American Composers Forum

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 (America/Chicago)
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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago)
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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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 (America/Chicago) | 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.

NEA Big Read Study Group no. 4
2023-03-25 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, St Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation on the experiences of African immigrants in the U.S. through the lenses of music, literature, and Thi Bui’s NEA Big Read book, The Best We Could Do. Minnesota author and educator Shannon Gibney will host a dialogue with Nigerian composer-performer Kashimana Ahua — an ACF awardee — and Somali author Abdullahi Janno. The event will feature Janno’s children’s book When River Stopped Singing to Cloud (copies will be available), plus music by Ahua.
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.

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

"A Song for Tomorrow," by Kevin Day
2023-03-28 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Ferguson Hall, 2106 South 4th Street, Minneapolis, MN, United States
Come and observe an open rehearsal of Kevin Day‘s A Song for Tomorrow, with the Medalist Concert Band, under the direction of Jerry Luckhardt. Following the rehearsal, stay for a Meet the Composer Q&A Session hosted by American Composers Forum. Day wrote A Song for Tomorrow in 2019 as a tribute for a lost high school classmate.
Ferguson Hall, University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.
Ferguson Hall / Address: 2106 South 4th Street, Minneapolis, MN
Parking:

21st Avenue Ramp / Address: 400 21st Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455
19th Avenue Ramp / Address: 300 S 19th Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55455

An American whose music has been characterized by “propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity” (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony), composer Kevin Day has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerful introspection to joyous exuberance. Kevin Day is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms. Day serves as the Vice President of the Millennium Composers Initiative, a collective of more than 120 composers from several countries around the world.
Kevin Day–Photo by Karen Cubides Agency

Innova Recordings Spring National Call Info Session
2023-04-05 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
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/tZApceigqDstHNOwDMLM1DbQnru_L7X5zgJs
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 March 15th through April 28 2023. There is no cost to apply.
You can find more information about the pilot program and apply here: https://www.innova.mu/apply-0

"Tida," by Mary Prescott (ACF | create)
2023-04-15 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Public Functionary, 1500 Jackson St NE Studio 144, Minneapolis, MN, 55413, United States
Tida weaves music, storytelling, movement and film into an evening-length performance exploring maternal lineage and intergenerational cultural identity. Mary Prescott — the winner of a 2019 ACF | create award, which sparked this project — investigates her mother’s undocumented Thai ancestry, her experience as a Southeast Asian immigrant raising biracial children in the American Midwest, and the resulting impact of her choices on three generations of women.
“A masterfully envisioned interdisciplinary work… a captivating investigation of Prescott’s maternal heritage and our American life.” — The Washington Post
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Public Functionary: 1500 Jackson St NE Studio 144 Minneapolis, MN 55413

7 p.m. doors/ 7:30 p.m. showtime
Duration: approximately 1 hour
$20 in advance/$25 day of show

To read more about Mary Prescott and Tida, click HERE.
To order tickets, click HERE.
Mary Prescott (photo credit: Bill Phelps)

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Mary Prescott is a Thai-American interdisciplinary artist, composer and pianist who explores the foundations and facets of identity and social conditions through experiential performance. She aims to foster understanding and create pathways for change by voicing emotional and human truths through artistic investigation and dissemination.
Prescott’s output includes several large-scale interdisciplinary works, improvised music, opera, sound journaling, film music, solo and chamber concert works. Featured in “21 for ‘21: Composers and Performers Who Sound Like Tomorrow,” The Washington Post describes her work as “a bright light cast forward… uncompromising,” and “masterfully envisioned.”
Prescott is an awardee of the McKnight Composer Fellowship; the National Performance Network Creation and Development Fund supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts; a National Performance Network Documentation and Storytelling Grant; a New Music USA Project Grant; an American Composers Forum Create Commission supported by the Jerome Foundation; The American Opera Project Composers and the Voice Fellowship; an Opera America New Works Forum Grant; a Puffin Foundation Grant; and several state and regional awards. She has been commissioned by Roulette Intermedium, Living Arts of Tulsa, Public Functionary, White Snake Projects, Chautauqua Opera, The American Opera Project, Piano Teachers Congress of NY, Shepherdess Duo, Metropolis Ensemble, Duo Harmonia and others. She has held artist residencies with Roulette Intermedium, Lanesboro Arts, Hudson Hall, Areté Venue and Gallery, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, The League of Independent Theater, Arts Letters and Numbers, and Chautauqua Opera; and is a 2022 Mabou Mines SUITE/Space Artist. Her 2023 residencies include Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and The Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France.
She holds piano performance degrees from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and Manhattan School of Music. Mary Prescott is a Steinway Artist.

