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The 2014-2015 season marks ACO’s 38th season as as a catalyst for the creation of new orchestral music, creating new opportunities for American composers and for audiences. The season includes two Orchestra Underground concerts as Zankel Hall – our subversive and entrepreneurial redefinition of the orchestra. “Underground” highlights include the rarely performed orchestral music of pioneering composer and performer Meredith Monk (November 21) and Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins sung by Shara Worden (February 27).
Expanding beyond Carnegie Hall for the first time in several years, ACO will showcase the New York premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony at Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center (April 9).
In all, ACO’s new season includes seven world, US, and New York premieres by a diverse group of composers including Wynton Marsalis, Ian Williams, Courtney Bryan, Theo Bleckmann, A.J. McCaffrey, Carman Moore, Daniel Schnyder, and Loren Loiacono, plus performances by Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Ian Williams (Battles), Theo Bleckmann, and the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble.
The season also includes our 24th Underwood New Music Readings, our annual round-up of the nation’s top young composers, as well as emerging composers readings around the country through ACO’s EarShot network. Plus the return of coLABoratory: Playing It UNsafe, our R&D lab for experimental new music, and the third Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute.
A limited number of Inside Track memberships, which include prime tickets to all three concerts during the season, reserved space at the Underwood Readings and more are available at $180 through August 31st. Single tickets go on sale this fall. Check out all the details below:
Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 at 7:30pm. Zankel Hall
Orchestra Underground: Monk’s Sphere
George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor
Theo Bleckmann, vocals
Ian Williams, electronics
Members of Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble
IAN WILLIAMS: Clear Image (World Premiere, ACO/Goelet Commission)
AJ McCAFFREY: Motormouth (World Premiere, ACO/Underwood Commission)
LOREN LOIACONO: Stalks, Hounds (NY Premiere)
THEO BLECKMANN: My Brightest Garment (World Premiere, Carnegie Hall Commission)
MEREDITH MONK: Night
Our 38th season-opener explores the influence of pioneering composer/vocalist Meredith Monk, with premieres by a longtime member of her ensemble and the 2013 Underwood emerging composer commission. Plus the first orchestra music by experimental-rocker Ian Williams (from Battles).
Friday, February 27, 2015 at 7:30pm. Zankel Hall
Orchestra Underground: Sins & Songs
George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor
Shara Worden & My Brightest Diamond, vocals
KURT WEILL: The Seven Deadly Sins
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND: Whoever You Are; We Added It Up; Looking at the Sun
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER: selections from Unremembered: Prelude; The Witch; The Swan
DANIEL SCHNYDER: draKOOL (US Premiere)
CARMAN MOORE: TATA MADIBA (World Premiere, ACO Commission)
Kurt Weill’s masterpiece, The Seven Deadly Sins, combines cabaret and jazz influences with the orchestra with vocalist Shara Worden. Plus songs by Worden’s alter-ego My Brightest Diamond and Sarah Kirkland Snider, the U.S. premiere of music inspired by Dracula, and the world premiere of Carman Moore’s Tata Madiba, commissioned by ACO and honoring Nelson Mandela.
Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 8pm. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Blues Symphony & Beyond
George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor
Uri Caine, piano
COURTNEY BRYAN: Sanctum for Orchestra & Recorded Sound (World Premiere, ACO/Jerome Commission)
URI CAINE: Double Trouble (revised and expanded, ACO commission)
WYNTON MARSALIS: Blues Symphony (NY Premiere)
The NYC premiere of jazz master Wynton Marsalis‘ Blues Symphony. A world premiere by Courtney Bryan, New Orleans-born alumna of ACO’s Jazz Composers Institute, that explores the sound of improvisation in Holiness-preaching traditions. Plus the premiere of an expanded Double Trouble for piano & orchestra by virtuoso-improviser/composer Uri Caine.
May 7 & 8, 2015. DiMenna Center for Classical Music
24th Annual Underwood New Music Readings
George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor
Derek Bermel, Artistic Director
ACO’s annual roundup of the country’s brightest young and emerging composers.
Want to hear all ACO has to offer? Join Inside Track. Membership includes prime tickets to all three concerts during the season, reserved space at the Underwood Readings and more. A limited number of Inside Track memberships are available at $180 per person through August 31st. Single tickets go on sale this fall.