Two Movements) and Judith Shatin's Gabriel's Wing. Congratulations to Judith Shatin, Henry Gale, the ACA team, and our friends at Alry Publications and also Theodore Presser Music.
The winning scores may be performed at this year's NFA conference in San Antonio, and also displayed in the Exhibit Hall before they reach their final destination at the NFA Lending Library at the University of Arizona.
H. Leslie Adams - Sonata for Horn and Piano - premiere movement 1, April 9
Livestream of the premiere first movement of H. Leslie Adams Sonata for Horn and Piano, on Tuesday, April 9th at 3pm (Colorado Springs). 5pm Eastern time. Link here With Sarah Ford, Horn; and Susan Grace, piano.
Harlem Chamber Players champion Spiritual Fantasy No. 12 by Frederick Tillis, April 5 and 6
ETHEL & Friends Series at The Met
Friday, April 5 at 6 - 8:30 PM
Saturday, April 6 at 6 - 8:30 PM
The Met Fifth Avenue
Great Hall Balcony Cafe, Floor 2
1000 5th Avenue
New York, NY
PROGRAM
ETHEL and Friends is a music series lovingly programmed for “Date Night” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Great Hall Balcony Cafe on the 2nd Floor, by the resident ensemble, ETHEL. “Date Night” Artists perform 3 sets on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 - 8:30 PM.
On April 5th and April 6th, members of The Harlem Chamber Players will perform music by William Grant Still, Florence Price, Frederick Tillis, Tania León, Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, Duke Ellington, and more.
ARTISTS
Ashley Horne, violin
Claire Chan, violin
William Frampton, viola
Wayne Smith, cello
TICKETS
Free with admission to The Met Museum at Fifth Avenue.
Music of Richard Brooks, Anthony Izzo, and NYCC, March 13
Music of Richard Brooks, Anthony Izzo, and NYCC, March 13
STRUCTURAL PERMUTATIONS
A Concert of New Music
Wednesday, March 13 @ 7:00 PM
Church of the Transfiguration
"Little Church Around the Corner"
1 East 29th Street, New York, New York