2023 SONiC Festival – June 1-12: A Citywide Celebration of the Nation's Composers
June 1 – Ecstatic Music: Curtis Stewart and Aaron Diehl, Hosted by John Schaefer
June 1-2 – ACO’s 31st Annual EarShot Readings led by Tito Muñoz
June 3 – Communal Sing-In with Kamala Sankaram
June 3 – The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
June 4 – Afternoon of Music Curated by Miguel Zenón and Angelica Negrón
June 5 – Latin Jazz & Classical Music: Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry
June 6 – Bergamot Quartet with Dan Trueman
June 7 – SONiC Explorations with inti figgis vizueta and Paula Matthusen
June 8 – EarShot: NextFest Public Choreography Workshop
June 9 – Puentes Caribeños Curated by Christine Gangelhoff
June 10 – Luna Lab Composer Showcase with International Contemporary Ensemble,
Hosted by Curators Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid
June 11 – EarShot CoLABoratory Showcase Concert by American Composers Orchestra
June 12 – Music From Copland House - CULTIVATE 2023
American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces the 2023 SONiC Festival, a New York City-wide celebration of the breadth and vibrancy of the nation’s modern composers, taking place June 1-12, 2023. Spearheaded by the organization’s new leadership, President & CEO Melissa Ngan and Artistic Director Curtis Stewart, the Festival is made possible with lead funding from the Fromm Music Foundation, and key partnership with Mannes School of Music/The New School, which is providing space for several events for the duration of the Festival. In addition, ACO partners with Kaufman Music Center, Hostos Community College in The Bronx, Dizzy’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, Roulette Intermedium, Joe’s Pub, Americas Society, Copland House, and leading performers and composers including Clarice Assad, Angélica Negrón, Miguel Zenón, Kamala Sankaram, Aaron Diehl, Alicia Hall Moran, inti figgis vizueta, Paula Matthusen, Missy Mazzoli, Ellen Reid, the Harlem and Bergamot Quartets, The Rhythm Method Quartet, Music from Copland House, and more.
“After catching up with each of these curators, I am in constant awe of the brilliance of our American composers – each curator is coming from such a distinct perspective, regarding the nature of ‘Interactivity,’” says ACO Artistic Director Curtis Stewart. “From scoring revolutionary feminist humor postcards to musically engaging Puerto Rican communities in the South Bronx and organizations designed to support their country to exploring the Afro Caribbean roots of the transatlantic Slave trade - SONiC is at the tip of the iceberg, surveying sonic results of American musical experimentation and interactivity – between past + present, culture + culture, dream + reality, creator + creators.”
The 2023 SONiC Festival opens on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 7:30pm at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center with Ecstatic Music, featuring violinist and composer Curtis Stewart in his own newly-composed music alongside pianist and Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence Aaron Diehl, the Harlem Quartet, and chamber orchestra of musicians from The Next Festival of Emerging Artists and Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School, conducted by Peter Askim. A New Sounds Live co-presentation hosted by John Schaefer, the program brings new creative voices to the fore, in part through reinterpreting works from the past, including the world premiere of Stewart’s ACO-commissioned work Embrace.
The ACO hosts EarShot readings led by Queens-native, conductor Tito Muñoz, on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 10:30am and a public reading on Friday, June 2, 2023 at 7:30pm at Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music. Mentor composers Derek Bermel, ACO’s Artistic Director Emeritus; Mary Kouyoumdjian, who uses her Armenian-American heritage to inform meaningful large-scale works; and Daniel Bernard Roumain, known for his signature violin sounds infused with myriad electronic and African-American music influences, guide participating composers Younje Cho, Henry Dorn, Brittany J. Green, Oswald Huỳnh, Amy Nam, and Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei.
On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 12:30pm at Merkin Concert Hall presents composer and singer Kamala Sankaram in a lunchtime concert showcasing an ongoing creative project in which the audience becomes integral participants in the music-making process, a Communal Sing-In. Celebrating ACO’s commitment to creativity, Sankaram has been developing an app to enable anyone to participate regardless of prior music experience or score reading ability for an ever-evolving game-like experience.
