American Composers Forum

Living Music: Pirate Radio
2020-05-28 21:00, 2020-05-26 21:00 (America/New_York)
Living Music: Pirate Radio is a quarantine variety show, hosted by Nadia Sirota, that brings performances, conversation and community directly from socially-distanced artists to viewers at home. Watch on Facebook Live Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9pm Eastern / 6pm Pacific and see more than a dozen archived episodes!

BIPOC Town Hall
2020-05-28 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago)
With an understanding that Covid-19 has been disproportionately hard on members of BIPOC communities, ACF is offering an affinity space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color open to people in the creative community who have experienced their lives being adversely affected by the pandemic. While we certainly appreciate White allies, we also recognize the need for affinity spaces. This Town Hall will be hosted by The Woke Coach, Seena Hodges who will be joined by panelists Garrett McQueen and Dameun Strange.
We feel that the best way we make it through this challenge is as a community. Taking this into consideration, we are hosting a series of virtual town halls where you can just drop in and hang out.
Register

Contract Negotiation in the Time of Covid-19
2020-05-28 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
This one-hour, interactive session with legal experts will cover topics for musicians and performing artists including:

Addressing current contracts tied to event dates in the next 6-12 months.
Planning ahead: how to protect artists’ health in a contract.
What can you do differently with future contracts being negotiated now?

Register
Alex Mueller’s practice is concentrated on Copyright, Trademark and Entertainment law. Alex is the Chair of the Sports, Art and Entertainment Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. She works with businesses of all sizes in a variety of industries including filmmakers, event vendors, musicians, and performing ensembles, composers, artists, authors and game and software developers to manage their rights and maximize their market potential. Contact Alex at amueller@hjlawfirm.com or (952) 460-9214.
Terry Moore is a partner at Hellmuth & Johnson. He has more than 30 years of experience representing businesses and individuals in Minnesota and North Dakota in a wide variety of legal matters. His unique background and experience in law and business provide Terry the tools to fix all types of disruptive business problems, from litigation to transactions to multi-party workouts. Terry has successfully taken on many major league adversaries including big oil, big pharma, government agencies, and many others. Contact Terry at tmoore@hjlawfirm.com or (952) 746-2175.
This webinar is part of the Stay Plugged In series, co-sponsored by American Composers Forum, Slam Academy, and Springboard for the Arts
Notice to Participants
By participating in this webinar you agree to the following:

You acknowledge and agree that the session will be recorded (in both video and audio format) and that ACF may make such recordings publicly available in the future via download, streaming, or other means.
You acknowledge and agree that to the extent you participate in the session by asking questions, sharing examples of your music, or otherwise appearing in the recording, you grant ACF a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use your name, voice, likeness, and any other intellectual property you share during the session as part of ACF’s distribution of recordings of the session.
You acknowledge and agree that ACF and/or the session leader, as appropriate, own all rights to the materials distributed that ACF and /or the session leader, as appropriate, own all rights to materials distributed in connection with the session and the recordings of the session, and that you do not gain any rights in such materials by participating in the session.

ACF Town Hall
2020-05-27 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
We feel that the best way we make it through this challenge is as a community. Taking this into consideration, we are hosting a series of virtual town halls where you can just drop in and hang out.

Register

Connecting ACO Community: Weekly Premieres
2020-05-24 17:00, 2020-05-17 17:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual, United States
American Composers Orchestra Announces a new solo commissioning initiative in response to the COVID-19 crisis with online world premieres beginning Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 5pm on Zoom
$5 tickets* available through Eventbrite
If the $5 entrance fee poses a barrier to participation, interested listeners will be asked to fill out an anonymous form at https://bit.ly/ACOConnectComp or email Aiden Feltkamp at aiden@americancomposers.org to request a fee waiver.
In response to the impacts of COVID-19 on composers and performers, American Composers Orchestra announces Connecting ACO Community, a new initiative to commission short works for solo instrument or voice. Each composer will receive $500 to write the work, and each performer will receive $500 to perform the work, with the rights to stream for six months. With this project, ACO aims to support artists who need financial assistance; to create new work that will live beyond this crisis; and provide virtual, interactive performances to ACO’s supporters and the general public.
Ticketholders will receive a private link to join the performance, and all of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go solely to fund artists involved in this project. The composer, performer, and a host (ACO President Ed Yim or ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel, who is also donating his own performance to the project) will hold an online chat with attendees after the performance. The recorded session will be available within 24 hours after the performance on ACO’s website and social media platforms, as well as on MUSIC on the REBOUND: an online festival for participating in live events as well as a platform for streaming concerts.
Connecting ACO Community Volume 2 Composer-Performer Teams and Schedule of Events
Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Joseph Pereira & Chester Englander, percussion (register/buy tickets)
Sunday, June 14, 2020 – OFF
Sunday, June 21, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Shara Nova & Ahya Simone, harp (register/buy tickets)
Note: Ahya Simone was unable to appear during the originally scheduled premiere in Volume 1, during which Shara Nova premiered a version for voice and guitar. This installment features Simone performing a second premiere of the work When I Said Let a Change Come for harp.
Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Karena Ingram & Monica Ellis, bassoon (register/buy tickets)
Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Krists Auznieks & Stephen Gosling, piano (register/buy tickets)
Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Lembit Beecher & Seth Parker Woods, cello (register/buy tickets)
Sunday, July 19, 2020 at 5pm ET:
Alejandro Basulto Martinez & Alecia Lawyer, oboe (register/buy tickets)

