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Carnegie Hall
serves as the home of ACO. Performing at one of the world's foremost
concert halls is important in increasing national and international
recognition not only for ACO, but for the diverse and talented pool
of American composers served by the orchestra.  ACO
programs explore the full range and diversity of American music,
often focusing on a specific composer, trend, idea, or musical issue.
Concerts often include lesser-known works by renowned composers,
significant pieces by established composers at the forefront of
present creativity, with a special emphasis on new music by young
composers. A performance by ACO at Carnegie Hall is viewed by many in
the industry as a right-of-passage for an emerging composer, and
orchestras around the country look to ACO's concerts as a source for
the best in new American music. [Click
here to see concert schedule]
ACO
commissions an average of four new works per season; 95 commissions
to date. Composers commissioned include Aaron Jay Kernis, Sheila
Silver, Hannibal Peterson, Philip Glass, David Lang, Bun-ching Lam,
Anthony Advise, John Cage, John Adams, Morton Subotnick, Olly Wilson,
Louis Ballard, Joan Tower, Julia Wolfe and Charles Wuorinen. Both
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Joseph Schwantner received their first
orchestral commissions from the ACO; each work was subsequently
awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Among ACO's recent commissions are the
Koussevitsky Award-winning Desde... by
Tania León; Clouds (from out of the past...)
by Hollywood composer Paul Chihara; Harlem Essay
by composer/hip-hop artist Daniel Roumain; Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare
Ritmico; Tomorrow's Song as Yesterday
Sings Today, by the experimental improviser/pianist/composer
Muhal Richard Abrams; Sparkler
by composer and technologist Tod Machover; Falling
Dream by emerging composer Kevin Puts, The
Book of Five, a collaborative work for orchestra and amplified
ensemble by Stewart Wallace; and the Symphony
No. 6 "Plutonian Ode" by Philip Glass. Recently, ACO
partnered with The Women's Philharmonic in a project to commission
ten fanfares in celebration of the Millennium. Commissions premiered
in the 2002-03 season included new works
Dan Coleman, Brian Robison, Hsueh-Yung Shen, Milton Babbitt, Shulamit
Ran, and David Lang. The 2003-04 season features the realization of
newly-commissioned music by Lisa Bielawa, Alvin Singleton, George
Lewis, and Michael Gordon. Future commissions place emphasis on
emerging composers.[Click
here to see a list of ACO commissions]
Initiated in
June 1993, the ACO holds annual reading sessions of works by young
composers. Up to eight composers from throughout the United States
are selected to receive a reading of a new work under the batons of
Dennis Russell Davies, Steven Sloane, and guest conductors, and with
the input of Artistic Director and composer Robert Beaser. Each
composer selected receives rehearsal, reading and a digital recording
of his or her work. Review and feedback sessions with ACO principal
players, and mentor-composers provide crucial artistic, technical and
conceptual assistance. Following the readings, one composer each year
is awarded a $15,000 commission for a performance by ACO, providing
an all-important career-building Carnegie Hall debut. The ACO's
reading sessions have become respected as the industry proving-ground
for many of today's most talented orchestral composers.[Click
here to see info on the Whitaker New Music Reading Sessions]
orchestra underground
 Launching
in February 2004 is Orchestra Underground, a new experimental series
being designed for the newly-constructed state-of-the-art Zankel Hall
at Carnegie Hall. The series will challenge conventional notions
about symphonic music, embracing multidisciplinary and collaborative
work, novel instrumental and spatial orientations of musicians, new
technologies and multimedia. The series will develop new repertoire,
and provide fertile working ground for artists who have not
traditionally had access to the orchestral ensemble. The debut
Orchestra Underground concert features world premieres by Lisa
Bielawa, and A Day in Gotham, a collaborative work created by
composer Michael Gordon and Ridge Theater.
improvise!
 Improvise!
is ACO's festival exploring improvisation and the orchestra,
scheduled for April 24 - May 1, 2004. The festival is devoted to
exploring improvisation in orchestral music in all its diversity,
including jazz, graphic notation, technological innovation, and other
influences. Improvisation is an emblematically American musical means
of expression that has impacted diverse musical genres; yet little
attention has been focused on the history, practical and aesthetic
issues surrounding improvisation in music for orchestra. Through the
festival, ACO will explore the dynamic relationships that develop
between composer, conductor, ensemble, improviser(s), soloist(s), and
audiences in music that embraces improvisation, and examine how
improvisation has been and might be utilized in orchestral music
being written by American composers today. Composers Anthony Davis
and Alvin Singleton serve as Music Alive Composers-in-Residence and
artistic advisors for Improvise!
