American Composers Forum

Beats By Girlz invites you to BBG.wav Louder Than Ever!
2021-12-03 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Beats By Girlz invites you to BBG.wav Louder Than Ever! – a virtual celebration and fundraising party on Friday, December 3rd, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET & 8 PM CT | 9 PM ET.
This year’s event honors the immense amount of dedication and work our collective community has accomplished all over the world, opening 37 chapters across 15 countries and 4 continents. You read that right…!
Over the past year we have basically doubled in size and have seen a tidal wave of growth year after year. We need your help to mark this momentous milestone and your financial support to ensure our continued expansion into the communities that need us most.
Register now to have fun and watch these artists at the top of their game all while supporting a rad organization that needs you!

A Concerto for the Holidays
2021-12-02 19:30 - 20:30
The Heartland Symphony Orchestra presents its winter concert series with the theme “A Concerto for the Holidays.”
In addition to holiday favorites, HSO will feature the world premiere of the 2020 composer competition winner Quinn Mason’s overture in a classical style and Hilary Lowery from Bemidji State University. See dates and locations below:
Thursday, December 2, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Log Church
37218 County Road 66, Crosslake, MN 56442
Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Charles D. Martin Auditorium
Little Falls High School
1001 5th Avenue SE, Little Falls, MN 56345
Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 2:30 PM CT
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
602 S 5th Street, Brainerd, MN 56401
Featuring:
Quinn Mason (a NextNotes creator), 2020 Composer Competition Winner
Dr. Hilary Lowery, clarinet
Conducted by Ryan Webber. Conductor Chats held prior to each concert.
Learn more here.

Festival of Carols
2021-12-01 18:30 - 19:30
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s annual welcome to the Christmas season. This year the Choir will be joined by the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Lauda per la Nativitá del Signore by Ottorino Respighi
Music and carol selections by Andrew Balfour, Sally Beamish, Rosephanye Powell (a ChoralQuest composer), Hyo-Won Woo and others.
Tickets for the online concert stream will go on sale October 1. This event will take place at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church and be live streamed.
Date & Time: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

JOY OF CHRISTMAS
2021-12-01 - 2021-12-31
Cathedral Choral Society’s esteemed Music Director Steven Fox has renewed his contract with the Cathedral Choral Society through June of 2025. He has served as our Music Director since 2018, and we’re excited about his continued leadership in our upcoming performances and collaborations.
As the pandemic continues to shift, Steven looks forward to honoring the remarkable history of this chorus, while also ushering in innovations that keep CCS at the forefront of choral music. He’ll bring the chorus back to Washington National Cathedral this fall with a season that will feature the annual Joy of Christmas concerts, a concert celebrating the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage with new works by Augusta Read Thomas, Jessie Montgomery and Lisa Bielawa (an innova artist), and a special performance of Verdi’s Requiem honoring the chorus’s 80th anniversary.
Date & Time: December 2021 (More details to be announced)
Stay tune about updates on their website by signing up here.

Composers Concordance Presets ‘Humbug Jitterbug’
2021-11-29 18:30 - 19:30
Composers Concordance Presents: ‘Humbug Jitterbug’ The CompCord Big Band
The CompCord Big band takes on the Jitterbug; throw in a literary word-play and you have brand new big band music by many of today’s leading composers. Guest soloist featuring: Valery Ponomarev – trumpet and Gerry Brown – drums
Composers:
John Clark, Dan Cooper, Louis Jordan, Melanie Mitrano/Gerson Galante, Ginka Mizuki, Carlos Castro Mora,
Alon Nechushtan, Gene Pritsker, Jay Rodriguez, David Taylor, Stefan Zeniuk
Date & Time: Monday, November 29, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Celebrate Hanukkah with WVPE
2021-11-29 18:00 - 21:00
Celebrate Hanukkah on Monday, November 29, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET with 88.1 WVPE Public Radio.
Eternal Echoes for Hanukkah Violinist Itzhak Perlman and Jewish music scholar and performer Hankus Netsky (a BandQuest composer) join host James David Jacobs for an hour of songs and stories celebrating the holiday known as “The Festival of Lights.”
Learn more here.

