Pity These Ashes: TULSA 1921-2021
2021-06-19 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
The Harlem Chamber Players announce Pity These Ashes: Tulsa 1921-2021, an online concert program on Juneteenth in partnership with The Greene Space at WQXR and WNYC, Harlem Stage, and the Harlem School of the Arts.
The program will feature the world premiere of TULSA 1921 (Pity These Ashes, Pity This Dust) by Dr. Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer), commissioned in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, with a libretto by Dr. Herbert Woodward Martin. The concert will also include performances of Starburst by Jessie Montgomery, Prema by Alice Coltrane, and The People Could Fly by Trevor Weston.
Date & Time: Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET
Learn more and register here.

June Jubilation
2021-06-19 18:30 - 19:30
The Marquette Symphony Orchestra returns to the Presque Isle Park Bandshell on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET with ‘June Jubilation,’ an outdoor performance.
Under the direction of principal conductor Octavio Mas-Arocas, the concert will consist of: Camille Saint-Saëns, Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila; Quinn Mason (a NextNotes creator), A Joyous Trilogy for Orchestra; Antonin Dvorak, Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 8 in G minor; Florence Price, Adoration; and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63.
Buy tickets online here.

Anaïs Maviel & The Rhythm Method: listen to the rain
2021-06-19 19:00 - 20:00
Composer and vocalist Anaïs Maviel returns with composer-performer ensemble The Rhythm Method to present the world premiere of listen to the rain. Approaching listening as performative and performance as meditative, listen to the rain’s instrumentation weaves Afrocentric with Eurocentric music traditions, written and oral. Grounded in the study of the Asian theories of the five elements—rather, dynamic agents—and of the bagua, the music explores their generative cycles in the body in interdependency with the earth and cosmos, as a structural base. The piece invites our focus on what is transforming our environment, whether we call it nature—rainforests turning water into oxygen—or culture—a virus taking over an entire species, yet all revealing the stakes of in and outward Relation.
listen to the rain is an invitation to recognize water as both one and plural, both inside and outside of ourselves, taking many forms and emanating different temporalities. Listening to the rain means letting our sense of hearing tell us about the multi-dimensionality of water, how hearing is a topography, and how connected the sense of hearing is with the other senses. In Chinese energetics–which inspire the methodology of this work–the five elements are dynamic agents connected to the human senses, and the sense of hearing corresponds to water.— Anaïs Maviel, I Care If You Listen
Anaïs Maviel – composition, n’goni, voice (supported by an ACF Create award)
Leah Asher – violin, voice
Marina Kifferstein – violin, voice
Carrie Frey – viola, voice
Meaghan Burke – cello, voice
Date & Time: Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Get tickets here.
listen to the rain by Anaïs Maviel was made possible by a grant from the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation.

Beethoven X George Walker
2021-06-19 19:00 - 20:00
In celebration of Juneteenth, EXTENSITY presents: Beethoven X Walker: Piano Sonatas. EXTENSITY Concert Series Benefit.
This special benefit concert pairs the monumental, late piano sonatas No. 30 Op. 109 and No. 31 Op. 110 by L. van Beethoven, with the masterful, yet rarely heard piano sonatas No. 2 and No. 4 by pioneering 20th century Black American composer George Walker. Co-founders Francesca Khalifa and Chelsea Randall will perform.
Date & Time: Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

ACF Roundtable On the Asian American Experience mod. Vivian Fung
2021-06-24 15:00 - 16:00
There is a full vibrant spectrum of diversity that makes up the Asian American experience. In light of ongoing events around anti-Asian hate, ACF would like to create a safe space to share stories and experiences, as well as highlight and celebrate what it means to be an Asian American today. Artist and ACF board member Vivian Fung will moderate a conversation with artists Nina Shekhar, Sugar Vendil, and Pearl Bergad. Topics of discussion include reactions to recent events, whether those events have affected their art, and what the future might hold.
Date & Time: Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 3 PM CT
Register in advance for this event here.
ADA language: If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Laura Krider (lkrider@composersforum, 612.314.9228) at least 48 hours before the event.

Meet a Musician/ACCENT with Osmo Vanska and Erin Keefe
2021-06-24 20:00 - 21:30
A virtual event with Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vanska and Principal Violinist Erin Keefe joining host Melissa Ousley. These musicians will share two world premieres, just for us: Libby Larsen‘s (ACF’s co-founder) Tarantella for Our Times and David Ludwig‘s Seven Circles. Additionally, we’ll hear two transcriptions of Mozart opera arias by Osmo.
AND Libby Larsen will joins virtually to introduce her piece.
90 minutes of fantastic and unique music and conversation.
Come with questions for the Q&A and please invite others who might be interested (worldwide).
Date & Time: Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 8 PM CT
Get tickets here.

