American Composers Forum

The Music of Gao Hong A Celebration of 50 Years of Making Music With Friends
2022-04-03 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Ordway, Artist Websites: Gao Hong Dessa Gabriel Campos Zamora Erik Wheeler Nikki Melville Kenwood Symphony Orchestra Speaking in Tongoue Ye Yu Gus Holley Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble Roz Tsai Shen Pei About IFTPA The Music of Gao Hong A Celebration of 50 Years of Making Music With Friends Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall 345 Washington Street St. Paul, MN, Saint Paul, MN, United States
This April 3, Gao Hong will be celebrating her 50th year of being a performer; her accomplishments as a composer, improviser, and educator; and the 100th anniversary of her late teacher, Lin Shicheng’s birth. The celebration will showcase her deep connections and collaborations with an array of diverse cultures and her own compositions. Special guests will include rapper/singer Dessa, Minnesota Orchestra members Gabriel Campos Zamora (Principal Clarinet) and Erik Wheeler, (Cello), pianist Nikki Melville, her multicultural group Speaking in Tongues, (Gao Hong with Master Drummer, Sowah Mensah from Ghana, bassist Enrique Toussaint from Mexico, and local percussionist Marc Anderson); the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra with conductor Yuri Ivan and bassoon soloist Ye Yu; her award-winning student, Gus Holley; and the award-winning Carleton College Chinese Music Ensemble.
As a performer, Gao Hong had the good fortune of studying with the most famous pipa master, Lin Shicheng, at the Central Conservatory and throughout the rest of his life. She was his only student other than his son to tour and record with him. Their joint album, Hunting Eagles Catching Swans, was recorded in Minneapolis during their 1996 US tour and rereleased in 2020 by ARC Music in the UK. It was a Top 10 pick for Best World Music Albums Around the World by Songlines Magazine and climbed many charts throughout the world. The album was awarded two gold medals (Best Album and Best Instrumental) by the 2021 Global Music Awards and received stellar reviews worldwide. Since coming to America, Gao Hong has played worldwide as a soloist, with chamber ensembles, and as a guest soloist with prestigious orchestras (the SPCO, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, China Central National Orchestra, and many others) and on many world premieres. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Teatro Colon, San Francisco Jazz Festival, and at prestigious festivals throughout Europe, Australia, and China.
As an improviser, she has teamed with top musicians from other cultures including those from India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Ghana, Somalia, and Mexico; and top players of bluegrass, klezmer, jazz, blues, Hawaiian, and western classical music. In this concert, she is excited to introduce audiences to her brand new collaboration with the amazing rapper/singer/writer Dessa.
Though her earliest composition was for solo pipa, she has since gone on to writing pieces for choir, chamber ensembles, and symphonies with commissions being awarded by the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia, Kenwood Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, VocalEssence, the Minneapolis Pops, and others. This concert will feature two world premieres: Nostalgia for pipa, clarinet, cello, and piano; and a new version of her popular overture Celebration performed by the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra and members of the Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble. Other pieces include two new collaborations with Dessa, her new pipa concerto, Reminiscences of My Hometown with the Kenwood Symphony; Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream with her multicultural group Speaking in Tongues, and Battle of Chu and Han with Gus Holley.
This concert will also showcase her dedication to education. As soon as she arrived in America, she began teaching students K-college and later founded the Carleton College Chinese Music Ensemble. She will feature one of her top Carleton students, Gus Holley, in a performance of her Battle of Chu and Han. Gus has won several international awards and became the only non-Chinese player to ever win a gold medal in a major competition in China. The Carleton College Chinese Music Ensemble also won a silver medal in the prestigious Dunhuang Cup competing with Chinese music ensembles from throughout the world.
Tickets: $18 in advance, $20 at the door $15 for seniors, students, and Carleton alumni
Ordway Box Office: BY PHONE 651.224.4222 M – F 10 AM – 4 PM F – Su Closed* *Except on performance days—open 1 hour prior to curtain through intermission.
ORDER ONLINE
ONLINE NOTE: COVID-19 vaccinations or negative test results, as well as masks, will be required to attend all performances at The Ordway.