Music Monday LIVE!
2021-11-29 17:00 - 18:00, 2021-11-22 17:00 - 18:00, 2021-11-15 17:00 - 18:00
The Lewis Prize for Music has teamed up with Save The Music Foundation to host youth-led weekly conversations with today’s music leaders starting on Mondays, October 18, 2021 through December 20, 2021 at 5 PM CT | 3 PM PT
Music Monday LIVE is an exciting opportunity for youth across the United States to connect with music industry professionals, ask questions, and share ideas. This event is open to the public and hosted on INSTAGRAM LIVE.
This 10-week series kicks off with Songwriter and Photographer Teron Beal (@teronbeal) and Xavier Washington (@zaytheartist), youth leader and Development Coordinator at Save The Music Foundation.
If you want to join the conversation, don’t be shy! You’re welcome you to hop on the Live during the Q&A. Next week’s Instagram Live will be hosted on the Save The Music Instagram (@savethemusic).

Melodia Women's Choir Presents - Sun, Moon, and Stars LIVE
2021-11-21 15:00 - 17:00
Melodia Women’s Choir, conducted by Cynthia Powell, Artistic Director, present an afternoon of 20th and 21st century music celebrating the sun, moon, and stars. Works by Imant Raminsh, Morten Lauridsen, and Randall Thompson are among the rich repertoire. With Taisiya Pushkar, piano; strings and flute.
Date & Time: Sunday, November 21 2021 at 3 PM CT | 4 PM ET
For more details, click here.

Neave Trio perform “Her Voice
2021-11-21 13:30 - 14:30
Chamber Music Society of Utica will present the Neave Trio performing “Her Voice — Piano Trios by Women Composers,” on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 1:30 PM CT | 2:30 PM ET at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, 310 Genesee St.
Music will be by Louise Farrenc, Amy Beach, Cecile Chaminade and Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer). The performance will be presented both in-person and virtually.
In-person tickets and livestream ticket information is available here.

The Season Opening Concert: New York Symphony
2021-11-21 13:00 - 15:00
New York Youth Symphony opens their Season Opening Concert with Valerie Coleman (a BandQuest composer).
$30 tickets available to purchase starting on September 15th @ carnegiehall.org.
Date & Time: Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 1 PM CT | 2 PM ET
Valerie Coleman: Umoja: Anthem for Unity
Patrick O’Malley: Obliviana
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Zeitgeist Early Music Festival: Frederic Rzewski
2021-11-20 19:30 - 20:30, 2021-11-19 19:30 - 20:30
Zeitgeist’s 10th Annual Early Music Festival explores the powerful contributions of our musical pioneers with a celebration of composer Frederic Rzewski. From the 1960s to today, Rzewski has influenced American music profoundly through his work with minimalism, improvisation, text notation, and politically charged music.
Zeitgeist frequently collaborated with Rzewski in the 1980s and he composed four new works for the ensemble, which were recorded for Zeitgeist’s album A Decade. Performances at Zeitgeist’s Early Music Festival will include works composed for Zeitgeist, other chamber works, and guest artist Allen Otte performing The Fall of the Empire for speaking percussionist, which was written for Otte in 2007.
Guest improvisors on Plan for Spacecraft include: Ivan Cunningham, Dameun Strange (ACF’s Director of Community & Engagement), Douglas Ewart, Alyssa Anderson, Daisy Swimmer, Isaac Mayhew, George Cartwright, Alex Hecker
Date & Time: Friday & Saturday, November 19 & 20, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Learn more and get tickets here.

Kaufman Music Center – Bridges: Trevor New
2021-11-20 18:30 - 20:30
At this interactive, multimedia, multidisciplinary performance, New will play with sounds from the in-person and virtual audience, create a telematic music instrument petting zoo, give the in-person audience musical control, and virtually bring in performers from around the U.S. This performance is about all the ways we can and are connected.
Trevor New is a classically trained and self-taught electro-acoustic violist based in Brooklyn who is known for creating and performing intuitive and scored soundscapes that evoke a cinematic journey. He is a performer, composer, sound designer, engineer/producer and educator working with leading artists, composers and developers of music technology. Trevor is driven by the exploration of diverse music formats: found sounds, live looping, modular synthesis, digital processing methods, film, orchestra. His passion is creating new music that explores contrasting styles, timbres and performance approaches hence a devotion to electro-acoustic viola blended with classical elements. As Immersive performances continue to rapidly emerge Trevor is actively at the forefront both as an artist, musician, mentor and technologist.
Date & Time: Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
$10 student tickets are available by phone or in person. Call the box office at 212 501 3330.
Learn more and get tickets here.