Oregon Bach Festival “Bach Listening Room” featuring Matt Haimovitz and the Primavera Project
2021-06-25 14:00 - 20:00
This performance features brand new solo cello works written for Matt Haimovitz commissioned by THE PRIMAVERA PROJECT. This new initiative asks composers to write in response to Sandro Botticelli’s enigmatic painting, Primavera, and the prophetic large-scale triptych, Primavera 2020, by contemporary artist Charline von Heyl. Haimovitz releases the first of three albums (featuring 14 out of the 81 total pieces) on June 11, 2021. More information about the project, composers, and pieces is available at THE PRIMAVERA PROJECT’s online hub, www.primaveraproject.com.
Date & Time: Friday, June 25, 2021 at 2 PM CT | 12 PM PT
Learn more here.
Program:
Bach Suite II Prelude,
Roberto Sierra Chloris and Zephyrus,
David Sanford Suolo,
David T. Little The Crocus Palimpsest,
Lisa Bielawa Missa Primavera,
Bach Suite III (complete)

2021 Sunflower Music Festival: Chamber Orchestra & Panel Discussion on Women's Rights
2021-06-26 18:30 - 19:30, 2021-06-26 19:30 - 20:30
The 2021 Sunflower Music Festival will honor women in music. This expanded project pays homage to females in music and the arts through showcasing both past and contemporary female composers, current female performers and soloists, important female figures in music and women’s rights, and art of the Suffrage Movement. Our project has won multiple endorsements and grants from the National Endowment of the Arts.
Browse our programming below to see all Sunflower will offer celebrating women in music:

Performance of FANFARE FOR THE UNCOMMON WOMAN by Joan Tower (written in 1987 and revised in 1997)
The one-woman Music/Theatre production, WOMAN ON A LEDGE, with internationally acclaimed harpist, Rita Costanzi
A Jazz Night performance featuring vocalist Deborah Brown
An exhibition at the Mulvane Art Museum of works by women during the Suffrage era
A panel discussion on Women’s Rights with several notable female leaders, composer Libby Larsen (ACF’s co-founder and a BandQuest composer), conductor JoAnn Falletta and Washburn University President Jerry Farley
A premiere of Libby Larsen’s chamber orchestra composition, THE SUPREME FOUR, using the words of the four women Supreme Court Justices and narrated by Kansas Governor, Laura Kelly

Date & Time: Saturday, June 26, 2021

The Panel Discussion is at 6:30 PM CT
The Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 PM CT

Vicky Chow/Craig Taborn
2021-06-26 19:00 - 20:00
New music star pianist Vicky Chow and inimitable pianist/composer Craig Taborn join forces for a first time collaboration juxtaposing works by contemporary female composers with original compositions by Craig Taborn. The program includes Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Gray, Tomeka Reid’s Lamenting G.F., A.A., B.T., T.M, Tania Leon’s Rituál and Craig Taborn’s 3 Set Ups and a Double Cross.
This concert will be followed by a reception.
Date & Time: Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Get tickets here.

Sarah Cahill
2021-06-26 20:00 - 21:00
Nationally acclaimed new music pianist, Sarah Cahill (an ACF Champions of New Music), returns to the Sri Moonshine Music Series.
Performing compositions by Terry Riley on his own Kingsbury upright piano and work by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerra, Margaret Bonds, Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, and Meredith Monk in a concert at the Camptonville Community Center.
Date & Time: Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 8 PM CT | 6 PM PT
Get tickets here.

TUES@7: Being & Becoming – Emanations
2021-06-29 18:00 - 18:45
Being & Becoming was formed in 2017 by composer and trumpet player Peter Evans. The name of the band, drawn from the writing of Sufi writer and musician Inyat Khan, reflects the group’s commitment to the challenge of spontaneous creativity. Evans’ compositions for the band draw from a wide variety of sources, traditional and experimental, with a grounding in improvisational idioms, notated concert music and an array of experimental approaches.
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET
Register here.

Sprig of That w/ Anthony Ihrig at Icehouse
2021-06-30 19:30 - 20:30
Sprig of That performs with Anthony Ihrig at Icehouse in Minneapolis tonight.
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Get tickets here.

Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis Woodwind Concert
2021-07-01 19:00 - 20:00
Carol Barnett BA, 1972; MA, 1976 (a charter member of ACF) has spent her storied career contributing new compositions to the local music scene while living in the Twin Cities community. This summer, a local quintet featuring Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis musicians, including School of Music alumna and Student Services Specialist Rachel Hest (BM, flute performance, 1984) will perform Barnett’s piece “Shaker Suite: Canterbury” outdoors at the Milwaukee Avenue Historic District Park on Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 7 PM CT.
Learn more about the performance and Barnett’s career here.

LACO RETURNS LIVE AT THE HUNTINGTON: LACO SUMMERFEST
2021-07-01 21:00 - 22:00
On Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT, LACO travels to The Huntington in San Marino, to give the first live performance in Rothenberg Hall since it, too, was temporarily shut down due to the pandemic. The centerpiece of the program is the original 1915 version of de Falla’s extraordinary sung ballet El amor brujo conducted by Martín and featuring celebrated mezzo soprano, LA’s own Suzanna Guzmán. Martín also leads Debussy’s iconic Prélude à “L’après-midi d’un faune” and the world premiere of Kimani Bridges’ (a NextNotes creator) The Flower.
THIS IN-PERSON EVENT IS INVITATION ONLY. PARTICIPANTS MUST BE FULLY VACCINATED.
Learn more here.

LACO RETURNS AT THE HUNTINGTON ON JULY 1
2021-07-01 21:00 - 22:00
LACO travels to The Huntington in San Marino, to give the first live performance in Rothenberg Hall since it, too, was temporarily shut down due to the pandemic. The centerpiece of the program is the original 1915 version of de Falla’s extraordinary sung ballet El amor brujo conducted by Martín and featuring celebrated mezzo soprano, LA’s own Suzanna Guzmán. Martín also leads Debussy’s iconic Prélude à “L’après-midi d’un faune” and the world premiere of Kimani Bridges’ (a NextNotes creator) The Flower.
The program will be recorded for the second season of SummerFest, LACO’s highly regarded digital chamber music series, which will stream weekly beginning in July at no cost on LACO’s YouTube channel.
This event is invitation only. Learn more here.
Date & Time: Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT

San Francisco Symphony
2021-07-02 21:00 - 2021-07-05 22:00, 2021-07-04 16:00 - 17:00
The San Francisco Symphony returns for its annual summer performance at Stern Grove Festival, with Edwin Outwater conducting a special Fourth of July concert featuring pianist Aaron Diehl.
Date & Time:

Friday, July 2, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT
Sunday, July 4, 2021 at 4 PM CT | 2 PM PT

Program:
John Williams – Olympic Fanfare and Theme
Gould – Pavanne from American Symphonette No. 2
Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) – Cathedrals from All Things Majestic
Copland – Saturday Night Waltz and Hoedown from Rodeo
Quinn Mason (a NextNotes creator) – Reflections on a Memorial
Carlos Simon – The Block
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Sousa – Stars and Stripes Forever
Learn more and get tickets here.

WHAT THE HEART DESIRES
2021-07-03 16:00 - 17:00
Celebrating diversity in song, this recital co-curated by mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller (Merola ‘05) and tenor Nicholas Phan will explore the many things our hearts desire. Featuring compositions by women and people of color, the program will include selections about romantic desire, physical desire, and the longing for home, for rest, for peace, and for a better world performed by select 2021 Merola young artists.
A trio of works follow: mezzo Gabrielle Beteag will sing Perry’s “Alien,” Graves will perform “Bright Moonlight” by Chinese-American violinist and composer Chen Yi, (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) and baritone and composer Laureano Quant will perform his composition “Ahora hablo de gaitas.” All three artists will be accompanied by Guo.
Date & Time: Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 4 PM CT | 2 PM PT
Learn more here.
Artists:
Bryan Banowetz, piano
Gabrielle Barkidjija, mezzo-soprano
Gabrielle Beteag, mezzo-soprano
Edward Graves, tenor
Erica Xiaoyan Guo, piano
Celeste Morales, soprano
Laureano Quant, baritone
Anna Smigelskaya, piano
Shiyu Tan, piano
Marika Yasuda, piano
Tianchi Zhang, tenor