"While It Lasts: An Earth Day Sound Garden" by JG Everest
2023-04-20 17:00 - 2023-04-23 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Montalvo Arts Center, 15400 Montalvo Rd, Saratoga, CA, 95071, United States
Minneapolis-based composer/director JG Everest, a 2019 McKnight Composers Fellow, premieres his latest site-specific outdoor sound + performance installation at the Montalvo Art Center, for Earth Day 2023, over three days.
Everest will be in residence at Montalvo Arts Center’s Lucas Artists Residency Program (LAP) from March 27-April 25, 2023, composing and designing the installation for the grounds at Montalvo, to be experienced along the paths and bridges that line the creek in the Redwood Forest, between the Villa and the LAP studios.
The residency is being supported by Everest’s ACF McKnight Composer Fellowship.
While It Lasts: An Earth Day Sound Garden, will premiere with an open access event on Thursday, April 20, from 5 – 8:30 p.m., and will continue over the weekend with live, open-house style events on April 22 and 23 (Saturday and Sunday), from 12 – 4:30 p.m.
Tickets ($10/free for students and Montalvo donors) are required for the opening event on Thursday; Saturday and Sunday are free, and visitors can drop in at any time throughout the day.
Click here for more information.
JG Everest

Thurman Barker Quintet with Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson
2023-04-22 19:00 (America/New_York) | Park Avenue Armory, 643 PARK AVENUE, New York, NY, 10065, United States
Versatile drummer and percussionist Thurman Barker has performed with countless singers and artists from the worlds of classical, pop, jazz, and those that defy categorization. His ensemble performs excerpts from three of his orchestral scores — South Side Suite, Pandemic Fever, and Mr. Speed-str — on a special double bill with “musical power couple” (The New York Times) Adegoke Steve Colson (a 2019 ACF | connect participant) and Iqua Colson, and their longtime collaborators Chico Freeman and Douglas R. Ewart (a 2012 ACF McKnight Fellow and innova Recordings artist). The Colsons’ vast body of work focuses on many facets of the human experience, illuminating social issues while taking listeners inside the aesthetics of art.
Time Factor: Thurman Barker Quintet
Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson’s Unity Troupe, with Special Guests Chico Freeman and Douglas R. Ewart
Saturday, April 22, 2023, at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $65 (plus fees)

For more information and to order your tickets, click here.
To read more about Adegoke Steve Colson, click here.
For details on Songs of Sunlife, Douglas R. Ewart’s album on innova Recordings (ACF’s in-house label), and to order a copy, click here.

Adegoke Steve Colson (Photo by Sharon Sullivan)

Douglas R. Ewart

Speed Dating: MN Choral Composers and GALA Choruses’ Conductors
2023-04-28 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Chicago) | Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, United States
In this “speed dating” event hosted by American Composers Forum, artistic directors from GALA LGBTQ choruses across North America are gathering in Minneapolis to tour Orchestra Hall, Central Lutheran Church, and the Minneapolis Convention Center in preparation for the upcoming GALA Choruses Festival 2024. We’d like to introduce these conductors to the wealth of choral composers in Minnesota.
Join us for a free meet-and-greet event on Friday, April 28, in downtown Minneapolis. The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403 (Regency Room).
We’ll have table space available for composer scores and promo materials. This informal event will give you the chance to meet directly with GALA artistic directors, share your compositions, and chat about commissioning opportunities.
Composer table space is on a first come, first served basis, so register early. Please register HERE. Registration closes on April 14. For more information, email Jane Ramseyer Miller at: AD@GalaChoruses.org.
We look forward to seeing you there!

