American Composers Forum

Louise Toppin in Recital
2021-09-23 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
Coloratura soprano Louise Toppin performs a recital of art songs and spirituals of the African Diaspora featuring works by women composers such as Margaret Bonds, Harriette Davison and Rosephanye Powell; and a world premiere song cycle, “For Terry,” by Maria Corley. Also included in the program are compositions by the celebrated composer Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer).
Louise Toppin launched the African Diaspora Music Project (ADMP) in 2019, and it now contains 4,000 songs by composers of African descent. Currently a professor at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, Dr. Toppin is also known for her extensive operatic, orchestral and oratorio performing career.
Ticket price: $20 regular / $15 student
Date & Time: Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Get tickets here.

Andreas Conducts Brahms 1
2021-09-23 18:30 - 19:30
Music Director Andreas Delfs opens the program with Richard Wagner’s Dawn & Siegfried’s Rhine Journey. Jennifer Higdon’s (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) award-winning Violin Concerto, praised as “an attractive, colourful work, scored most imaginatively and with great finesse” (Gramophone), features soloist Benjamin Beilman. Despite taking the composer over a decade to complete, Johann Brahms’s First Symphony was worth the wait – a melodic triumph worthy of his musical predecessors.
Date & Time:

Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Saturday, September 25, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET

Learn more and get tickets here.

Exponential Ensemble
2021-09-23 16:30 - 17:30
The Exponential Ensemble is a mixed chamber music ensemble made up of skilled performers and experienced teaching artists. They perform classic masterworks alongside contemporary masterpieces, expanding your musical horizon.
Bring your lawn chair, and join for this outdoor event!
PROGRAM:

Matyas SEIBER / Novelty Foxtrot
Eugene BOZZA / Trois pièces pour une musique de Nuit
Valerie COLEMAN (a BandQuest composer) / Rubispheres
Ulysses KAY / Suite for Oboe and Flute
Francis POULENC / Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon
Jean FRANCAIX / Wind Quartet

Date & Time: Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 4:30 PM CT | 5:30 ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Cassiopeia Winds 2021 Tour
2021-09-23 14:00 - 15:00
Cassiopeia Winds is a group of five exceptional musicians whose sheer joy in performing together is contagious, bringing a real sense of excitement and fun to their music making.
Formed in 2010, Irish chamber wind ensemble Cassiopeia Winds performances are marked by vivacity, panache and a dedication to the exploration of fine sound worlds. Though the ensemble has the capacity to expand or contract to suit its innovative programming, at its core is a quintet of players whose members are among the finest in the country, including players from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Crash Ensemble.
Date & Time: Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 2 PM CT | 8 PM (GMT+1)
Programme Includes:
Franz Danzi; Wind Quintet
Alexander von Zemlinsky: Humoreske (Rondo)
Amy Beach: Pastorale
Valerie Coleman (a BandQuest composer): Red Clay & Mississippi Delta
WA Mozart: Adagio & Allegro
Adele O’Dwyer: Three Chromatic Miniatures (world premier)
Luciano Berio: Opus Number Zoo
Get tickets here.

Music Mondays presents Brooklyn Rider and Nicholas Phan, tenor
2021-09-20 18:30 - 20:00
Genre-bending string quartet Brooklyn Rider joins tenor Nicholas Phan (“one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” Boston Globe) for an evening of lyrical, transporting works for voice and string quartet. Works by English composers Thomas Campion and Rebecca Clarke accompany Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet and the New York Premiere of Stranger, a new song cycle by Nico Muhly that speaks to disparate challenges faced by immigrants to the United States. Hear how Brooklyn Rider is “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.” (NPR)

Date & Time: Monday, September 20, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more here.

Violinist Stefan Jackiw Returns
2021-09-18 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-09-17 19:00 - 20:00
The second of our classical weekends brings a new perspective on a familiar artist. Conrad Tao is known for his virtuoso piano playing, but he’s beginning to make his name as a composer, and we’re privileged to perform the world premiere of his newest violin concerto. American violinist Stefan Jackiw, whose playing is hailed as “striking for its intelligence and sensitivity” (Boston Globe), takes center stage for the concerto.
The concert also contains some of our favorite works conducted by one of our favorite maestros: Robert Spano conducts Alvin Singleton‘s (a BandQuest composer) Different River. Debuted by the ASO in 2012, Different River is a single-movement work that follows the ebbs and flows encountered on the journey of life. Spano bookends the concert with two rollicking tone poems by Strauss, one features the infamous German prankster Till Eulenspiegel, the other profiles the legendary womanizer Don Juan.
Date & Time: Friday – Saturday, September 17 -18, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Get tickets here.