Jupiter String Quartet Makes Debut with Chamber Music Northwest
2021-07-03 21:30 - 23:30, 2021-07-04 18:00 - 20:00
On Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 9:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM PT & Sunday, July 4, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 4 PM PT, Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents a collaboration between the Jupiter String Quartet and East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), highlighting the quartet in a performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Banner for quartet and orchestra. The performances on July 3 and 4 will take place in person at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium (3203 SE Woodstock Blvd). These live festival concerts will be professionally recorded and streamed online beginning two weeks later, on Saturday, July 17, 2021 at 9:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM PT, as part of CMNW’s AT-HOME Series, remaining online for ticket holders until August 31, 2021.
Get tickets here.
In addition to the Montgomery, ECCO will perform Barber’s Adagio from the String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11; Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E Minor, Op. 20; Hanna Benn’s Where Springs Not Fail; Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz.113. “Three of the Jupiters are founding members of ECCO, so getting to play together at CMNW will be a happy reunion between musicians that have known each other for more than two decades,” says Jupiter Quartet’s violist Liz Freivogel. “It will be a joyful and celebratory way to kickstart a return to live performances.”
Preceding these performances, the Jupiter Quartet will perform as members of ECCO on July 1 and 2, 2021, opening CMNW’s 2021 festival with performances of Bach’s Cantata 180: “Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele”, BWV 180; Mendelssohn’s; Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Strings in D minor, MWV O4; and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48.

Fort Worth Symphony celebrates 245 years of America in Fourth of July concert
2021-07-04 19:00 - 20:00
The one-night-only performance will feature more than 60 minutes of music performed by the FWSO, soprano Latonia Moore, bass Morris Robinson, and will feature works by leading Black and Latin American composers, including Kevin Day, Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer), and Jimmy Lopez. Miguel Harth-Bedoya will conduct this celebration of the best America has to offer in his final season with the orchestra.
Date & Time: Sunday, July 4, 2021 at 7 PM CT
Get tickets here.

The 2021 Festival The Year of the Festival Artist
2021-07-07 - 2021-08-01
This will be a live and in person gathering.
Wintergreen Music is happy to announce that they are planning an exciting and safe 2021 Festival, designed to maximize your experience and maximize your safety. From July 7 through August 1, they will welcome musicians, students, and patrons in person (from the mountain top!) and virtually to find inspiration in music from Johann Sebastian Bach to Samuel Coleridge Taylor — with a little Elvis thrown in, too.
To celebrate their musicians — those members of their community who we have missed so much — 2021 will be the Year of the Festival Artist! Our Festival Artists come from top orchestras, chamber music societies, and faculty rosters around the country, and welcoming them back for a triumphant return to music-making will bring joy to us all. Expect to be wowed by their top notch musicianship, virtuosic skill, diversity of musical interests, and dedication to the Wintergreen community (for over 25 years!).
On July 15, “Reboot & Refresh: A Walk Through Nature” will offer different perspectives on the American landscape by Virginia composers Adolphus Hailstork (a BQ composer) and Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda. Music by Haydn also will be included.
Date & Time: July 7 – August 1, 2021
Learn more on the website here.

ACF Artist Equity Study Group: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2021-07-08 16:00 - 17:00
For this month’s ACF Artist Equity Study Group, we will take a look at the Netflix documentary, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool. The film explores the life of the American musical innovator who had a huge international impact, delving into his early work, the impact of American racism, and his ever evolving sound.
Date & Time: Thursday, July, 8, 2021 at 4 PM CT
From the producers:
Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Elegant, intellectual, vain. Callous, conflicted, controversial. Magnificent, mercurial. Genius. The very embodiment of cool. The man with a sound so beautiful it could break your heart.
The central theme of Miles Davis’s life was his restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. It made him a star—it also made him incredibly difficult to live with, for the people who loved him most. Again and again, in music and in life, Miles broke with convention—and when he thought his work came to represent a new convention, he changed it again. Miles’s bold disregard for tradition, his clarity of vision, his relentless drive, and constant thirst for new experiences made him an inspiring collaborator to fellow musicians and a cultural icon to generations of listeners. It made him an innovator in music—from bebop to “cool jazz,” modern quintets, orchestral music, jazz fusion, rock ‘n’ roll, and even hip-hop.
Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, studio outtakes, and rare photos, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool tells the story of a truly singular talent and unpacks the man behind the horn.
Register for the event here.
ADA language: If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Laura Krider (lkrider@composersforum, 612.314.9228) at least 48 hours before the event.