This performance is made possible in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
2022-04-08 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-09 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-10 13:30 - 14:30
“What’s up, Doc?” An enormously fun blend of classical music and classic animation! Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes pals return to Heinz Hall for Bugs Bunny at the Symphony! The world’s most iconic Looney Tunes — from What’s Opera, Doc? to The Rabbit of Seville and a dozen others — will be projected on the big screen, while their exhilarating original scores are played live. Created by George Daugherty (a BandQuest composer) & David Ka Lik Wong.
Date & Time: Friday, April 8, 2022 – Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET & 1:30 PM CT | 2:30 PM ET
Get tickets here.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody: Jennifer Higdon, Respighi, and Rachmaninoff
2022-04-08 19:30 - 20:30, 2022-04-09 19:30 - 20:30, 2022-04-10 14:00 - 15:00
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents their Symphonic series with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody: Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer), Respighi, and Rachmaninoff.
Date & Time: Friday – Sunday, April 8 – 10, 2022 at 7:30 PM & 2 PM CT
Learn more about how to get tickets here.

ACF Equity Study Group: Douglas Kearney on his award winning book Sho
2022-04-14 16:30 - 17:30 | Virtual, United States
ACF Board Member, poet, performer, and librettist; Douglas Kearney joins us for our April Equity Study Group to discuss his book, Sho, a National Book Award, Pen American, and Minnesota Book Award finalist. Join the conversation as we discuss his poetry and use of typography.
“Eschewing performative typography, Douglas Kearney’s Sho aims to hit crooked licks with straight-seeming sticks. Navigating the complex penetrability of language, these poems are sonic in their espousal of Black vernacular strategies, while examining histories and current events through the lyric, brand new dances, and other performances. Both dazzling and devastating, Sho is a genius work of literary precision, wordplay, farce, and critical irony. In his ‘stove-like imagination,’ Kearney has concocted poems that destabilize the spectacle, leaving looky-loos with an important uncertainty about the intersection between violence and entertainment.”
You can purchase Sho from the author’s site here.
This one-hour event begins at 4:30 PM Central Time
Register in advance for this event here.
If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Dameun Strange (dstrange@composersforum) at least 48 hours before the event.

Innova Recordings Spring National Call Info Session
2022-05-10 14:00 - 15:00
This info session for Innova Recordings National Call program is for anyone who may be curious about this program and its mission, applying to the program, Innova’s curatorial process, and even the process of recording and releasing music in general.
Click the link to register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvc-CqrD0uEtduq8GeuwIzuVt_QMXI1KeN
The Innova’s National Call program seeks to foster an artist centric cooperative model where both label and artist work closely to achieve the artist’s goals.
Applications will be accepted April 25 through May 27 2022. There is no cost to apply.
You can find more information about the pilot program and apply here: https://www.innova.mu/apply-0

Equity Study Group: Gina Williams on her musical journey and the Ukraine she knows
2022-05-12 16:00 - 17:00 | Virtual, United States
On Christmas Day 2019, composer/performer Gina Williams found herself on Ukrainian television performing in front of a national audience. This month for our Equity Study Group, the Jamaican Canadian-born, boundless musical creator shares the story of how she got there along with stories of her family and background growing up as an outsider in the Canadian education system, and how her connection to Ukraine was forged in her youth by a close family friend who called her granddaughter.
Gina’s efforts to unite listeners around the world through her music have certainly not gone unnoticed. Not only has she written & performed songs in over ten separate languages, but her bold, expressive & all-inclusive approach to making music has allowed her to create freely without borders or limitations of any kind – Gina stays true to herself, follows her heart, and that process has flawlessly guided her to discover impressively unique melodies that naturally suit her strengths and skills in any genre or style.
Find her music here: https://ginawilliams.com/
This one-hour event begins at 4:00 PM Central Time
Register in advance for this event here.
If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Dameun Strange (dstrange@composersforum) at least 48 hours before the event.

X, LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X
2022-05-14 19:30 - 20:30, 2022-05-19 19:30 - 20:30, 2022-05-22 14:30 - 15:30
The astonishing life of one of the most misunderstood men in history unfolds in X: The Life and Times of Malcom X. This distinctly American opera by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis (Central Park Five) and directed by Tony-nominee Robert O’Hara (Slave Play, a BandQuest composer) features a jazz ensemble incorporated into the orchestra and MOT 21-22 Artist-in-Residence Davóne Tines embodying the role of Malcolm X. This new production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X is a powerful, moving exploration of how one man’s fight to define his life on his own terms became the battle cry for justice of an entire people.
Date & Time:
Saturday, May 14, 2021 at 7:30pm CT
Thursday, May 19, 2021 at 7:30pm CT
Sunday, May 22, 2021 at 2:30pm CT
Get tickets and more information here.

Signature Concert #5 Intense, Playful & Serene
2022-05-14 20:30 - 21:30
Chen Yi’s intense, high-spirited, and hopeful composition, Ge Xu (Antiphony), is a tribute to Southern China’s Zhuang minority people and their celebratory song styles. Claude Debussy accesses playful emotions in Children’s Corner, dedicated to his young daughter and her favorite toys. He turns to an impressionistic sensuality in his tone poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Finally, Robert Schumann expresses both the tenacity and serenity of earth’s annual awakening in Symphony No. 1, Spring.
Children’s Corner – Claude Debussy
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun – Claude Debussy
Ge Xu (Antiphony) – Chen Yi (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer)
Symphony No. 1, Spring – Robert Schumann
Date & Time: Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 8:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM GMT
Get tickets here.

Stephanie Chou at Joe's Pub
2022-05-17 18:00 - 19:30
Stephanie Chou’s music combines classical and Chinese influences with Western jazz and pop to create an entirely original, unique musical world.
Tonight she will present a bilingual (English and Mandarin) show, including fresh takes on Chinese folk songs and tongue-twisters (from her album “Asymptote”), excerpts from her evening-length jazz-opera “Comfort Girl”, songs exploring her passion for math and literature, and several new tunes. Stephanie’s music is all about connecting with the audience and sharing her experience as a Chinese-American growing up in NY through her music.
Stephanie Chou – Voice, Alto Saxophone, Compositions
Andy Lin – Erhu, Viola
Or Matias – Piano
Ronen Itzik – Drums
Date & Time: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET
Pricing: $20. There is a 2 drink or $12 food minimum, per person, during every show at Joe’s Pub
Note: This performance will be live-streamed on Joe’s Pub’s Youtube page
Joe’s Pub at the Public, 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York, NY 10003
Learn more here.
This performance was originally scheduled for Jan 28, 2022 and rescheduled due to the Omicron outbreak. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC. LMCC serves, connects, and makes space for artists and community.

BRUBECK BROTHERS QUARTET
2022-05-19 20:30 - 21:30
The Pend Oreille Arts Council is thrilled to announce its first full season of live performances since the COVID Pandemic cut short the 2019-2020 season. POAC’s 2021-22 season will include eclectic performances ranging from flamenco fusion and classic jazz to live theater and local dance, all taking place onstage at the Historic Panida Theater. The season kicks off this fall and continues through the spring. Ticket prices range from $5-27 and go on sale Wednesday, September 1st.
On Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 8:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM MDT, an exciting jazz quartet featuring the gifted sons of legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck – Dan Brubeck (Drums) & Chris Brubeck (a BandQuest composer) (Bass & Trombone) carry on the family name of one of America’s most accomplished musical families, joined by Guitarist Mike DeMicco & Pianist Chuck Lamb.
All Tickets are $27.
Learn more about their season and get tickets here.