Free Online Concerts: Culture in the Time of Corona
2020-05-24 15:00, 2020-05-17 15:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual, United States
The Streetlight Guild, in partnership with the Johnstone Fund for New Music, presents Culture in the Time of Corona, a series of 6 free live-stream concerts taking place at The Streetlight Guild on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. in April, May and June. The purpose of these performances is to provide musicians with much-needed income, as many of them have experienced cancelled gigs due to public health concerns, and to provide the public at large with much-needed musical therapy during an unprecedented time of crisis.
LIVE STREAM LINK
To watch these performances live, please visit streetlightguild.org.
RECORDED PERFORMANCES LINK
To watch recordings of these performances, please visit streetlightguild.org.
SCHEDULE
April 26: Cameron Leach (cleachmusic.com)
May 10: Tower Duo (towerduo.weebly.com)
May 17: Starlit Ways (starlitways.com)
May 24: Pendulum Duo (facebook.com/PendulumDuo)
May 31: Robert Mason (robertmason.bandcamp.com)
June 7: Janus Quartet (janusstringquartet.com)

Music Creator Meet-Up
2020-05-23 11:00, 2020-05-16 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
About: In keeping with our mission to nurture the creative spirit of music creators and communities, American Composers Forum and New Music Gathering are partnering to host a weekly Music Creator Meet-Up. In these sessions, we will check-in with each other to see how we are doing, review creation in progress by one of our peers, and stay plugged in with the most recent resources.

Register

Date/Time: Every Saturday at 11am CT, May 16 – June 13, 2020
Note: Every week we’ll be focusing on one music creator and/or topic. If you would like to share your creation in progress with peers, please let the host know when you register so we can ensure you have 15 minutes space to do so.
What’s Next? New Music Gathering 2020!
Schedule: June 15-13, 2020.
Attendance is free, but registration is required to obtain a password that will get you into every Zoom event.
To register: click here.
Questions? Please shoot a line at newmusicgathering@gmail.com

Tech Support Happy Hour
2020-05-22 17:00 - 18:00, 2020-05-15 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago)
Slam Academy’s Free Tech Support Happy Hour!
Are you an artist that has been forced into the world of working online?
Are you a music or art educator that is struggling with your online teaching options?
Or are you just curious how all of this stuff is supposed to work?
Join us for a free pop-in meeting to chat, and get tips, ideas, and solutions from our tech ninjas.
Every Friday 5 – 6pm CDT.
Event Link
Beverages optional.
about slam academy
Slam Academy is devoted to creating a non-competitive, experiential learning environment to anyone who seeks it. We believe that each of our students has something valuable to say, and our ultimate goal is to empower them with the ability to release it through music.
When it comes to electronic music education in the Twin Cities, there are two options: 1. YouTube, and 2. College Programs. While we at Slam Academy are big fans of a college education, there seemed to be a gap in options. On the one hand was a free and completely unsupervised, non-reactive medium (YouTube), and on the other a highly focused (and fairly expensive) college education. In our opinion, there should be something in between. Something that gives the student one-on-one, personal education at an affordable price.
Since the start of each electronic art form – music, video, digital image making, software development – participation has been reserved for those who can afford the technology. In the last few years, technology has become more and more inexpensive and accessible. Anyone can make great work – all you really need is a computer. If you have a computer, we can show you how to make art on it.