America/Beautiful: Min Kwon, In the Catacombs
2021-07-08 17:00 - 19:30, 2021-07-08 18:30 - 21:00, 2021-07-09 17:00 - 19:30, 2021-07-09 18:30 - 21:00
Last year, as America reckoned with the pandemic, racial protests, and political upheaval, pianist Min Kwon looked at her two daughters — whose birthdays fall on Presidents’ Day and the Fourth of July — and asked herself what kind of a country they would grow up in. Out of that reflection came America/Beautiful, a project where she commissioned more than seventy of the leading composers in the United States to each write a variation on America the Beautiful.
The result is a sonic picture of Kwon’s adopted country, painted in all of its sprawling complexity, which ultimately seeks to find the beauty at the heart of the American experiment, and to realize its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one).
Dates & Times:

Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 5 PM CT | 6 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Friday, July 9, 2021 at 5 PM CT | 6 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET

July 8 features variations by: Bruce Adolphe, Leila Adu-Gilmore, Andrew Bambridge, Victoria Bond, Charles Coleman, Huang Ruo, David Serkin Ludwig, Jessica Meyer, Patricio Molina, John Musto, Qasim Naqvi, Greg Sandow, Juri Seo, Chris Trapani, Trevor Weston, and Wang Jie

July 9 features variations by: Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Tyson Davis, Fred Hersch, Vijay Iyer, Tania León, George Lewis, Miya Masaoka, Paul Moravec, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Gity Razaz (a JFund recipient), Robert Sirota, and Melinda Wagner
Learn more and get tickets here.

World Premiere of Composer Robert Sirota’s Two Variations on America the Beautiful, Commissioned by Min Kwon for her America/Beautiful Project
2021-07-09 17:00 - 20:00
On Friday, July 9, 2021 at 5 PM CT | 6 PM ET, pianist Min Kwon will give the world premiere of composer Robert Sirota’s Two Variations on America the Beautiful, presented by Death of Classical’s Angel’s Share series at Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th St., Brooklyn, NY). Sirota composed these variations – “. . . alabaster cities . . .” and “. . . God mend thine every flaw . . .” – as part of Min Kwon’s project America/Beautiful, for which she commissioned a diverse group of more than 70 of today’s leading American composers to each compose a variation on America the Beautiful. In addition to Sirota, the composers on July 9 include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Tyson Davis, Fred Hersch, Vijay Iyer, Tania León, George Lewis, Miya Masaoka, Paul Moravec, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Gity Razaz, and Melinda Wagner.
Tickets and more information here.
Kwon’s goal was to paint a sonic picture of her adopted country in all of its sprawling complexity, and ultimately try to find the beauty at the core of the American experiment and its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one). She explains, “Ultimately this project is about embracing our diversity, and remembering that by understanding, appreciating, and celebrating our differences, we become stronger both as individuals and as a country. The fact that 70 composers can hear the same song in a completely different way is, to me, something truly beautiful.” The 70+ world premiere performances that make up America/Beautiful will take place over six days, beginning July 4, 2021, with a series of free streamed video performances by Kwon followed by discussions with the composers.
Of his Two Variations on America the Beautiful, Sirota says, “Every new work presents particular challenges. In this case, the challenge is composing short variations intended as part of a large communal work. Given that the subject is America, the form of this project could not be more appropriate. Our country is supposed to be about creating unity out of diversity; about making sure that all voices are heard, that no single voice shouts the others down. To do this while celebrating the beauty and distinctiveness of every individual voice is what we are working towards. ‘ . . . alabaster cities . . .’ is a view of our country as seen from 30,000 feet. A dream, an ideal, an aspiration, never to be completely achieved, always to be striven for. ‘. . . God mend thine every flaw . . .’ brings that aspiration down to ground level, where the real work goes on every day to form a ‘more perfect union.”
Each performance on July 9 begins with an hour-long reception featuring a complimentary whiskey tasting. The journey to and from the Catacombs for the musical performance takes approximately 20-30 minutes, which includes walking over hilly and uneven terrain; proper footwear is recommended. The program inside the Catacombs will run for approximately one hour with no intermission. Health and safety protocols will be strictly enforced, including wearing a mask and keeping a distance of at least 6 feet from those not in your party. Attendees must provide a negative COVID test result or proof of completed vaccination and fill out a health survey in advance of the event.

OUTSIDE VOICES: HALE FARM
2021-07-09 18:30 - 19:30
The Akron Symphony Orchestra presents its Outside Voices Concert Series at Hale Farm & Village on Friday, July 9, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
The free concert will feature the Akron Symphony Strings performing works by Clarice Assad (a McKnight Visiting Composer), Julia Perry, Antonín Dvořák and Quinn Mason (a NextNotes creator).
The Outside Voices Concert Series focuses on the music of under-represented composers who are “outside” of the standard repertoire, along with numerous audience favorites. The series presents an opportunity for the ASO to expand its musical offerings and share a diversity of composers with the Northeast Ohio community.
RSVP for tickets here.