‘Cross Rhythms’
2021-09-17 22:00 - 23:00
When the pandemic first put a halt to live performances, a group of California pianists started convening weekly over Zoom to share ideas, musical tips and plans for exploring new repertoire. Now that those artists are free to perform again, they’re ready to share the fruits of those discussions.
Curated by Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers, this hybrid presentation — a simultaneous combination of in-person event and live stream titled “Cross Rhythms” — features some of the region’s most inventive pianists, including Gloria Cheng, Monica Chew, Jerry Kuderna and Allegra Chapman. The lineup is equally diverse, with music by Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer), Fred Onovwerosuoke, Grazyna Bacewicz and the husband-and-wife team of Wang Lu and Anthony Cheung.
Date & Time: Friday, September 17, 2021 at 10 PM CT | 8 PM PT
Location: Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA
General Admissions Tickets: $25
Get tickets here.

Wind Symphony & Concert Band Concert
2021-09-17 19:30 - 20:30
The Eastern Illinois University Wind Symphony and Concert Band are back in action with full band rehearsals and indoor performances. Join conductor Alicia Neal and the Wind Symphony and Concert Band at the Doudna Fine Art Center’s Dvorak Concert Hall for the first full band concert of the 21-22 academic year.

The audience will enjoy music by Percy Grainger, Vincent Persichetti, Alexandra Gardner, Michael Colgrass (a BandQuest composer), Jodie Blackshaw (a BandQuest composer), and Thomas Root.
Date & Time: Friday, September 17, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Tickets are $6 for general public, faculty, staff or seniors and $5 for students.
Get tickets here.

Jasper String Quartet
2021-09-16 16:30 - 17:30
Bring your lawn chair, and join Princeton Symphony Orchestra in the garden for an evening of superb music by the quartet called “Outstanding” by The New Yorker. Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in 2021, the Jasper String Quartet is recognized as one of the leading American string quartets on the performance stage today.
PROGRAM

Florence PRICE / Quartet No. 1
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ TATE (a ChoralQuest composer) / Pisachi (Reveal)
Maurice RAVEL / Quartet in F Major
Date & Time: Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 4:30 PM CT | 5:30PM ET
Get tickets here.

Amplifying Solidarity: A Northrop Plaza Series
2021-09-16 12:00 - 13:00, 2021-09-09 12:00 - 13:00, 2021-09-02 12:00 - 13:00
Spend the last four Thursdays of summer lounging or lunching on Northrop Plaza while listening to music by spectacular Minnesota artists! A collaboration between Northrop, Radio K, Welcome Week, Multicultural Student Engagement, and the School of Music, Amplifying Solidarity is a program of free outdoor concerts with the intent to use music to lift the voices of people who have been marginalized and to welcome our community back to campus after more than a year of physical distancing and social unrest. These free concerts featuring Black and Indigenous artists will take place on Northrop’s Plaza Stage.
Schedule:
Daniel James Felton: Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 12 PM CT
Learn more here.

Joe Davis & The Poetic Diaspora: Thursday, September 2, 2021 at 12 PM CT
Learn more here.

Lady Midnight: Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 12 PM CT
Learn more here.

Why Canoes? Featuring the Milanesians: Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 12 PM CT
Capacious Vessels and Indigenous Futures of Minnesota’s Peoples and Places, is an exhibit that honors the interconnectedness between the Native Canoe Program, University of Minnesota students, faculty, staff, and members of three Indigenous communities around Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). It also celebrates relationships with Dakota, Ojibwe, and Micronesian communities that have come together and found a common passion for sharing water traditions, while broadening the understanding of the waters that surround us through the resurgence and revitalization of canoe communities. The exhibit is presented by Northrop, Heritage Studies & Public History Program, Institute for Advanced Study, and University Honors Program.
Learn more here.

