All news and events posts from the previous iteration of ACA's website (June 2009 - October 2024).
Current posts can be found on the News and Events page.
Archived News and Events
Myung-Ji Lee plays music of H. Leslie Adams in Seoul, Jan. 18
Myung-Ji Lee will play Etudes for Piano by H. Leslie Adams, as well as music by Beethoven and Liszt. January 18, 7:30 pm at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, South Korea.
Frederick C. Tillis - Spiritual Fantasy No. 2 - at Amherst, Jan. 22
Double bassist Salvatore Macchia and pianist Ben Sparks will be performing Spiritual Fantasy No. 2 for Double Bass and Piano, by composer Frederick Tillis on Tuesday January 22, 2019 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Bezanson Recital Hall.
The concert will be the first in a new "Bezanson Legacy Series" dedicated to music by the Amherst faculty and recognizing the legacy of former chair of the university's Music and Dance department - Philip Bezanson.
On Tuesday, "The Music of UMass Composers" will be led by contrabassist and composer Salvatore Macchia, with Ayano Kataoka, marimba; Ronald Gorevic, viola; Benjamin Tibbets, piano, and Jazer Giles, electronics. The free concert will be in Benzanson Recital Hall at 7:30pm Former UMass professors and students will be featured:
Frederick Tillis - Spiritual Fantasy No. 2
Robert Stern - Aground on Starlake
Charles Fussell - Moonshine
Remembering Bruce - Salvatore Macchia (for Bruce Maccombie)
Bruce Reiprich - premiere of new work with NAU Faculty Chamber Players, Jan. 19
Cradled in My Arms , Gently for strings, by composer Bruce Reiprich, will be premiered by the Northern Arizona University Faculty Chamber Players on Saturday, January 19, at 7:30pm in Kitt Recital Hall - School ofMusic, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Currents - Electronic Music by Various Composers, 1968-2018, album release Dec. 22
Complete notes with audio samples here.
On December 22, 2018, ACA presents the worldwide release of "CURRENTS - Electronic Music" a collection of 14 pieces of fixed media works in stereo audio format. Works on the album cover a 50-year span of time, beginning with 1960s tape pieces yet unreleased, to new works from the past year. All works are by various composers working in the United States in the electroacoustic medium. Natural and synthetic sounds are featured in these pieces which cover a broad range of styles. Help us ring in the new year with this double album (CD and Digital) of music by ACA composers, available on iTunes and other online services, including Spotify Free, as well as physical CD format. Request review copies at [emailprotected]. Complete Program notes in PDF format - here. Complete notes with audio samples here.
1 Preston Trombly - Kinetics I
2 Preston Trombly Kinetics II
3 Robert Scott Thompson - Nullius in Verba
4 Daria Semegen - Arabesque
5 Scott L. Miller - SonAR Study I
6 Matthew Greenbaum - Transcendental Assembly
7 Hubert Howe - Quarter Tone Fantasy
8 Alice Shields - White Heron Dance
9 Burton Beerman - Recollections of Gifts
10 Mark Thome - Interactions
11 Joel Gressel - Private Practice
12 John Gibson - Almost An Island -
13 Arthur Kreiger - Electronic Miniature
14 Harvey Sollberger - Fanfare Mix Transpose
Karl Weigl's String Quartets No. 4 and No. 6 in Austria, Jan. 26
Michael Korstick, world-renowned Beethoven performer, is a strong supporter of Karl Weigl's piano and chamber music. With the Serenus Quartet, they will perform works for string quartet and a solo piano work by Karl Weigl at BrucknerHaus Linz on January 26th.
Born in Vienna in 1881 and brought to the Vienna Court Opera by Gustav Mahler as accompanist, the composer Karl Weigl was well known in his homeland. Wilhelm Furtwngler and George Szell took on his work, as did the Bush and Ros Quartet, and stars of the opera sang his songs. Because of his Jewish descent, Weigl had to emigrate to the USA after the seize of power by the German National Socialist Party.