"We Sick" album release party
2023-04-28 20:00 - 22:00 (America/Chicago) | The Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55454, United States
Performed and recorded in a church just across the street from the Minnesota State Capitol on December 28, 2020, only months after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd, We Sick (on innova Recordings, the in-house record label of American Composers Forum) is a record of staggeringly emotional improvised music, full of contemplation, fear, and fury. deVon Russell Gray’s (aka dVRG) piano haunts the corners and cornices and interweaves with Nathan Hanson’s lyrical saxophone. Davu Seru’s drumming finds its place masterfully everywhere outside of and in between these two other elements, propelling, pulling, and singing. We Sick is a dance and a statement; it will appeal to fans of any work associated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), of which Seru is an affiliate.
The music of We Sick is surrender: lyricism as it moves from interior to exterior, moaning within the living space of a sanctuary. The sanctuary recorded in a church 150 years old and, rendered vacant by COVID, became an ensemble member through its acoustics and ambiance.
The music made that day in that old empty church reflects the feelings of isolation from community, hunger for justice, and the weariness of the wait. On Friday, April 28, the recording of this incredible day is being released, offered as a humble confession and renewed covenant from Cedar stage.
The Cedar Presents
deVON RUSSELL GRAY, NATHAN HANSON, DAVU SERU release concert for “WE SICK,” with Tish Jones.
Friday, April 28, 2023 / Doors: 7:00 PM CT / Show: 8:00 PM CT
$17 Advance, $22 Day of Show
To order your tickets, click here.
‘We Sick’ album cover

ABOUT DEVON RUSSELL GRAY
Pianist deVon Russell Gray is a musical polyglot organically fusing contemporary classical, jazz, hip hop, Afrofuturistic, and popular music performance practices and styles. Gray’s music takes listeners on an outermost and deeply resonant journey. He approaches newness with a refreshing and enlightening sense of mystery, wonder, and beauty.
ABOUT NATHAN HANSON
Saxophonist Nathan Hanson makes music that invites listeners to stand outside themselves and the flow of time. His improvisations are “lithe and soaring… engaging in judicious honk ‘n’ splatter” (New York City Jazz Record). Hanson investigates how to channel the sound of each performance space. The energy of the audience circulates with the music, silence and breath. The effect leads listeners to become more present to the unfolding of each moment.
ABOUT DAVU SERU
Drummer Davu Seru is an improvising musician and composer. He’s worked with numerous improvising musicians and composers throughout the U.S. and France. He is bandleader for the ensembles Motherless Dollar and No Territory Band. He’s curated concert series for more than 20 years and has received commissions from the Zeitgeist Ensemble and Walker Art Center. Davu is a published author, assistant professor in the Department of English at Hamline University, and an affiliate of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Melinda Martinez Becker and Nicolás Lell Benavides premiere "Canto Caló"
2023-05-05 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Witness the world-premiere performances of Canto Caló, a song cycle by composer Nicolás Lell Benavides, performed by Friction Quartet and mezzo soprano Melinda Martinez Becker. Following the world premiere, Benavides and Becker will release the work on innova Recordings as part of our Bay Area Pilot program.
Canto Caló takes inspiration from Benavides and Becker’s shared New Mexican heritage, through the lens of their grandparents’ life experiences. The song cycle celebrates the distinctive American dialect that was popular in the Southwest and in California among those who were part of the Pachuco movement of the 1930s and ’40s.

May 5, at 8 p.m. PT; Old First Concerts (San Francisco) (in person and livestream). To order your tickets, click here ($25).
May 6, at 7:30 p.m. PT; First Presbyterian (San Anselmo, CA). To order your tickets, click here ($10-$30).
May 13, at 7:30 p.m. PT; Red Poppy Art House (San Francisco). To order your tickets, click here ($20-$30 advance/ $35 door).

Nicolás Lell Benavides

Composing Inclusion: Jordyn Davis, James Díaz, and Trevor Weston
2023-05-06 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York,, NY, 10023, United States
The first orchestral concert of Composing Inclusion — a collaboration between the New York Philharmonic, ACF, and the Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division, made possible with funding from the Sphinx Venture Fund — will take place on May 6 at David Geffen Hall (Lincoln Center). It will feature world premieres by composers Jordyn Davis and James Díaz, and by Juilliard’s Trevor Weston, who serves as their advisor. Sixty students from Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program will perform side-by-side about 30 musicians from the New York Philharmonic, under the baton of Paolo Bortolameolli.
Davis’ As I Am blends elements of jazz and classical music into a piece that tells a story about continuing to get to know and love oneself.
and does the Moon also fall?, by Díaz, is a soundscape for orchestra that brings the composer’s experience with electronics and synthesizers to the orchestral instruments.
Finally, Weston’s Subwaves is a musical response to taking the subway!
Composing Inclusion: Jordyn Davis, Trevor Weston, and James Díaz

May 6, at 2 p.m. ET
David Geffen Hall (New York)
Tickets: from $15

World Premieres: New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with The Juilliard School and American Composers Forum
To read more about the inaugural Composing Inclusion commissions, click here and here.
To order tickets, click here.