Live@NationalSawdust
2020-05-22 15:00, 2020-05-20 18:00, 2020-05-19 18:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual, United States
Digital Discovery Festival 2020 is a Festival to bring National Sawdust artists and audiences together, and to fight the vulnerability performing artists are feeling during the COVID-19 outbreak.
May 19, 2020 Emily Wells
May 20, 2020 Ashley Bathgate
May 22, 2020 Vijay Iyer

New Music Help Desk
2020-05-22 15:00, 2020-05-15 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
The New Music Help Desk is a unique opportunity for composers and performers to get face time with Spektral Quartet – to ask pointed questions about notation, feasibility, tuning systems, harmonics, or simply how to stay motivated in the midst of a quarantine.
“Our aim is to use our skills to both build community and keep creativity flowing for artists hemmed in by this quarantine – and to do so at no charge.
For this recurring series, we will select questions in advance and then open the proceedings up to attendees using the Zoom Q&A feature. If a submitted question is not one of the few chosen beforehand, attendees can still ask us their question live during the event. All submissions, regardless of date sent, will be kept in the mix for future Help Desk sessions.
The New Music Help Desk is open to anyone curious about the labyrinth of new music notation, composition, and performance. Priority will be given to student and emerging artists, or anyone currently in-process with a piece. And to bring extra perspective to the discussion, Spektral will be joined by a special guest to help answer queries.
This is frankly a scary time for all of us in the arts. We hope the New Music Help Desk brings at least a little glimmer of hope and assistance to our fellow artists.” – Spektral

ListN Up
2020-05-22, 2020-05-15 | Virtual, United States
ListN Up is a series of weekly artist-curated playlists. Born from a desire to keep artists sharing and connected during times of isolation, ListN Up offers an intimate sonic portrait of contemporary artists by showcasing the diverse and stylistically varied music that influences their creative practice. This series is sponsored by American Composers Forum/innova Recordings with new releases every Friday on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

The Quarantine Concerts
2020-05-21 18:00, 2020-05-12 19:00, 2020-05-11 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
The Quarantine Concerts are a collaborative endeavor meant to provide artists a space to share their work and continue to earn a living during this time when most live performance opportunities have been cancelled due to COVID-19. We believe in the necessity of art during difficult moments like these, and feel fortunate to live in a time when loss of mobility does not have to mean loss of community. Thank you for being here.
Suggested donation of $5/evening – think of it like paying cover to a concert! 100% of the donations contributed during each performance go to the artists who played that night.

Doubt from the Minnesota Opera
2020-05-18 - 2020-05-28 | Virtual, United States
Great Performances: Doubt from Minnesota Opera is a new opera composed by Douglas J. Cuomo, based on playwright John Patrick Shanley’s acclaimed 2005 Broadway play, which was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated 2008 film. Doubt unfolds as suspicion ignites a battle of wills at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. The charismatic and progressive Father Flynn is trying to loosen the grip of St. Nicholas Church School’s strict customs, which are fiercely guarded by its iron-fisted principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier. When the young and naïve Sister James shares her suspicion with the principal that Father Flynn may be abusing the school’s only African-American student, Sister Aloysius embarks on a personal crusade to discover the truth about the priest. With no proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius engages in a battle of wills with Father Flynn in this new opera. Video expires Jun 22, 2020.
More works/listen for Douglas J. Cuomo at http://www.douglasjcuomo.com/credits.html

Comfort Girl stream on Joe's Pub Archives
2020-05-16 20:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual, United States
COMFORT GIRL is an exploration – in song and story – of the lives of Chinese ‘comfort women’, a cruel euphemism for the women who were abducted and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during WWII. There were over 200,000 of these young women, most of whom were from China or Korea. Lured by false promises of work or kidnapped – shipped far away from their families – they were kept in terrible conditions. Many died or were killed during the war. The few who survived stayed silent about their horrifying ordeal, because it was seen as shameful, and even considered treason. COMFORT GIRL is a tribute to these young women and their courage, not only during the War but also afterward – when they returned home to families who didn’t always welcome them back with open arms. Their story is still relevant, as survivors continue to fight for justice, and human trafficking remains a major global issue. The music is inspired by true stories survivors have told.

Stephanie Chou – composer, voice, alto saxophone
Orville Mendoza – voice
Andy Lin – erhu, viola, violin
Kelly Lin – piano
Kenny Wollesen – drums, percussion
Peregrine Heard – narration
“It is a stunning work that not only shines light on a dark chapter of history but also feels inspirational for contemporary listeners.” — DownBeat magazine, July 2019

Like all Joe’s Pub shows, all ages are welcome, but please be aware that performances may include adult language and topics.

Closures and cancellations because of COVID-19 have majorly disrupted access to revenue for artists all over the world. If you are enjoying this performance and are able to support, please consider donating to Stephanie and Comfort Girl HERE to help the continued development of this piece and to bring it to larger audiences. Your contribution will simultaneously support new music and help the legacy of the comfort women live on. You can also purchase music, scores and merch directly from Stephanie HERE.

ACF Town Hall
2020-05-14 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
Creative artists and supporters are welcome to join this safe space – for sharing, listening, and connecting. Please RSVP to receive a zoom link.