PROGRAMM
KARL WEIGL (18811949)
Streichquartett Nr. 4 d-moll (192324)
Toteninsel. Phantasie fr Klavier (1903)
Streichquartett Nr. 6 C-Dur (1939)
Revelation, No. 1 from: Drei Intermezzi fr Streichquartett, (1941)
H. Leslie Adams commissioned by Mirror Visions Ensemble, for "This Land is Ours" series, beginning March 31, 2019
The Mirror Visions Ensemble has commissioned H. Leslie Adams to arrange his setting of "Heart of a Woman" one of the songs from his well-known collection, Nightsongs. The group has curated an upcoming concert series including multiple performances of "This Land is Ours" to be performed Sunday, March 31, 2019 at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street (bet Lafayette and Bowery) New York, NY, 10012 and at other dates in Hillsdale, NY and in Europe. The song by Leslie Adams features poetry by Harlem Renaissance poet Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966). Other composers on this project include Nate May, Francine Trester, Mohammed Fairouz, Brittney Boykin, CarlosSimon, Adolphus Hailstork, HaroldMeltzer, and Braxton Blake.
New Music for Organ, by Richard Brooks, Raoul Pleskow, and more, with Claudia Dumschat, organist, Feb. 12
Richard Brooks Aaron's Jubilee *
Kevin McCarter Four Poems **
Jinhee Han The Brightness of His Presence **
Raoul Pleskow Tre Laudi
David Picton Spring Rain Prelude & Fugue **
Roger Blanc Psalm 18 **
Eugene Marlow Three Fugues and a Bolero **
Frank Retzel Sapphire Cantos nos. V & VI **
* New York Premiere ** World Premiere
NYCC Dedicates this Concert to the Memory of Frank Retzel.
ADMISSION $20 STUDENTS FREE
NewYorkComposersCircle.org
Little Church Around the Corner
1 E 29th Street in Manhattan
Cameron-Wolfe and Eaton at Grinnell, rescheduled to March 8
Violinist Sarah Plum (Music Institute of Chicago) and pianist Gayle Blankenburg (Claremont Colleges) will offer a free concert of contemporary music on Friday, March 8, at 8PM in Grinnell Colleges Sebring-Lewis Hall (Grinnell, Iowa), featuring music by ACA composers Richard Cameron-Wolfe (Lilith, 2016) and John Eaton (Piano Variations, 1957/1964). The balance of the program includes music by Eliza Brown, Christian Carey, Lou Harrison, and Jeffrey Mumford.
Cameron-Wolfe was a student of John Eaton at Indiana University from 1970 to 1974 and will be participating in a forthcoming March 30 John Eaton birthday tribute concert in New York City. In June of this year he will lecture about John Eatons unique perspective on microtonalism at the International Ekmelic Societys Mikrotone: Small is Beautiful symposium in Salzburg.
New Juilliard Ensemble led by Joel Sachs, opens 2018-19 season with world premiere by Sunbin Kim, and more, Oct. 2
The opening concert on Tuesday, October 2, at 7:30pm, in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater features Josefino Chino Toledos (Philippines) Agos (Western Hemisphere premiere) with narrator, Juilliard actor Regina de Vera; Sunbin Kevin Kims (Korea/U.S.) Studies on Darkness After Mark Rothko (2018, world premiere, commissioned by N.J.E.); Virko Baleys (Ukraine/U.S.) Violin Concerto No. 1 (1987) with Juilliard violinist Stella Chen, in honor of the composers 80th birthday; and Akira Nishimuras (Japan) Mirror of Stars (2010).
The series continues on Tuesday, November 13, at 7:30pm in Room 309 with N.J.E. performing Ursula Mamloks (Germany/U.S.) Sextet (1977) and Robert Sierras (Puerto Rico/U.S.) Octet (2014) with additional solo and chamber works performed by members of N.J.E. More information on this series can be found here. Tickets are free but must be reserved - starting on Sept. 20.