Frost Concert Jazz Band & Frost Studio Jazz Band with Christian McBride
2021-09-15 18:30 - 19:30
Seven-time GRAMMY®-winning bassist Christian McBride is a force of nature. “In his hands, an acoustic bass can shamelessly expose the human heart,” JazzTimes said in an article. He brings virtuosic fire, a relentless energy, depth, and the grounding of a seasoned journeyman to his performances. He will join the multiple DownBeat award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band, including Janelle Finton (a NextNotes creator) who will play lead trumpet, and Frost Studio Jazz Band, which are renowned for their outstanding musicianship, inspired performances, soloists, and well-crafted arrangements.
Date & Time: Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Northwest Bachfest Presents: Eroica Trio
2021-09-14 21:00 - 22:00
Artistic Director Zuill Bailey performs with Eroica Trio members Sara Parkins, violin; Sara Sant’Ambrogio, cello; and Erika Nickrenz, piano. This concert will include works from J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jean-Luc Godard and Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer).
Location: Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave., Spokane
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT
Visit website here.

Loeillet, Godard, Adolphus and Schubert
2021-09-14 21:00 - 22:00
The Eroica Trio (their name adapted from the Beethoven Eroica Symphony) are outstanding musicians who have been performing together since their childhoods with musical connections and artistry deepened at prestigious schools, Curtis Institute, and Juilliard, as well as at music festivals through which they have formed a lifelong bond. Eroica’s audiences find the trio/s solo moments stunning, only to be outdone by their ensemble passages. These performances promise to be unforgettable musical experiences for BachFest audiences, following the pattern for all artists invited to BachFest by Artistic Director Zuill Bailey.
Program:
Loeillet Trio Sonata
Godard Berceuse de Jocelyn
Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer) Trio (1985)
Schubert Bb Major Trio
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT
Get tickets here.

The Illustrated Pianist
2021-09-11 22:00 - 23:00
Hailed as “ingenious,” “mysterious,” and “inspiring,” The Illustrated Pianist combines science-fiction and adaptive visual installation in an imaginative concert of piano music, inspired by the timeless book The Illustrated Man.
This unique multimedia event, assembled by the pianist and composer Nicole Brancato for the Old First Concerts in San Francisco, honors the centenary, in 2020, of the iconic American science-fiction author Ray Bradbury and the seventieth anniversary, this year, of his celebrated story collection. The program comprises distinct new works by seven accomplished composing pianists, including Nicholas Pavkovic, Jed Distler, Monica Chew, Dee Spencer, Jerry Kuderna, Keisuke Nakagoshi, and Brancato herself, paired with visual elements designed by Cory Todd.
The acclaimed New York City premiere of The Illustrated Pianist was featured in The New Yorker and boasted the commission of eighteen new works for piano. In this new edition coming up at the historic Old First Church, five new piano commissions and new visual design are made possible by the Ross McKee Foundation. We invite you to reflect on the tales that inspired these new works of art, or to envision your own stories!
Through these unique sonic and visual collaborations, the project connects diverse perspectives to ponder our past, speak to us about our present, and wonder about the future. The themes presented transcend age and time — and perhaps, in some ways, speak to us even more loudly now than in previous decades…
Date & Time: Saturday, September 11, 2021 at 10 PM CT | 8 PM PT
This concert is part of the CURRENT Piano Festival, presented by Old First Concerts and The Ross McKee Foundation
Get tickets here.

APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE WITH TRACY SILVERMAN, ELECTRIC VIOLIN
2021-09-11 19:30 - 20:30
Apollo’s season opener marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with the live world premiere of With Malice Toward None by Vietnam veteran composer J. Kimo Williams. Juxtaposing the Enlightenment philosophies of Ludwig van Beethoven and President Lincoln, this new work weaves storytelling and social contradictions with calls to action and good old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll. World-renowned electric violinist Tracy Silverman joins Apollo for a program aspiring to heal and to “bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice for all”. Their work is inspired by Christopher Theofanidis (a BandQuest composer), “What is the Word?”
Date & Time: Saturday, September 11, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Get tickets here.

Playing it Close to Home
2021-09-11 19:30 - 20:30, 2021-09-10 19:30 - 20:30
With winning songs from the 2021 Eric Stokes Song Contest plus music by local composer Michelle Kinney (a past ACF board member, a McKnight fellow, a JCCP recipient (now called ACF Create), and a past Live Music for Dance winner), Zeitgeist’s Playing it Close to Home concert celebrates the wealth of musical creativity found right here in our own backyard. The program includes music by Eric Stokes Song Contest winners Ilan Blanck, Julie Sweet, and Ellie Gold, plus the world premiere of new music composed for Zeitgeist by Michelle Kinney.
The Eric Stokes Song Contest is sponsored by Zeitgeist in memory of late composer Eric Stokes; the contest was designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Playing it Close to Home will feature winning songs by Ilan Blanck and Julie Sweet in the adult category, and Ellie Gold in the youth category.
Date & Time: Friday & Saturday, September 10 & 11, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Location: Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
Tickets: $15 / $10 students & seniors
Get tickets here.

