ACO: New York Stories | American Composers Orchestra

Friday, October 16, 2015, 8 pm
The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place
ACO: New York Stories (WNYC New Sounds Live – an all world premiere concert)
George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor
JACK Quartet
DM Stith, vocals
The Crossing, Donald Nally, director
Nick Yulman, robotic instruments

ANGELICA NEGRON: Me He Perdido (I’ve Gotten Lost)
(World Premiere. ACO Commission)
ANDY AKIHO: Tarnished Mirrors
(World Premiere. ACO/Underwood Commission)
ALEX MINCEK: Continuo, Concerto for JACK Quartet
(World Premiere. ACO/NYSCA Commission)
JUDD GREENSTEIN: My City
(World Premiere. ACO Co-Commission)

ACO celebrates the vitality of New York City with a free ALL-WORLD-PREMIERE concert. Indie vocalist DM Stith is front-man for Judd Greenstein’s interpretation of Walt Whitman’s famous “Mannahatta” and “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Andy Akiho integrates Caribbean-via-Brooklyn steel pan into the orchestra. Alex Mincek navigates the streets between string quartet and orchestra, and Angélica Negrón creates an immersive urban landscape when mechanical instruments are added to the orchestra.

The JACK Quartet has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, Salle Pleyel, La Biennale di Venezia, the Lucerne Festiva, Bali Arts Festival, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Festival Internacional Cervatino, Kölner Philharmonie, Donaueschinger Musiktage, and many others. JACK was recently awarded Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, New Music USA’s Trailblazer Award, and the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.

Comprised of violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Kevin McFarland, JACK commissions new works from leading composers. Composers John Luther Adams, Derek Bermel, Chaya Czernowin, James Dillon, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Vijay Iyer, Steve Mackey, Roger Reynolds, Salvatore Sciarrino, John Zorn and numerous others closely work with JACK.

JACK’s nonprofit structure is dedicated to the performance, commissioning, and spread of new string quartet music. Workshops with young performers and composers at Princeton University, Yale University, Harvard University, New York University, the Eastman School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, June in Buffalo, and others schools help JACK further their mission. The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music and studied closely with other contemporary classical string groups. www.jackquartet.com