A Night with Atlanta School of Composers
2021-11-19 19:00 - 20:00
Under the baton of Maestro Robert Spano, the ASO has consistently featured new music from contemporary composers alongside more standard classical repertoire. In this special presentation, we celebrate perhaps the fullest incarnation of this, the “Atlanta School of Composers,” with a program of works commissioned by the ASO from some of the brightest composers to emerge in recent years. Included on the program are works by Brian Nabors, current ASO bassist Michael Kurth, Michael Gandolfi (a BandQuest composer), Emmy Award-winning and Grammy® nominated Adam Schoenberg and Krists Auznieks.
Tickets range from $23-$109.
Date & Time: Friday, November 19, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
This concert is made possible through the Robert Spano Fund for New Music, established by The Antinori Foundation in honor of Robert Spano.
Get tickets here.

African American Choral Ensemble and the UGA Wind Ensemble
2021-11-19 18:30 - 19:30
Join the African American Choral Ensemble and the UGA Wind Ensemble as they share the stage in a combined concert on Friday, November 19, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET in Hodgson Concert Hall.
Part of UGA’s Spotlight on the Arts festival, the program features works by composers Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer), William Grant Still, Kirk Franklin, Jonathan McReynolds and Kevin Day, among others.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $3 for students. Live streaming is available here for those unable to attend.

Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners Recital
2021-11-18 21:00 - 22:00
Mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce and pianist Chien-Lin Lu, the 2019 Marilyn Horne Song Competition winners, will premiere a song cycle written expressly for them by Pulitzer Prize– and Grammy-winning American composer Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer). Wise Moon sets five short poems about the moon in music intended to bring out the unique talents of these two young artists. Higdon was present as a judge at the competition in 2019, and her journey to writing this new work began that day.
Date & Time: Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT
Learn more and get tickets here.

Kaufman Music Center – Piano Dialogues: Anthony de Mare – LIAISONS
2021-11-18 18:30 - 20:30
Conceived by acclaimed concert pianist Anthony de Mare, LIAISONS is a landmark commissioning and concert project that brings together today’s leading classical, jazz, theater, film and indie composers to re-imagine Stephen Sondheim’s songs as solo piano pieces. This remarkable compendium of new music breaks open the boundaries between musical theater and concert music while making the case for Sondheim as one of today’s most influential composers.
Date & Time: Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
KENJI BUNCH – The Demon Barber (2010) (A Fantasia on “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”)
TIMO ANDRES – Nice Is Different Than Good (2019) PREMIERE (after “I Know Things Now” – Into the Woods)
MASON BATES – Very Put Together (after “Putting It Together – Sunday In the Park With George)
EVE BEGLARIAN – Perpetual Happiness (2012) (after “Happiness” – Passion)
MEREDITH MONK – Dialogue (2019) PREMIERE (after “Poems” – Pacific Overtures)
JON BATISTE – The Gun Song / The Ballad of Booth (2019) PREMIERE (Assassins)
TED HEARNE – Another National Anthem (2019) PREMIERE (Assassins)
DEREK BERMEL – Sorry/Grateful (2011) (Company)
MAX RICHTER – Anyone Can Whistle (2020) PREMIERE (Anyone Can Whistle)
ANTHONY DE MARE – All Things Bright and Beautiful (2019) PREMIERE (Follies)
$10 students tickets are available. Call the box office at 212 501 3330.
Learn more and get tickets here.

Kaufman Music Center – Junction Trio
2021-11-17 12:00 - 13:00
Three renowned visionary artists combine talents in this eclectic new piano trio with WQXR Propulsion Lab artists Conrad Tao, piano, Stefan Jackiw, violin and Jay Campbell, cello. The program includes a public masterclass and performances of recent and new works for the piano trio including a new piece by Special Music School High School composer Pyam Pendleton. Other works include Christopher Trapani’s Passing Through, Staying Put and Conrad Tao’s Piano Trio, Desire/Eventide.
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 12 PM CT | 1 PM ET
Ticket info will be available here.