The
festival will include a range of performances and venues, educational
activities, and presentations designed to appeal to a wide range of
audiences and participants, including jazz, classical, experimental
and world-music listeners, students, composers, performers, and music
professionals. In total, the festival will provide a vibrant
presentation and exchange of ideas about conceptual, aesthetic and
practical approaches to improvisation in orchestral music, including:
concerts of orchestra music at Carnegie Hall and other venues;
commissions of new music integrating improvisation and the orchestra;
ensemble concerts with guest artists at venues around New York City;
reading sessions providing an opportunity for composer/improvisers to
present works-in-progress and newer developments in their work;
professional meetings, allowing composer/improvisers to interact and
share their music and perspectives; master classes at area colleges
and conservatories; and in-school workshops and educational
residencies. [find
out more...]
orchestra
tech: orchestra technology initiative
 Orchestra
Tech is a multi-year initiative to explore and encourage the
creation, performance and development of music that unites orchestral
forces with new technology. The initiative has been conceived as a
way to examine the possibilities that computers and multimedia
technologies have been, and might in the future be, applied to
orchestral music; and to encourage the future development and
performance of innovative music that integrates technology into the
orchestra. The initiative is national in scope, and includes
performance, educational, research and professional development,
dissemination and commissioning activities. Through Orchestra Tech,
ACO will help bridge the digital divide that exists between composers
and other musical and multimedia artists working in technology, and
those writing for symphony orchestra. Renowned composer and
music-technology innovator Tod Machover serves as ACO's artistic
advisor for Orchestra Tech.
The initiative
commenced in fall 2001 with a National
Conference on the Orchestra and Technology that brought together
composers, scientists, music professionals, orchestra administrators,
academics and students for symposia, artistic exchanges and concert
performances. Current and future activities include commissions and
co-commissions, performances at Carnegie Hall and as part of ACO's
newly created "Orchestra Underground" series, educational
workshops, and the creation of a consortium of interested orchestra
professionals to advance the creation and performance of such music.
During the 2003-04 season two newly-commissioned works developed
through Orchestra Tech will be premiered: Gotham, a
multimedia collaboration between composer Michael Gordon and video
and visual artists from the Ridge Theater Co., and the Virtual
Concerto by composer-technologist George Lewis.[Click
here to learn more]
"composers out
front" series
 Beginning
in 1999 season, ACO launched Composers OutFront, a series that puts
composers on stage, making connections between their musical roots as
performers and their works for the concert hall. The series has
featured composers whose experiences include concert music as well as
jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, improvisation and world musics.
Performances have been held at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre and
The Knitting Factory, alternative music spaces in lower Manhattan.
Composers Out Front has featured composer/multi-instrumentalist Derek
Bermel, Korean-American composer/komungo soloist and improviser Jin
Hi Kim, and Hollywood composing legend David
Raksin. In 2002, the series offered performances by
composers-performers working with new digital technologies. By
featuring primarily young composers who are also performers in a
casual downtown setting, the series expands and diversifies ACO's
audiences, and provides connections with the performances ACO gives
at Carnegie Hall.
 Coming
to America: Immigrant Sounds/Immigrant Voices is ACO's
exploration of the continual evolution of American music through the
work of immigrant composers. Launched in 2000-01, "Coming to
America" has linked the music of several composers to questions
central to immigration and cultural absorption in American society.
Participating in "Coming to America" have been composers
Jin Hi Kim and P.Q. Phan, as well as Chinary Ung, Melissa Hui, Tania
León and Lukas Foss. Together these composers span several
generations and three continents. They either immigrated or fled
respectively from Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Cuba and
Germany. Each composer was represented by recent or newly premiered
work; additional performances, in-school educational activities,
forums and community dialogues took place around New York City. The
program has been selected as a model by Americans for the Arts for
its Animating Democracy Initiative, and was awarded a prestigious
MetLife Award for Community Engagement. [Click
here to learn more]
"20th century
snapshots" series
 Begun
in January, 1999 and concluded in April 2001, ACO has undertaken a
special 11-concert project based on American themes of the past
century in commemoration of the Millennium. The programs were based
on evocative and provocative ideas that together make up a
scatter-gun document of some of the things that happened in America
in the last century and that could lead the way to the next one.
Working with collaborative and educational partners, this series
included special themed performances and satellite events focusing
on: "Walt Whitman," "The
Gershwin Circle," "Protest,"
"Roots," "Copland-Sessions,"
"Ellis Island to JFK," "Hollywood,"
"Pacifica," and more.