Last Night of the Proms 2021
2021-09-11 13:30 - 14:30
With his ‘thrilling vocal heroics’ and ‘magnetic stage presence’, Stuart Skelton is one of the great tenors of his generation, a regular in all the major international opera houses. The Australian singer is joined by charismatic Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova for the climax of the 2021 festival – a musical celebration like no other.
A stellar line-up brings the world’s largest classical music festival to a close. Tenor Stuart Skelton and charismatic Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo for a spectacular climax to the festival.

Programme: Gity Razaz (a JFund recipient), Thomas Arne, Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry, & Unknown
Broadcast on BBC TV
Date & Time: Saturday, September 11, 2021 at 1:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM in London, UK time
Learn more here.

Malamanya w/ DJ Espada at Granada Theater
2021-09-10 20:00 - 22:00
Check out the exciting new venue in Uptown GRANADA THEATER near Lake St and Hennepin Ave in the former Suburban World movie theater building.
Malamanya (a Minnesota Music Creator Awards winner (formerly known as MECA winner)) will be joined with DJ Espada on Friday, September 10, 2021 at 8 PM CT.
Malamanya is a United States based band comprised of musicians who share a mutual respect and enthusiasm for traditional rhythms and melodies from the Caribbean and Latin America. Their onstage energy and compositions reflect the communal, complex, and celebratory spirit prevalent in these musical genres.
Tickets are $12 and doors open at 7 PM.
Get tickets here.

Symphony on the Square
2021-09-09 18:30 - 19:30
Join the KSO for a free, family-friendly concert on Market Square in downtown Knoxville. Music features include Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer). Patrons are encouraged to arrive early and bring blankets and lawn chairs. Convenient parking is free for those arriving after 6 p.m. in the city-owned Market Square, Walnut Street, Locust Street, and State Street garages.
In the case of light rain, this concert will take place as scheduled. In the case of cold temperatures or thunderstorms, this concert will be rescheduled to the following day, Friday, Sept. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Date & Time: Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more here.

Convocation 2021 Live Concert
2021-09-09 18:30 - 19:30
NEC kicks off the year with a live concert featuring faculty of the Contemporary Improvisation Department, with music from Persian, Appalachian, Middle Eastern, and Jewish traditions as well as jazz, Avant Garde, new works, and more. The concert will feature Department Chairs Eden MacAdam-Somer and Hankus Netsky (a BandQuest composer), founding Chair Ran Blake, as well as Nima Janmohammadi, Dominique Eade, Liz Knowles, Greg Liszt, Mal Barsamian and many others.
Date & Time: Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more here.

ACF Equity Study Group: Everyday Discrimination Scale
2021-09-09 16:00 - 17:00 | Virtual, United States
The work of Dr. David R. Williams, Florence and Laura Norman, Professor of Public Health, Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University, has focused primarily on discrimination in our public health systems and on how systematic racism affects one’s health. For example, if we look at life expectancy at age 25, there’s a five-year gap between Black people and white people. Dr. Williams was able to demonstrate how much the everyday microaggressions that Black people face adds up to a shorter life span and worse overall health than their White counterparts, for which he developed a very useful tool in the Everyday Day Discrimination Scale, the second of three scales he developed to measure racism.
For this month’s ACF Study Group, we will take a look at The Everyday Discrimination Scale and its usefulness in understanding how the stress of racism affects the human body in the long term.
Dr. Williams’ Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_r_williams_how_racism_makes_us_sick/transcript
60 Minutes feature on Dr. Williams: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-disease-black-americans-covid-19-2021-04-18/
Register for the study group here.

Gene Pritsker @ 50
2021-09-05 17:00 - 19:30
Composer Gene Pritsker’s 50th Birthday concert featuring performances of his music.