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists celebrates its 10th anniversary with a program of world premieres for string orchestra based on the theme of Interactivity, including by guest artist and soloist guitarist/composer Yvette Young, 2022 Pulitzer Prize-finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer/violinist (and Festival alum) Che Buford, saxophonist/composer Matthew Evan Taylor, and Peter Askim (The Next Festival’s Artistic Director) on Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 7:30pm at the Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music.
Composer-performers Angélica Negrón and Miguel Zenón curate an afternoon of works highlighting the rich musical traditions of Puerto Rico leading up to the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 4:00pm at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture in The Bronx.
Jazz at Lincoln Center and SONiC co-present a program curated by two of the most innovative artists bridging the boundaries between Latin Jazz and classical music – Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry – at Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center on Monday, June 5, 2023. At 7:30pm, Grammy Award–nominated composer, pianist, and vocalist Clarice Assad curates a one-hour set featuring Brazilian guitarist João Luiz Rezende, pianists Mariel Mayz and Carolina Calvache, and more. At 9:30pm, JALC and SONiC present Atlantic Connections, created by Grammy-nominated saxophonist, percussionist, and composer Yosvany Terry and multi-dimensional vocalist Alicia Hall Moran, is a song cycle inspired by a selection of poets from the African Diaspora, including Maya Angelou, Salgado Maranhão (Brasil) and Silvie Kande (Senegal). The work of these poets served as a launching point for Terry and Hall to explore themes of land, home, motherhood, love, loss, distance, displacement, and water as some of the elements that spiritually connect the peoples’ of the African Diaspora. Atlantic Connections was originally commissioned by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts.
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 8pm at Brooklyn’s Roulette Intermedium, the Bergamot Quartet and special guest Dan Trueman perform a program that pays homage to the intricate array of textures and pitches available on our non-fretted instruments, featuring works that explore “the spaces between the notes,” and backboned by fiddle traditions from around the world.
ACO teams up with Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater for a night of SONiC explorations curated by two of ACO’s recently commissioned composers, inti figgis-vizueta and Paula Matthusen. Alongside string quartet, The Rhythm Method, inti figgis vizueta (2022-23 EarShot CoLABoratory Fellow, recipient of National Sawdust Hildegard Award, and The ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award) curates the 7:00pm set, and Paula Matthusen (recipient of Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fulbright Grant, and two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers’ Awards) curates a 9:30pm set.
ACO’s EarShot: The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Choreography Workshop from June 5-9, 2023 at the Mannes School of Music in NYC features artists Michael R. Dudley Jr., Emil Ernström, and Akari Komura, with a cohort of choreographer fellows to be announced. Mentors, composer/conductor/bassist Peter Askim, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis, and the “strikingly original” (The New York Times) Kamala Sankaram prepare the artists for a public event at Mannes on Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 7:00pm.
Curated by flutist and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of the Bahamas, Christine Gangelhoff, SONiC presents Bahamian consort C Force and Jamaican pianist Paul Shaw, who will give an innovative presentation of music connected to the Caribbean, including four world premieres in Puentes Caribeños on Friday, June 9, 2023 at 7:00pm at the Americas Society. C Force is a chamber ensemble that offers a unique approach to the traditional concept of chamber music. Based in Nassau, Bahamas, they perform a wide range of classical, regional and world music featuring arrangements and original compositions.
SONiC partners with the International Contemporary Ensemble to present a concert of brand new works from Luna Lab – the national workshop for young women and non-binary composers – hosted by curators Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 7:00pm at the Mannes School of Music.
SONiC and Mannes/The New School co-present three new interactive works developed through ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory composer residency program in a Showcase Concert on Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 4:00pm at Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music. Inspired by the African-American history of resilience, healing, and awakening post-trauma, Marcus Gilmore’s Pulse, developed with ACO through The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative with mentor Zakir Hussain, is scored for drums, jazz ensemble, spoken word, and orchestra. Trevor New’s Cohere Touch connects artists across continents using the composer’s own augmented reality environment and performance on viola. Mendi + Keith Obadike’s DreamTrain is an immersive sound installation and performance that encourages audiences to dream collectively as a means of social transformation. The American Composers Orchestra will be led by Glenn Alexander II.