Music of Karl Weigl featured at Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Oct. 18
The Autrian Cultural Forum - with Elysium, and in the context of Remembrance Year activities, presents Literary-Musical Collage, featuring texts by Rose Auslnder, Vicki Baum, Veza Canetti, Mimi Grossberg, Maria Ley Piscator, Macha Kalko, Grete von Urbanitzky, Berta Zuckerkandl, and Hermynia zur Mhlen, accompanied by music by Ernst Krenek, Egon Lustgarten, Alma Mahler, and Karl Weigl.
Conception and Introduction: Michael Lahr
Narrator: Gregorij von Leitis
Piano: Dan Franklin Smith
Sopranos: Alexis Rodda and Jeannie Im
The Austrian Cultural Forum of New York's mission - to connect European and American creative visions.
Barcarolle Variations by Louis Karchin, featuring Renee and Susan Jolles, Oct. 26
On Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, 8 PM, violinist Renee Jolles and harpist Susan Jolles will present the New York premiere of Barcarole Variations by Louis Karchin. Susan and Renee Jolles (mother-daughter), commissioned the work, and it will be performed on a concert of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, in a wide-ranging program along with works by David Liptak, Theodore Wiprud, Adam Mirza, Paul Salerni, and two composers coming from Italy to hear premieres of their music: Fabio Grasso and Letizia Michielon. The large group of eloquent performers includes, in addition to Renee and Susan, Alice Teyssier, Ben Fingland, Anna Lim, Peggy Kampmeier, Blair McMillen, Chris Gross, and one of the world's foremost performers on the Korean piri, Gamin Kang. Tenri Institute, 43a West 13thSt. Manhattan.
Robert Scott Thompson - new album release on Acousmatique Records, Oct. 1
PHONOTOPOLOGICAL a new album by Robert Scott Thompson, on Acousmatique Records - was released on October 1. About this long-form work of 14 tracks, the composer notes: "Originally, my inspirations were drawn from progressive rock Thick as Brick, Close to the Edge, Suppers Ready and distinctly the work of numerous modern electronic groups and composers (such as Tangerine Dream and Morton Subotnick) who have often worked with forms of symphonic proportions."
Music of Louis Karchin and David Liptak - Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Oct. 26
The opening concert of the 2018-2019 Season for WSCMS will take place on Oct. 26 at Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City, featuring the music of Louis Karchin, David Liptak, Theodore Wiprud, and more.
Friday, Oct. 26 8:00 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43a West 13th St. (between 5th and 6th Ave.)
New York, NY
Fabio Grasso, as doth eternity(2018) world premiere
Louis Karchin, Barcarole Variations (2015) NY premiere
David Liptak, Impromptus (2016) NY premiere
Letizia Michielon, SternbildDialectic Image (2018) world premiere
Adam Mirza, Triangles (2018) world premiere of the revised version
Paul Salerni, Autumn in Parco Querini, (2009) NY premiere
Theodore Wiprud, Mudang (2014) NY premiere
The Washington Square Ensemble:
Alice Teyssier, flute
Benjamin Fingland, clarinet
Susan Jolles, harp
Gamin Kang, piri
Margaret Kampmeier, piano
Blair McMillen, piano
Rene Jolles, violin
Sunghae Anna Lim, violin
Christopher Gross, cello
Violin concerto "Lullaby" by Bruce Reiprich, at Cleveland State University, Nov. 16
Cleveland State University Symphony Orchestra
Friday, November 16, 2018 at 7:30 pm
CSU Music and Communication Building, Waetjen Auditorium
CSU Symphony Orchestra
Victor Liva, conductor
Jimmie Parker, piano
J. Parker Piano Concerto
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Admission is FREE and open to the public
"Beneath the Azure Sky" by Marilyn Bliss - Refugee Symposium Concert, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, Nov. 5
Seeking Refuge: Local and Global Perspectives - A multifaceted look at immigration & the international refugee crisis,November 4-6, 2018
Monday, Nov. 5 Esch-Hurvis Room, Warch Campus Center, 9 p.m.-10 p.m.Concert of music by and about refugees performed by students and faculty of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music
Featuring "Beneath the Azure Sky" by Marilyn Bliss and works also by Mohammed Fairouz, LIgeti, and Milhaud, among others.