Jordyn Davis (Photo by Liberty Fets)

James Díaz

Trevor Weston

innova Artist Quince Ensemble Performs David Lang at LONG PLAY
2023-05-06 19:30 (America/New_York) | BRIC Ballroom, 647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11217, United States
For Bang on a Can’s 2023 LONG PLAY FESTIVAL (May 5 – 7), Quince Ensemble will perform love fail, by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. Quince Ensemble, an all-female contemporary music vocal quartet, recorded the piece for innova Recordings, the American Composers Forum’s in-house label. Released to great acclaim in 2020, love fail consists of 15 movements for the four voices and sporadic instruments. It feels more like an elegant contemplation of a timeless subject: the story of Tristan und Isolde, which Lang calls “the greatest love story ever” in his notes.
The piece is an introspective meditation on love and loss, and a juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern, setting rewritings of different medieval versions of the Tristan myth to music, next to tart microfiction by Lydia Davis.
The performance will take place on Saturday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the BRIC Ballroom (647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217).

To read more about the 2023 LONG PLAY FESTIVAL and order your tickets, click here.
To read more about Quince Ensemble’s recording of love fail and order your copy, click here.
To visit Quince Ensemble’s website, click here.

Album cover of Quince Ensemble: David Lang: ‘love fail’ (innova Recordings)

Quince Ensemble

An Evening with Stephanie Chou Quintet - Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
2023-05-29 19:30 (America/Chicago) | City Winery New York, United States
Stephanie Chou — a 2016 ACF JFund (now ACF | create) award winner — is a Chinese-American jazz composer/saxophonist/singer who blends influences from her Chinese heritage with Western jazz and pop to create a bracingly original sound that draws audiences across the globe, creating immediate cross-cultural connections.
Comfort Girl, her bold, innovative song cycle/jazz opera, inspired by true stories of Asian women abducted into sexual slavery during WWII, premiered at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre. Not only is it a groundbreaking fusion of East-West musical traditions, but it has also sparked public dialogue on a formerly taboo subject that still resonates globally with women today.
Chou’s quintet combines saxophone and vocals in Mandarin/English with Chinese violin (erhu), viola, and a jazz rhythm section. This performance, on May 29 at City Winery New York, will feature a mix of Asian-influenced jazz and folk songs, with vocal music in Mandarin/English and instrumental pieces, including fresh takes on Chinese folk songs and tongue twisters, excerpts from Comfort Girl, songs exploring math and literature, and a few new tunes. While there is a strong element of Chinese culture, it is meant to reach all audiences and invite people to think about music as a key unifying force.
‌City Winery New York presents An Evening with Stephanie Chou live on May 29 at 7:30 p.m. Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month

Stephanie Chou: voice, alto saxophone, compositions
Andy Lin: erhu, viola, violin
Or Matias: piano, voice
Matt Aronoff: bass
Ronen Itzik: drums
Special guest: Orville Mendoza (voice)

Doors: 6 p.m. / Show: 7:30 p.m.
City Winery – The Loft
Pier 57, Hudson Green Parkway at 15th Street/West Side Highway (best address for GPS: 25 11th Avenue)
To order your tickets, click here.
Stephanie Chou performing at Joe’s Pub, NYC (Photo by Michael Yu)

NEA Big Read Study Group no. 5
2023-06-01 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Springboard for the Arts, 262 University Ave West, Saint Paul, MN, 55103, United States
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
You are invited to join American Composers Forum (ACF) and East Side Freedom Library (ESFL) on Thursday, June 1 at 6:30 pm CT for the culminating event of our “Immigration, Identity, and the Arts” series. Taking place at the Community Hall in the newly-renovated Springboard for the Arts complex in Saint Paul, the event is part of the NEA Big Read series focused on Thi Bui’s graphic memoir The Best We Could Do about her family’s journey as Vietnamese refugees later settling in the US.
Bui is also the illustrator of A Different Pond, a children’s book written by Bao Phi about growing up in Minnesota as a Vietnamese American refugee family. Bao Phi and Thi Bui will be our featured guests for this event (Bui participating virtually). They will be joined by Gao Hong — Chinese pipa player, composer, and ACF board member — and Kevin Phoojywg Xiong — Hmong composer and 2021 recipient of ACF’s Minnesota Music Creator Awards — who will share their own musical responses.
Both The Best We Could Do and A Different Pond will be available onsite. Please send advance requests to Xavier Muzik and xmuzik@composersforum.org.
Please join us for this unique opportunity to engage in stories of immigration through music and conversation with your own Minnesota community.
Register 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.