The 2023 SONiC Festival closes with Music from Copland House - CULTIVATE 2023 on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 7:30pm at Elebash Recital Hall at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Music from Copland House presents six world premieres it commissioned from the 2023 Fellows of its acclaimed annual emerging composers institute: Henry Dorn, Seare Farhat, Oswald Huỳnh, Maya Miro Johnson, Grace Ann Lee, and Max Vinetz. CULTIVATE 2023, directed by Grammy-nominated composer-clarinetist Derek Bermel, is an intensive, creative workshop and mentoring program for gifted American composers of all backgrounds and identities, in the initial stages of their professional careers. Each year, six young composers are awarded Fellowships to participate in this immersive, weeklong, all-scholarship institute at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in Westchester County, one hour north of New York City.
Program Details
American Composers Orchestra Presents the 2023 SONiC Festival
Information and Tickets: https://americancomposers.org/sonic-festival-2023/
Ecstatic Music: Curtis Stewart of Love / of Time
(A New Sounds Live co-presentation hosted by John Schaefer)
Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 7:30pm
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/ecstatic-music-curtis-stewart-of-love-of-time/
Featuring the world premiere of Curtis’s ACO-commissioned work Embrace, the program brings new creative voices to the fore, in part through reinterpreting works from the past.
Program:
Curtis Stewart – Gone
Curtis Stewart – Thalassaki Mou
Oscar Peterson – Hymn to Freedom
David N Baker – Deliver my Soul
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Three Selections from 24 Negro Melodies
Curtis Stewart - Embrace [World Premiere, ACO Commission]
Mazz Swift - New Work
Joseph Bologne/Curtis Stewart - KNIGHT Music
Curtis Stewart, violin/composer
Aaron Diehl, piano/composer (2022-23 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence)
Harlem Quartet
Chamber Orchestra of musicians from The Next Festival of Emerging Artists and Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School
Peter Askim, Conductor
ACO’s 31st Annual EarShot Readings in NYC
Thursday, June 1, at 10:30am
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/acos-earshot-in-nyc-working-rehearsal/
Friday, June 2, 2023 at 7:30pm
Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/acos-earshot-in-nyc/
Program:
Younje Cho – Feast of Particles
Henry Dorn – …i forgot to say good morning today
Brittany J. Green – Rencontres for orchestra
Oswald Huỳnh – Gia Đình
Amy Nam – Mimi’s Song
Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei – (گر آتش بارد به پیکرم)Hommage à Khāleqī
American Composers Orchestra
Tito Muñoz, conductor
Communal Sing-In with Kamala Sankaram
Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 12:30pm
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/communal-sing-in-with-kamala-sankaram/
Composer/singer Kamala Sankaram showcases an ongoing creative project in which the audience becomes integral participants in the music-making process.
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 7:30pm
Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music | NYC
Link: https://next-fest.org/
Yvette Young – New Work for Electric Guitar and String Orchestra (World Premiere)
Leilehua Lanzilotti – New Work for String Orchestra (World Premiere)
Che Buford – New Work for String Orchestra (World Premiere)
Peter Askim – New Work for String Orchestra (World Premiere)
Matthew Evan Taylor – New Work for String Orchestra (World Premiere)
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists String Orchestra
Peter Askim, conductor
Afternoon of Music Curated by Miguel Zenón and Angelica Negrón
Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 4:00pm
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College | Bronx, NY
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/afternoon-of-music-curated-by-miguel-zenon-and-angelica-negron/
Composer-performers Angélica Negrón and Miguel Zenón curate an afternoon of works performed by a sensational and wide-ranging array of New York musicians highlighting the rich musical traditions of Puerto Rico leading up to the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Latin Jazz & Classical Music at Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center
Monday, June 5, 2023 at 7:30pm – Clarice Assad
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/latin-jazz-classical-music-at-dizzys-at-jlc-w-clarice-assad/
Monday, June 5, 2023 at 9:30pm – Yosvany Terry
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/latin-jazz-classical-music-at-dizzys-at-jlc-w-yosvany-terry/
Dizzy's Jazz at Lincoln Center | NYC
Jazz at Lincoln Center and SONiC co-present a pair of programs curated by two of the most innovative artists bridging the boundaries between Latin Jazz and classical music – Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry – at Dizzy’s Jazz Club.
