American Composers Forum

Zeitgeist Early Music Festival: Frederic Rzewski
2021-11-19 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
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.

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.

Music Monday LIVE!
2021-11-15 17:00 - 18:00, 2021-11-08 17:00 - 18:00, 2021-11-01 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).

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, 2021-11-12 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.

Jazz Fest Live Virtual Music Performance with Dave Hagedorn
2021-11-11 19:15 - 20:30
Join for the next JAZZ FEST LIVE scheduled for Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 7:15 PM CST featuring Dave Hagedorn.

Vibraphonist Dave Hagedorn has performed with many jazz greats including David Berkman, Gil Evans, Thad Jones, Rufus Reid, Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove and Steve Turre.
He has also appeared on Prairie Home Companion and Good Evening shows on Minnesota Public Radio.
Dave Hagedorn is an Assistant Professor of Music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music.
Dave Hagedorn – vibes
Phil Hey – drums
Charlie Lincoln – bass
Dave Milne – sax
JAZZ FEST LIVE is free. Click here to SAVE YOUR SPOT
For the more information please visit twincitiesjazzfestival.com

Kaufman Music Center – Music Speaks: Into the Light – Jordan Bak, viola & Ji Yung Lee, piano
2021-11-09 18:30 - 20:30
“A star in the making” (Seattle Pi), Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is an outstanding artist of passion, energy and authenticity in the recital and chamber music arenas. A Sphinx MPower Artist Grant Recipient and a top laureate of the 2020 Sphinx Competition, Bak is also a winner and Audience Prize recipient of the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the recipient of the 2019 Samuel Sanders Tel Aviv Museum Prize and the 2019 John White Special Prize from the Tertis International Viola Competition. In addition to his growing solo career, Jordan Bak is a member of the celebrated New York Classical Players and is a featured artist for WQXR’s inaugural Artist Propulsion Lab.
Bak says, “’Into the Light’ is really a storybook of my own life centered around the subject of under-representation in Classical music through the lens of an under-represented instrument. Through that, I share personal West Indian influences and culture, memories from my childhood, family members who have inspired me and shaped my perspective, even as healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and connect that with the current work I’m doing to hopefully motivate and give opportunities to the next generation of musicians of color. ‘Into the Light’ speaks to today’s important conversation of diversity and true equal opportunity in the arts, finding one’s own voice despite the circumstances, and poses the question of, ‘What can we do to ensure that our future in Classical music shines even brighter?’”
Date & Time: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Learn more and get tickets here.

Luisi & Fleming
2021-11-07 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-11-05 19:30 - 20:30
Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen (Metamorphoses) is a memorial to all those that perished in World War II.
Kevin Puts’s (a BandQuest composer) tone poem The Brightness of Light is inspired by the tender words and images revealed in the letters of the iconic American writer Georgia O’Keeffe to her husband and accomplished photographer Alfred Stieglitz. The impassioned multi-media journey paints a magnificent musical portrait of life in the American Southwest and features star soprano Renée Fleming.
Date & Time:

Friday, November 5, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 3 PM CT

Learn more and get tickets here.

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony
2021-11-07 14:00 - 15:00
The Fifth makes you feel, vividly – drama, despair, hope, joy – contained in melodies that’ll sweep you off your feet, and that has made this work a favorite of audiences around the world. Plus – enjoy the immense talents of superstar pianist Hélène Grimaud and a program of Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Valerie Coleman (a BandQuest composer) premiering Umoja, a piece the Philadelphia Inquirer called “a powerhouse of emotional directness and bold orchestration” – and our first by a living African American woman.

Date & Time: Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 2 PM CT | 3 PM ET
Learn more here.

BLACK PANTHER WITH THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA
2021-11-06 20:00 - 22:30, 2021-11-05 20:00 - 22:30
In 2018, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther quickly became a global sensation and cultural phenomenon, showing a new dimension of what Super Hero films could be. Rolling Stone raved, “The film lights up the screen with a full-throttle blast of action and fun. That’s to be expected. But what sneaks up and floors you is the film’s racial conscience and profound, astonishing beauty.” Now you can relive the excitement of T’Challa becoming king and battling Killmonger all while the Minnesota Orchestra performs Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar®-winning score live to picture.
Date & Time: Friday & Saturday, November 5 & 6, 2021 at 8 PM CT
Learn more and get tickets here.

Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film
2021-11-06 18:00 - 19:00, 2021-11-06 17:00 - 18:00
In partnership with the Alexandria Film Festival, the ASO presents Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film. The concert incorporates music from the Americana tradition with original film shorts, including Copland’s Our Town and John Henry, Griffes’ Clouds and William Grant Still’s Manhattan Skyline. The program culminates with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Immediately following Saturday’s performance, stay for an interactive talkback with the filmmakers on the stage. Note: due to COVID-related issues, the films will not be screened for Sunday’s performance at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.
Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer) : Blue Cathedral
Charles Tomlinson Griffes: Clouds
Aaron Copland: John Henry and Our Town
William Grant Still: Manhattan Skyline (from American Sketches)
Charles Ives: Housatonic at Stockbridge (from Three Places in New England)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Date & Time: Saturday & Sunday, November 6 & 7, 2021 at 5 PM & 6 PM CT | 6 PM & 7 PM ET
Learn more here.

Music Mondays presents ECCO and Shai Wosner, piano
2021-11-01 18:30 - 19:00
The exuberant string orchestra, ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), teams up with pianist Shai Wosner for “Bach Plus,” an innovative program that interweaves music by J. S. Bach with contemporary composers Andrew Norman, Brett Dean, and Michi Wiancko. Wosner’s “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered) are sure to complement ECCO’s “incisive, vibrant” playing (New York Times). Guests with proof of vaccination welcome. Face masks required. FREE CONCERT.
Date & Time: Monday, November 1, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