Creating & Monetizing a Livestream Performance
2020-05-14 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
Hosted by Matt “Nur-D” Allen. Matt will take your questions and talk about concert streaming, which services you can use and their different qualities, a few technical options to increase quality, and a few ways to set your concert apart from other streaming events.
He shares, I have have been doing Hip-Hop in the Twin Cities, and now the world, since 2018. Since starting my journey doing open mics I have managed to perform across the country performing my music as a full time musician. I have performed at Soundset, on “Sway In The Morning”, I’ve performed at Twin Cities PRIDE for US Bank, Opened for local and national acts, was the main support for Brother Ali on his most recent Mid West Tour, and was voted City Pages Best New Artist of 2019. All that is cool but COVID-19 doesn’t really care much about your resume – and when the virus began canceling shows I was not spared. With venues being closed and events being canceled I turned to the internet to try and put something on for me and my fellow MN artists. My Live Streamed “Nur-D’s Quarantined World Tour” had viewers all over the globe, helping raise over $4k for artists here in the mid-west. Most recently I partnered with Paisley Park for a live stream concert that was voted on of the top 12 live stream events by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Capacity for this Zoom event is 100 participants.
Register
This webinar is part of the Stay Plugged In series, co-sponsored by American Composers Forum, Slam Academy, and Springboard for the Arts
Notice to Participants
By participating in this webinar you agree to the following:

You acknowledge and agree that the session will be recorded (in both video and audio format) and that ACF may make such recordings publicly available in the future via download, streaming, or other means.
You acknowledge and agree that to the extent you participate in the session by asking questions, sharing examples of your music, or otherwise appearing in the recording, you grant ACF a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use your name, voice, likeness, and any other intellectual property you share during the session as part of ACF’s distribution of recordings of the session.
You acknowledge and agree that ACF and/or the session leader, as appropriate, own all rights to the materials distributed that ACF and /or the session leader, as appropriate, own all rights to materials distributed in connection with the session and the recordings of the session, and that you do not gain any rights in such materials by participating in the session.

Composer Zoom Roundtable & Happy Hour Series
2020-05-13 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Virtual, United States
ACF member and Rhode Island composer Elliott Miles McKinley is hosting a weekly series for music creators across the country to connect virtually on Zoom. Follow the link below to sign up, and then Elliott will reply with the secure Zoom link.
Elliott shares, “I am a composer, improviser, and teacher and, like most of us, am in a state of imposed isolation as we collectively navigate through this difficult and unexpected moment in time. However, we are fortunate to have tools for communication, such as Zoom and other multi-participant real-time platforms, that just a few years ago were not available. In what started as a kind of get together composition group lesson for a few former and current students, I hatched an idea to engage the wider composer-creator community in an open forum leveraging my access to Zoom for the purpose. It is my hope sessions such as these may offer a chance for people to gather, talk, share ideas and music, and/or just provide a place to share a virtual “drink” together with colleagues as fellow artists. At the moment, this is a little bit of an experiment, and as such, in the interest of allowing more space for discussion and sharing, and to preserve bandwidth, I will try to limit the number of participants for each session. Hence the “first-come, first-serve” RSVP form. If this proves to be popular, I’ll look for more ways to expand. Thank you and stay safe!”

ALAN CHAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
2020-05-12 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual, United States
For our second webcast, Alan Chan‘s 17-piece jazz orchestra’s concert at Gateway Performance Series will be featred with singers from across the Pacific Rim, including soprano Lin-Lin Chang (Taipei), Laura Dickinson (Los Angeles), and Timur (Kazakstan-USA), to bring our audience a cross-over musical experience.
Livestream will begin on May 12 at 8pm (Los Angeles), watch from around the globe via ACJO’s YouTube channel.
Alan Chan Jazz Orchestra
A Trans-Pacific Songbook
This webcast is a fundraiser for Project Angel Food, a Los Angeles-based charity that prepares and delivers healthy meals to feed people impacted by serious illness, bringing comfort and hope every day.

RELIEVE STRESS WITH MOVEMENT EXPLORATION, FELDENKRAIS ONLINE WORKSHOP LED BY MEERENAI SHIM
2020-05-11 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual, United States
An online workshop for the C4NM community with Meerenai Shim, Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner (CM) and professional flutist. This workshop will focus on stress relief through movement exploration, with an additional focus on performance anxiety.

This online workshop is free to the C4NM community, graciously offered by Meerenai, and will run from 6 to 7:30 pm. To join, RSVP in advance: just send an email to flutemusic@gmail.com, and Meerenai can send you information about the Google Hangouts (video conference) meeting info, which this workshop will run through. For more information on Google Hangouts, learn more here.