SongFest Composer mentorship Program
2022-06-06 - 2022-06-11, 2022-06-09, 2022-06-11
Program Description: The SongFest 2022 Composer Mentorship program will be a focused week of study for five emerging female or female identifying composers on full scholarship nestled into our second week of programming for all students, focused on American song. Composers will be chosen through an application process to work with 6 celebrated senior composition faculty: John Harbison, John Musto, Libby Larsen (ACF’s co-founder and a BandQuest composer), Sheila Silver, Jake Heggie, David Conte in an intensive and open environment.
Date & Time: Monday, June 6, 2022 to Saturday, June 11, 2022 from 11 AM CT – 8 PM CT | 9 AM PST – 6 PM PST
Classes for the composers will comprise: masterclasses, individual lessons, lectures, Forums discussion on poetry and text setting, performance of their work, along with other opportunities to engage with SongFest faculty.
There will be 2 concerts on New American Song:
“Remembering Jame Primosch” – Thursday, June 9, 2022 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PST
“Celebrating New American Song Composers” – Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PST
Learn more here.

Equity Study Group Series with Mary Prescott on her new work Tida
2022-06-09 16:00 - 17:00
2020 ACF | Create awardee Mary Prescott joins ACF Equity Study with a series about the progress of her project Tida. The discussions will be focused on themes of isolation, oral traditions, and food.
Prescott writes: “Tida weaves music, storytelling, movement, and film into an hour-long performance exploring maternal lineage and intergenerational cultural identity. I investigate my mother’s undocumented Thai ancestry, her experience as an immigrant raising biracial children in the Midwest, and the resulting impact of her choices on three generations of women. Researched through interviews and ancestral oral histories, Tida recovers and preserves the unrecorded legacy of a common Thai family, recognizes the value of inherited cultural identity and the costs of assimilation. Intertwining Thai and Western elements, Tida reflects an untangling and crossing of cultures, resonances, and dissonances that occur as a result.”
Isolation: How the pandemic helped me understand my Mom’s immigrant experience.
March 10, 4 PM – Register in advance on zoom here.
Identity: How oral traditions preserve our sense of self.
June 9, 4 PM – Register in advance on zoom here.
“Mary Prescott is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.”
If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact Haley Olson (holson@composersforum.org) at least 48 hours before the event.

Artist Equity Summit 2022: Lifting Up our Youth
2022-09-17 09:00 - 16:00 | Walker West Music Academy, 760 Selby Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55104, United States
ACF’s annual Artist Equity Summit centers music creators and examines themes related to equity that impact the field and beyond. This September 17, we invite you to join us for music, dialogue, and community as we focus on “Lifting Up our Youth.” REGISTER HERE.
Highlights:
* Learn about the residency Liberation! Lifting up our Youth with composer PaviElle French and six arts organizations
* Experience original works performed by students from Purple Playground and TruArtSpeaks (created with PaviElle French)
* Connect with and gain ideas from artists, teachers, leaders, young people, and their families who are dedicated to Lifting Up our Youth through music
* Hear ACF’s “report card” on its own efforts to achieve racial equity
* Join us in person at the Walker West Music Academy, with a mission of creating a music learning community rooted in the African-American cultural experience, or virtually
Read this article to learn more about ACF’s annual event.

Featured

Vanessa Rose
Executive Director, American Composers Forum
she/her
Vanessa Rose joined the American Composers Forum (ACF) in January 2019. For more than a decade, Vanessa has been working with artists and organizations dedicated to living creators, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Lark Play Development Center, The Knights collective, the American Composers Orchestra, and Arco Collaborative. She has led organizations through significant transitions: establishing new leadership positions, guiding strategic transformation, and centering racial equity. She is Board Chair of the Performing Arts Alliance, a coalition of national performing arts organizations focusing on public policy and advocacy to ensure equitable participation in the arts.

NEA Big Read Study Group no. 1
2022-10-29 13:00 - 14:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, St Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
The Library’s Executive Director, Saengmany Ratsabout, hosts this discussion group on the oral tradition themes in Thi Bui’s book, The Best We Could Do, and the different forms of art seen as “oral” tradition and history-making. Joining him will be ACF composer and Thai-American, Mary Prescott, Hta Thi, and members of the Karen Organization of Minnesota’s Karen Weaving Circle. Co-hosted by the Urban Village Group.
For more information about this series, click here.
Register here