Iowa-born composer Marilyn Bliss has written many widely performed orchestral, chamber, and solo works. Educated at Coe College and the University of Pennsylvania, her teachers include such distinguished composers as George Crumb, George Rochberg, Jacob Druckman, Jerry Owen, and Harvey Sollberger. Her many awards include a Charles Ives Prize from the American Academy/Institute of Arts and Letters, an ASCAP Young Composers Award, Newly Published Flute Music awards from the National Flute Association, fellowships from Tanglewood, the Composers Conference, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and commissions from the Azure Ensemble, Haydn-Mozart Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the Powell Quartet, the flutists James Zellers, James Pellerite, and Nina Assimakopoulos, and the National Flute Association.
World premiere of Lansing McLoskey's flute concerto "...que la tierra se partio por su sonido" Oct. 30
World premiere of Lansing McLoskey's flute concerto...que la tierra se partio por su sonido, written for flautist Trudy Kane (former Principal flute at The Metropolitan Opera for over 30 years). Gusman Hall, University of Miami, Frost School of Music, Oct. 30, 2018, 8pm.
It's "Giving Tuesday" 2018 - Please consider a gift to ACA
We hope you will consider a contribution of any amount to ACA on #GivingTuesday this year.
ACA's efforts in preserving and distributing music by American composers has kept thousands of works in print and available for generations to come, and the catalog is growing every year.
In recent weeks ACA composer Burr Van Nostrand lost his home (everything - cello, etc) in the "Camp" fire in Paradise, California. Luckily his music - the graphic scores, artwork, and tapes he gave to ACA are professionally housed and now managed by our colleagues at SCPA, University of Maryland.
Files of ACA composers' music are also scanned/digitized to databases that are backed up on servers through Box.com and AWS-Amazon web services. ACA's work over the years does make a difference. ACA also supports concerts and recordings, managing catalogs for more than 225 current ACA composers.
Donate via ACAs Paypal Giving Fund page, where no fees are deducted on either side what you give is what ACA gets.
Or, you can use our Facebook Fundraiser app, where ACA can receive additional matching funds from Facebook for donations you make on GivingTuesday 11/27.
This #GivingTuesday you can feel good about donating to ACA, the American Composers Alliance, and your contribution will make a difference.
ACA received the 2018 Platinum Seal of Transparency from Guidestar, the nonprofit reporting agency.
American Composers Alliance Inc.
PO Box 1108
New York, NY 10040
Music of Richard Brooks and Raoul Pleskow at New York Composers Circle, Dec. 10
New York Composers Circle presents eleven new pieces by composers including Raoul Pleskow (Piano Trio) and Richard Brooks (Dialogue), among other works by David Mecionis, Carl Kanter, and more. Trio Namaste from Perugia, Italy will be the featured artists, with additional local artists from New York. Location: Scorca Hall at National Opera Center, 330 7th Ave. (28th-29th) 7th Floor, New York City. $20 admission, students free. Reception following the concert.
Elizabeth Austin, featured composer on WFCF Radio, Dec. 19th
Symphony no. 2 "Lighthouse" by Elizabeth R. Austin, will be broadcast on Music of our Mothers, Wednesday, Dec 19th between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m Eastern U.S. Time. Austin is a featured composer on the shows companion website.
U.S. listeners can stream the show live on iheartradio.com by searching for WFCF, Flagler College radio, 88.5 FM in St. Augustine, FL. Listeners in other locations may access recordings of the show several days after the broadcast on their website.
Richard Brooks - new album release - August 10
A new album is forthcoming from Richard Broooks on the Parma Recordings digital releases for August. Brooks' compositions dating back over three decades are brought to new life in this collection. Tracks include Seascape: Overture to Moby Dick, Landscape with Grace, Sweet Betsy, Four Play, Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Suite for Percussion, among others. PLACES IN TIME offers a fresh, remastered look at this acclaimed composer.