Kaufman Music Center – Broadway Close Up: Party at the Gershwins
2021-11-15 18:30 - 19:30
With host Sean Hartley and musical director Greg Jarrett Featuring Farah Alvin, Kate Baldwin, Eric Comstock, Eddie Cooper, Barbara Fasano, Charlotte Maltby, Jason Robinson, Kirsten Scott, Matthew Scott, Gabrielle Stravelli, Michael Winther and Karen Ziemba
Celebrate the great community of musical theatre as NYC re-opens! In the 1920s and 30s, George and Ira Gershwin threw star-studded parties in New York and Hollywood attended by a pantheon of Jazz Age songwriters, who would gather around the piano and take turns playing and singing. In the spirit of these famous musical soirées, you’re invited to an evening with some of your favorite Broadway Close Up performers! They’ll perform songs by the Gershwins and others including Irvin Berlin, Oscar Levant, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern.
Date & Time: Monday, November 15, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Back to the Future
2021-11-14 18:30 - 19:30, 2021-11-13 18:30 - 19:30
Resonance Works returns to live performance with music by some of today’s most important living composers: Missy Mazzoli, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jessie Montgomery, and Chen Yi (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer). Guest soloist Jeffrey Turner, former principal double bassist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, joins the Resonance Chamber Orchestra and conductor Maria Sensi Sellner for the company’s debut at the Greer Cabaret at Theater Square!
Date & Time: Saturday & Sunday, November 13 & 14, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Fall Youth Symphony, Youth Philharmonic & Chamber, Orchestra Concert
2021-11-14 16:00 - 17:00, 2021-11-14 15:00 - 16:00
The Omaha Area Youth Orchestra will start the season with a program featuring all of its ensembles: Youth Symphony, Youth Philharmonic, Youth Concert Strings and the new Percussion Ensemble. Pieces include Dances in the Canebrakes, composed by Florence Price and arranged by William Grant Still, and A Joyous Trilogy by a young composer named Quinn Mason ( a NextNotes creator).
Date & Time: Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 3 PM & 4 PM CT
Stay connected on The Omaha Area Youth Orchestras’ website to get updated information.

MAJOR U.S. PREMIERE
2021-11-14 14:30 - 15:30, 2021-11-13 19:30 - 20:30
Celebrated mandolin player Avi Avital performs the U.S. premiere of Jennifer Higdon‘s (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) Mandolin Concerto, commissioned jointly by the Mobile Symphony, Munich Philharmonic and Chicago Philharmonic.
Dates & Times:

Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 2:30 PM CT

Program:
Rossini | La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) Overture
Higdon | Mandoline Concerto (AMERICAN PREMIERE)
Avi Avital, mandolin
Mendelssohn | Symphony No. 4 Italian
Learn more and get tickets here.

Peter Bay Conducts the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
2021-11-13 19:00 - 20:00
Former Music Director Peter Bay Returns to the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra November 12 & 13 with the second of our Masterworks Concerts. Our program featurs the sonic splendor of the ASO’s Low Brass in a special concerto just for them (and you). Plus Dvořák’s first big hit symphony (originally listed as #1 but now known as #6)
Date & Time: Friday & Saturday, November 12 & 13, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Program:
Kodály: Dances of Marosszék
Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) : Low Brass Concerto
~ with the ASO low brass section
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6
Get tickets here.

China Arts and Entertainment Group Presents Image China - East/West Concert
2021-11-13 18:30 - 19:30
China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) returns to the David H. Koch Theater this November with Image China – East/West concert which is a celebration of modern and traditional Chinese classical music, featuring Conductor Jindong Cai and New York City Ballet Orchestra, together with standout Bass William Guanbo Su, Violin Shenghua Hu, Erhu (a traditional Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument) Jiebing Chen, soprano Esther Maureen Kelly and coloratura soprano Holly Flack. The program features two composers, Zhou Long and Chen Yi (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer), who were recipients of the distinguished CMS Stoeger Prize for composition, the former having written Tales from the Nine Bells which will be a homecoming performance seven years after the premiere of this CMS co-commission. This beautiful symbiotic collaboration from two sides of the world presents classical Chinese pieces in a new light, which will leave you breathless and transport you to an otherworldly time and place.
Date & Time: Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

CELEBRATION OF KEYS
2021-11-13 18:30 - 19:30
Lawrence Loh, conductor
Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer): An American Port of Call
Rachmaninoff : Concerto No. 2 in C minor for piano, featuring Jon Nakamatsu
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Date & Time: Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Get tickets here.