American Composers Forum believes that music is a medium that can help us connect as humans, tell stories, and share experiences. East Side Freedom Library has long hosted study groups, partnerships, and community events that lift up the stories of its neighborhood in the name of justice. Together, we will host several cultural events and conversations examining the theme of “Immigration, Identity, and the Arts,” to amplify the voices, stories, and music of immigrant artists and community members wrestling with this theme. Included in our events will be discussion of, and inspiration from, Thi Bui’s graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. Supported by the NEA’s Big Read project, this book aligns greatly with our theme, and resonates with so many members of our community. We are planning parallel in-person and virtual options to accommodate health and accessibility considerations. All events are free and open to the public.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Mary Prescott is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Innova's 40th Anniversary Party
2022-11-10 18:00 - 19:30
Save the date for November 10, 6-7:30pm CST and our virtual celebration of 40 years of innova Recordings at American Composers Forum. Join artists from innova’s past and present as we share stories from our 40 year history, enjoy some performances from innova artists, and hand out several special awards to artists and albums from innova’s catalog. More information will be coming soon. In the meantime, be sure to tune into our social media channels for a chance to vote on our 40th anniversary awards!
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innova-40th-anniversary-celebration-tickets-431893744817

NEA Big Read Study Group no. 2
2022-11-12 13:00 - 14:00 | Auditorium at the Landmark Center, 75 W 5th St, St. Paul, MN, 55102
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
Presented with the Ramsey County Historical Society, Historic Saint Paul and the Minnesota Opera, this event will feature Minnesota author and Hmong-American Kao Kalia Yang to discuss her book, The Song Poet, and her collaboration with Jocelyn Hagen about their opera presented by Minnesota Opera this Spring.
For more information about this series, click here.
Register here

American Composers Forum believes that music is a medium that can help us connect as humans, tell stories, and share experiences. East Side Freedom Library has long hosted study groups, partnerships, and community events that lift up the stories of its neighborhood in the name of justice. Together, we will host several cultural events and conversations examining the theme of “Immigration, Identity, and the Arts,” to amplify the voices, stories, and music of immigrant artists and community members wrestling with this theme. Included in our events will be discussion of, and inspiration from, Thi Bui’s graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. Supported by the NEA’s Big Read project, this book aligns greatly with our theme, and resonates with so many members of our community. We are planning parallel in-person and virtual options to accommodate health and accessibility considerations. All events are free and open to the public.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Artist talk: Ben Frost at The Great Northern
2023-02-01 17:30 - 19:00 | Minneapolis Club, 729 2nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55402, United States
On Feb. 1, American Composers Forum and the Twin Cities-based festival The Great Northern co-present a talk by Ben Frost. The acclaimed Australian-born/Iceland-based artist will discuss his process of translating J.A. Baker’s classic novel The Peregrine into the opera Cold Air Rises, the first part of which will be premiered by the Minneapolis choral ensemble MPLS (imPulse) on Feb. 4 at Luminary Arts Center, as part of the festival. The talk will be hosted by Minnesota Opera’s Ryan Taylor.
Ben Frost is a composer, producer, sound artist, and director. His work includes the studio albums Theory of Machines (2007), By The Throat (2009), A U R O R A (2014) and The Centre Cannot Hold (2017), and spans an array of other forms that include installations, live performance, scores for dance, theatre, and various studio collaborations. He has composed several scores for film, including the Palme d’Or-nominated Sleeping Beauty, and the series Dark, 1899, and Raised By Wolves, with director Ridley Scott. Frost has collaborated extensively with the Irish artist Richard Mosse and American cinematographer Trevor Tweeten to produce three multi-channel video and sound installations: The Enclave (2013), Incoming (2017), and Broken Spectre (2022). He has written and directed two operas before: The Wasp Factory (2013) and The Murder of Halit Yozgat (2021) — a collaboration with the research agency Forensic Architecture. In recent years Frost has expanded his work to include several installation projects, focusing on pure exploitation of the physical properties of sound.
Free, but reserve your spot!
Event starts at 5:30 p.m.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN
The Great Northern celebrates our cold, creative winters through programming at the end of January and beginning of February that invigorates mind and body. In an era of changing climate that threatens our signature season, the festival seeks to create community, inspire action, and share the resilient spirit of the North with the world. For more information, please visit www.thegreatnorthernfestival.com.