Composer Gene Pritsker’s 50th Birthday concert featuring performances of his music. Premieres include ‘Prelude & Fugue #4’, ‘Cold Gin Variations’, a quartet for brass and tap dancer, as well as performances of ‘Iguana’, ‘A Certain Degree of Neurosis’, ‘There’s Not Enough Pain In The World’ and much more.
Date & Time: Sunday, September 5, 2021 at 5 PM CT | 6 PM ET
WITH:
Groups: Sound Liberation, B3+
Vocalists: Paul Mack, Charles Coleman, Anya Migdal, Adriana Valdés
Guitarists: Sean Satin , Greg Baker, Gene Pritsker (an ACF Showcase composer, and an ACF create composer (formerly known as CCP composer)
Violinsits: Lara St. John, Lynn Bechtold,
Poets: Erik T.Johnson, Robert C. Ford
Pianists: Magdalena Stern-Baczewska, Kathleen Supove,
Trumpets: Franz Hackl, Charlie Porter,
Clarinetist: Michiyo Suzuki,
Horn: John Clark,
Bass trombone: Dave Taylor,
Bassists: Dan Cooper, Jose Moura,
Percussionists: Damien Bassman, Peter Jarvis, David Rozenblatt.
Milica Paranosic – VJ
Get tickets here.

At Last We Sing Again Berkshires!
2021-09-04 12:30 - 13:30
Join the Berkshire Concert Choir, Northern Berkshire Chorale, Cantilena Chamber Choir, and the Stockbridge Festival Singers as they SING AGAIN in the Berkshires. Unaffiliated Singers welcome!
Registration link below! (The registration fee is to off-set the cost of liability insurance through Shakespeare and Co.
Date & Time: Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 12:30 PM CT
Attire for the event: Casual wear
Rehearsal schedule:
Saturday, September 4 at 12:00 run thru, all choirs
Performance at 1:30pm
Registration for all singers available now here!
Repertoire:
Ave Verum Corpus – Mozart (Northern Berkshire Chorale – Andrew Berger – conductor)
Hark I Hear the harps eternal- Alice Parker (a ChoralQuest composer)(Cantilena Chamber Choir, Andrea Goodman – conductor
Alleluia – R. Thompson (Stockbridge Festival Chorus – Tracy Wilson – conductor)
Over My Head-spiritual- Grand Finale. Andrea Goodman will be conducting all the choirs for this one.
Stockbridge Festival Chorus – Repertoir TBD

MAKE NO SMALL PLANS
2021-08-29 16:00 - 18:00
Sextet in E-flat Major, Op.81b • Ludwig van Beethoven
Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 • Johannes Brahms
Door County Concerto • Quinn Mason, 2021 Composer-in-Residence Fellow
Musicians TBA
Quinn Mason is one of Midsummer’s 2021 Emerging Composers Initiative Fellows & a NextNotes creator.
Dates & Times:

Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 7 PM CT; VENUE: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 2336 Canterbury Ln, Sister Bay, WI 54234
Friday, August 27, 2021 at 7 PM CT; VENUE: Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St., Egg Harbor, WI 54209
Sunday, August 29, 2021 at 4 PM CT; VENUE: Woodwalk Gallery, 6746 County Rd. G., Egg Harbor, WI 54209

Learn more and get tickets on Midsummer’s calendar here.
Tickets are $30.

COFFEE TALK WITH QUINN MASON • KRESS PAVILION, EGG HARBOR
2021-08-28 10:00 - 11:30
Join for Midsummer’s Music’s free Coffee Talk programs—informal presentations on music topics by our ensemble members and friends.
Quinn Mason is one of Midsummer’s 2021 Emerging Composers Initiative Fellows & a NextNotes creator. Midsummer’s will play the world premiere of his Door County Concerto during the Make No Small Plans program starting August 26.
Date & Time: Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 10 am CT
VENUE: Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St., Egg Harbor, WI 54209
Learn more and get free tickets here.

COFFEE TALK WITH QUINN MASON • KRESS PAVILION, EGG HARBOR
2021-08-28 10:00 - 11:00
Join Midsummer’s Music for their free Coffee Talk programs—informal presentations on music topics by our ensemble members and friends.
Quinn Mason ( a NextNotes creator) is one of Midsummer’s 2021 Emerging Composers Initiative Fellows. Midsummer’s will play the world premiere of his Door County Concerto during the Make No Small Plans program starting August 26.
Date & Time: Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 10 AM CT
Buy tickets here.
VENUE: Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St., Egg Harbor, WI 54209