Bergamot Quartet with Dan Trueman
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 8:00pm
Roulette Intermedium | Brooklyn, NY
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/bergamot-quartet-at-roulette/
Bergamot Quartet and special guest Dan Trueman will present a program that pays homage to the intricate array of textures and pitches available on our non-fretted instruments, featuring works that explore “the spaces between the notes,” and backboned by fiddle traditions from around the world.
SONiC Explorations
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 7:00pm – inti figgis-vizueta
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/sonic-explorations-at-joes-pub-with-inti-figgis-vizueta/
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 9:30pm – Paula Matthusen
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/sonic-explorations-at-joes-pub-with-paula-matthusen/
Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater | NYC
ACO teams up with Joe’s Pub for a night of SONiC explorations curated by two of ACO’s recently commissioned composers inti figgis-vizueta and Paula Matthusen.
EarShot: The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Choreography Workshop
Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 7pm
Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/earshot-the-next-festival-of-emerging-artists/
Under the guidance of composers Aaron Jay Kernis and Kamala Sankaram, NextFest’s Artistic Director Peter Askim and Choreographer Mentor Sidra Bell, NextFest’s 2022 Choreographer, Composer and Performance Fellows collaborate on brand new works. The program is an informal, open workshop of these works-in-progress featuring the world premieres of new works for string orchestra by Next Festival EarShot Composer Fellows.
Puentes Caribeños
Friday, June 9, 2023 at 8:00pm
Americas Society | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/puentes-caribenos/
Curated by flutist and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of the Bahamas Christine Gangelhoff, SONiC presents Bahamian consort C Force and Jamaican pianist Paul Shaw, who will give an innovative presentation of music connected to the Caribbean, including four world premieres.
Luna Lab Composer Showcase with the International Contemporary Ensemble
Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 7:00pm
Steifel Hall, Mannes School of Music | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/luna-lab-composer-showcase/
SONiC teams up with International Contemporary Ensemble to present a concert of brand new works from Luna Lab—the national workshop for young women and non-binary composers—hosted by curators Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid.
EarShot CoLABoratory Showcase Concert
Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 4:00pm
Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/earshot-colaboratory-showcase-concert/
Program:
Mendi + Keith Obadike – DreamTrain
Trevor New – Cohere Touch
Marcus Gilmore – Pulse
American Composers Orchestra
Glenn Alexander II, conductor
Paloma McGregor, director/choreographer
Marcus Gilmore Trio
Trevor New, violist
Music from Copland House - CULTIVATE 2023
Monday, June 12, 2023 at 7:30pm
Elebash Recital Hall at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York | NYC
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/music-from-copland-house-cultivate-2023/
Music from Copland House presents six world premieres it commissioned from the 2023 Fellows of its acclaimed annual emerging composers institute: Henry Dorn, Seare Farhat, Oswald Huỳnh, Maya Miro Johnson, Grace Ann Lee, and Max Vinetz.
Lead sponsorship for SONiC Festival has been provided by Fromm Music Foundation.
WQXR is the official media partner of SONiC Festival.
Lead funding support for EarShot CoLABoratory is generously provided by the TD Charitable Foundation, with additional support from Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.
Cohere Touch by Trevor New has been made possible with the support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting,and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Cohere Touch was workshopped as part of ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory, generously funded by TD Charitable Foundation.
DreamTrain by Mendi + Keith Obadike has been made possible with the support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.. DreamTrain was workshopped as part of ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory, generously funded by TD Charitable Foundation.
Embrace by Curtis Stewart has been made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