ACF’s McKnight Composer Fellows at The Great Northern Festival
2023-02-03 20:00 - 22:00 | Icehouse, 2528 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55404, United States
In partnership with The Great Northern, the 2022 ACF McKnight Composer Fellows will present their latest work on Friday, February 3, 2023 at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Mitchell Bercier is a composer and illustrator who produces electronic and algorithmic dance music under the artist name Ghostchamb3r; composer Mary Ellen Childs creates distinctive sound worlds and often writes for specific architecture or environments; Queen Drea is a sound alchemist mixing up potions laced with looped natural and affected vocals, jagged rhythms, and found sounds; and Reinaldo Moya is a graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system who composes works for the concert stage.
Get your tickets here. $5 in advance; $10 at the door. Doors open at 6pm and the shows starts at 8pm.
ACF’s McKnight Composer Fellowships provide meaningful support to artists to create music through an engagement with Minnesota communities. With support from the McKnight Foundation, ACF selects four Minnesota-based music creators for the program each year.

Ben Frost's "Cold Air Rises" at The Great Northern
2023-02-04 14:00 - 15:00, 2023-02-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Luminary Arts Center, 700 N 1st St, Minneapolis, MN, 55401, United States
On Feb. 4, experience the world premiere of the first part of Ben Frost’s upcoming opera Cold Air Rises, co-presented by American Composers Forum and the Twin Cities-based festival The Great Northern. Drawing upon J.A. Baker’s prophetic 1967 book The Peregrine, Frost presents a choral performance and installation in his new piece.
A work in development, Cold Air Rises is a collaboration with acclaimed British nature writer Robert MacFarlane, who wrote the libretto. The Minneapolis choral ensemble MPLS (imPulse) and dancer Amanda Sachs will perform the first movement of the opera, which was commissioned by The Great Northern at Minnesota Opera’s newly renovated Luminary Arts Center. Join us for a sound experience like no other — a beautiful story of obsession and transformation.
There will be two performances: 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. $15. Get your tickets here.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN
The Great Northern celebrates our cold, creative winters through programming at the end of January and beginning of February that invigorates mind and body. In an era of changing climate that threatens our signature season, the festival seeks to create community, inspire action, and share the resilient spirit of the North with the world. For more information, please visit www.thegreatnorthernfestival.com.

NEA Big Read Study Group no. 3
2023-02-05 12:00 - 13:30 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, St Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
Hosted by ACF Director of Artist Support, Carolina Heredia, this event will feature Latin American and ACF composer awardees in conversation about documenting the shift in experiences through generations. This event will feature ACF McKnight Visiting Composers J.E. Hernández and Victor Márquez-Barrios. This event will be both live-streamed and in person.
To register for this event, click here.
For more information about this series, click here.

American Composers Forum believes that music is a medium that can help us connect as humans, tell stories, and share experiences. East Side Freedom Library has long hosted study groups, partnerships, and community events that lift up the stories of its neighborhood in the name of justice. Together, we will host several cultural events and conversations examining the theme of “Immigration, Identity, and the Arts,” to amplify the voices, stories, and music of immigrant artists and community members wrestling with this theme. Included in our events will be discussion of, and inspiration from, Thi Bui’s graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. Supported by the NEA’s Big Read project, this book aligns greatly with our theme, and resonates with so many members of our community. We are planning parallel in-person and virtual options to accommodate health and accessibility considerations. All events are free and open to the public.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

We are grateful for the support of Saint Paul’s STAR program for this event.

Premiere of Nathan Hall's "Love, Death, What Else?"
2023-03-11 19:30 - 22:00 | The O’Shaughnessy, at St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Ave, St Paul, MN, 55105, United States
Love, Death, What Else?, for full chorus and orchestra, is the culmination of Nathan Hall‘s 2020 McKnight Visiting Composer Fellowship. The piece will be performed by the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra and One Voice Mixed Chorus.
Click here for more details and to order your tickets.
