American Composers Orchestra

Right Now, a new work for mezzo-soprano and accordion, developed via ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory program, will premiere on March 12, 2024 at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

“For us, creating new collaborative spaces is as exciting as the art that comes out of those spaces. This commission challenged us to be ‘in conversation’ with many streams of thought, beginning with the Weimar Republic, that abundant flowering of art and ideas that shone for a brief moment before being obliterated by a dark new reality. We found ourselves drawn to the work of the revolutionary composer Kurt Weill, particularly the song ‘Pirate Jenny,’ the story of a marginalized woman who quietly bides her time until the ‘now’ when the tables are turned. We are in conversation with Chrystal and Felipe’s Forrópera, a project that exists to foster dialogue through music, as well as with Felipe and Chrystal’s offstage passions, which include an ongoing exchange with the landscape they call their home. The confluence of these streams of thought led us to a meditation on time that considers overlapping cycles of social history, the natural world, and individual lives. Right Now is a meditation on time that puts discrete moments in the lives of individuals in conversation with larger time cycles.” – John Glover & Kelley Rourke