 In
February 1994, the ACO launched Sonidos de las Américas, the
first of a series of annual festivals devoted to the music of Latin
America. Each week-long festival includes a visiting delegation of
Latin American composers and performers; chamber music concerts in
Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and in Latino community venues;
symposia and master classes at area colleges; and an orchestral
concert at Carnegie Hall. The music of Cuba was explored in the 1999
festival. Previous festivals focused on Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela,
Puerto Rico, and Argentina. ACO is now evaluating the continuation of
the Sonidos concept with a new Latin American composer exchange
program in a future season.
composer fellowships
As part of its
efforts to provide extended professional development opportunities to
emerging American composers, ACO announced the Van Lier Composer
Fellowships in 1999. Through this program, three young composers over
the next three years will have the opportunity to work with ACO
artistic and administrative leadership to hone their professional
skills, participate in planning, educational activities and
performances, serve as a liaison with student composers, and enhance
their professional careers by immersing themselves in the
professional environment of ACO.
pre-concert discussions
Free to all
ticket holders before each concert, these discussions, moderated by
Artistic Advisor Robert Beaser, provide an opportunity to hear
composers speak about their work and provide insight into the
creative process. Average attendance is 450 per discussion, and
twelve to eighteen composers participate in the discussions each season.
in-school education programs
In the
1993-94 season the ACO gave its first youth concerts through a
collaboration with Carnegie Hall's Link Up! program. That association
has grown over time to include as many as 16 annual concerts in NYC
public schools and 8 concerts in Carnegie Hall, reaching more than
20,000 children each year. In 1999, ACO launched a new program, Music
Factory: Composers in the Schools, bringing emerging composers
into elementary and high-school classrooms, to involve New York City
public high school students in the process of creating music, and to
improve their understanding how composers work and write for
orchestra. Over the last four years, Music Factory has brought more
than twenty composers to work on an extended basis with each school
in the program. ACO documents Music Factory curricula in order to
share this material with other music organizations, with the goal of
integrating American composers into music education programs nationwide.
academic ticket program
150 tickets to
each Carnegie Hall performance are made available at no cost to high
school and college music students throughout the Tri-state area.
Students also attend pre-concert discussions and have an opportunity
to meet with composers.
audience development /
dissemination initiatives
ACO is
committed to developing new and diverse audiences for American music,
not only for its own concerts, but for musical organizations
throughout the country and the world. ACO considers a fine
performance of a newly commissioned work the beginning rather than
the end of the creative process. Toward that end, ACO undertakes
important activities such as radio broadcasts and recordings (see
below). In addition, ACO has launched two innovative programs
designed to foster additional performances for new American music,
and to help create a fertile listening environment for this music to
exist. SoundAdvice is ACO's mechanism for
generating thought and discussion among audiences. A combination
audience survey and interactive website, SoundAdvice encourages
listeners to express an opinion about music they have heard. By
creating a dialogue about music, ACO hopes to generate interest in,
and break down inhibitions listeners often feel about, new works. To
reach out to other music organizations and professionals, ACO has
created ACO-Xchange. This professional
network serves to bring together conductors, composers, music
administrators, and others, to help disseminate information about new
American music.
radio / internet broadcasts
In
1989, ACO launched its first series of nationally distributed radio
broadcasts, Music in the Present Tense—The ACO at Carnegie
Hall, over the American Public Radio network. A new annual series was
begun in October, 1994 when Sonidos de las Américas was heard
nationwide on the National Public Radio network. Beginning with the
1997-98 season, ACO began recording several of its Carnegie Hall
subscription concerts for broadcast. These concerts are heard
internationally in more than 50 countries through WGBH's Art of the
States, and planning is new underway to distribute these radio
recordings as a regular recurring segment on NPR's Performance Today.
ACO's
first forays into internet dissemination of its performances were
made as part of the recently launched Orchestra Tech initiative.
Plans are know in the works to make additional archival recordings of
ACO's singular performances available via the internet as part of ACO-Xchange.
 The
ACO makes up to two recordings per year. The discography
now numbers 22 albums. Recent releases on London Records' ARGO label
include the works of Colin McPhee, Lou Harrison, and Chinary Ung, and
Symphonies Nos. 6, 7, and 9 of Roger Sessions. The ACO's first
recording on the Point label, Philip Glass' Heroes Symphony was
released in 1998. In 1999 John Zorn's Aporias–Requia for
Piano and Orchestra was released as was the Philip Glass/Robert
Wilson collaboration: the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it
is down, ACT V. In 2000, ACO's album of orchestral works by John Cage
appeared on the ECM label, garnering international awards and praise.
In July 2001, ACO's latest recording, Ingram Marshall's Kingdom Come,
commissioned by ACO, was released on Nonesuch.
touring & special concerts
Internationally
acclaimed for commitment to and expertise in contemporary American
music, ACO often undertakes special performances in conjunction with
artistic or presenting partners. Recent examples include a birthday
tribute to Alan Hovhaness; a memorial concert for Aaron Copland; the
opening concert of the American Symphony Orchestra League's National
Conference in New York; a program of Spanish composers exiled in the
Americas held in conjunction with the King Juan Carlos I of Spain
Center of New York University; and the U.S. premiere of the Philip
Glass/Robert Wilson opera White Raven in conjunction with
the Lincoln Center Festival in July 2001. |