Asuka Kakitani (2019 McKnight Composer Fellow) Album Release Concert
2023-06-24 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
On Saturday, June 24, the Japanese composer Asuka Kakitani presents a concert at Studio Z (St. Paul, Minn.), to support her new solo percussion album Twelve Months in Minnesota (out on June 30), featuring Eri Isomura and inspired by nature in the state. Kakitani is a 2019 McKnight Composer Fellow and a 2016 JFund awardee (now ACF | create). She was described as a “musical impressionist and supreme colorist” by Hot House Magazine.
Kakitani’s deep love for nature inspires her to transform her vision into musical stories; her mostly-programmatic music results from the inspiration evoked by her surroundings, interweaved with her perspectives and imagination.
“When I moved to Northfield from Brooklyn, in 2016, I became captivated by Minnesota’s vibrant nature,” said Kakitani. “Summer is shockingly colorful and brilliant, and winter is unimaginably cold, but its beauty is breathtaking. The winter night is so dark I cannot see my feet as I walk, but when I look up, I can see many stars. The sunrise and sunset are magical, and clouds are often in fascinating shapes, which I could watch for hours.” Twelve Months in Minnesota consists of 12 movements inspired by nature. “I tried to capture the spirit and feel of particular moments from each month of the year.”
Twelve Months in Minnesota CD Release Concert, featuring Eri Isomura
Studio Z (275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200)
Saint Paul, MN 55101
7:30 p.m. / $15

About Asuka Kakitani
Japanese-born composer Asuka Kakitani’s deep love for nature inspires her to transform her vision into musical stories. Her mostly-programmatic music results from the inspiration evoked by her surroundings interweaved with her perspectives and imagination. Kakitani’s projects span jazz big bands, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists. Kakitani was described as “[a] musical impressionist and supreme colorist” (Hot House Magazine) and her music as “the overflowing world of inspirational melody” (DownBeat Magazine) and “absolutely superb” (All About Jazz).
Kakitani has been the recipient of grants, fellowships, and awards, including the New Music USA Creator Fund, the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, the ACF McKnight Composer Fellowship, the JFund for New Music Award (now ACF | create), the Composer Assistance Grants, the BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, and Minnesota State Arts Board Grants.
(photo by Jaime Kahn)

2022 McKnight Visiting Composer Victor Marquez-Barrios' - 'A Path Home/Camino a Casa'
2023-10-27 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Truman State University
The world premiere of the song cycle A Path Home/Camino a Casa, with music by Victor Márquez-Barrios and lyrics by Márquez-Barrios and Rodolfo Nieto, will take place on Friday, October 27, at 7:30pm in Truman State University. These songs were inspired by testimonies provided by a group of Latino immigrants living in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, through a series of conversations conducted between October 2022 and March of 2023. In their testimonies, these immigrants shared details about their journey to the U.S. and their feelings about the process of finding a new home in this country. The resulting piece, scored for bass-baritone, piano, and pre-recorded track, will be premiered by Rodolfo Nieto (voice) and Lanjiabao Ge (piano), as part of the 2023 North Star Music Festival. This project was possible thanks to the support of the American Composers Forum through a McKnight Visiting Composer Grant.

ACF | Create awardee Stephanie Chou performing "Comfort Girl" @ Sutton Center, NY
2024-01-12 19:50 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | New York Hilton Midown | Suon Center, 1335 6th Avenue, New York, NY, 10019, United States
ACF | Create awardee Stephanie Chou will be performing her work Comfort Girl.
NY Hilton Midtown – 1335 6th Ave (54th St. and 6th Ave)
SUTTON Center, 2nd Floor, free and open to the public
Friday Jan 12 – 7:50pm
Follow the link for more information: https://apap365.org/meet-the-artists-of-up-next-at-apapnyc-2024/
Comfort Girl is a song-cycle inspired by true stories of Asian “comfort women” abducted into sexual slavery during WWII. It is not only a groundbreaking fusion of East-West musical traditions, but has also sparked public dialogue on a formerly taboo subject that still resonates globally for women today. Based on survivor testimony, the jazz-opera/song-cycle gives voice to the 400,000+ women and survivors who were silenced for 50 years.
Comfort Girl “is a stunning work that shines light on a dark chapter of history but also feels inspirational for contemporary listeners.” –DownBeat
“One of New York’s most socially relevant and ambitious jazz talents” –NY Music Daily
