American Composers Forum

New Music Gathering 2021
2021-08-13 08:00 - 22:00, 2021-08-12 08:00 - 22:00 (America/Chicago) | Landmark Center, 75 West 5th Street, Saint Paul, MN, United States
New Music Gathering 2021, co-presented by American Composers Forum, New Music USA will be in Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota on August 12-14, as well as online from August 12-18.
Our theme this year is “Money?” – and yes we mean that question mark! Given the economic uncertainty of the arts right now, by naming this theme we invite our applicants to raise questions, offer suggestions, and share experiences that help us sustainably reimagine our creative community together!
To register for NMG2021, visit our passes page!
To view a full schedule of NMG2021 events with location info, visit our schedule page!
Below, find info on the wonderful folks who will make up NMG2021!

OUR COVID-19 PLAN
Weird year, huh? And Delta’s just making it weirder. Please know that ALL of our events are being streamed online (the schedule page will have links the day of the event). If you’re going to be with us in St Paul, know that the stream will be playing live in an open tent outdoors on Landmark Plaza on the 12th and 13th, and in Mears Park on the 14th. We’re also taking temperatures and requiring masks be worn at ALL indoor events.
On a more fun note, we’ll be using Gather.town this year for online hangs after events. If you don’t know this platform, think of it as a combination of your favorite 2D video game from the 80’s and a social video chatting platform. Come and chat with the organizers and artists and presenters and each other! More info on that in a week or so..
Access to all streaming events and gather.town hangs is free with registration – why not register right now?
We know gathering is trickier than ever right now but, whether corporeally or cybernetically, gathering to celebrate great music feels more critical and sustaining than ever. We hope you’ll join us!

Michael Harrison performs Indian Ragas & Compositions for Piano & Tabla, with Nitin Mitta
2021-08-12 19:30 - 20:30
Composer, pianist and vocalist Michael Harrison will offer his debut performance of traditional Indian classical music, which he has adapted for piano with tabla accompaniment, presented by Drive East by Navatman. Celebrated tabla player Nitin Mitta will accompany him. Harrison will also perform his own original compositions which are based on the traditional ragas (melodic archetypes) and talas (rhythmic cycles) of Indian classical music. The concert will be offered both in person at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club for a fully vaccinated audience, as well as live online with the video being available for 24 hours after the performance.
Although this is his first performance as a featured piano soloist in an Indian classical concert, Michael Harrison has performed Indian classical music for decades as a vocal (and occasionally piano) accompanist with his Indian music gurus Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan and Terry Riley.
Date & Time: Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT | 8:30 PM ET
Harrison’s concert on August 12 will feature the live premiere performance of his piece Etude in Raga Bhimpalasi, which is included on his new album Seven Sacred Names (Cantaloupe Music). Seven Sacred Names was in the top ten albums on the Billboard Classical Chart upon release; The New Yorker described the album as, “music of positively intoxicating beauty.”
Learn more and get tickets here.

Rain and Red Clay
2021-08-11 19:30 - 21:00
For many of us, the land of our ancestors holds a special power, That fascination drew the Afro-British composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, to the music and culture of Black American, where his forebears had been enslaved. This program presents Colderidge-Taylor’s luscious Clarinet Quintet alongside two of his formative influences, the European tradition of composers like Brahms and Black American music. The latter is represented by Valerie Colemean‘s ‘Red Clay and Mississsippi Delta,’ which uses the blues to create a classical woodwind quintet with a southern accent.
Date & Time: Wednesday August 11, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Learn more here.

Del Mar International Composers Symposium 2021
2021-08-10 21:00 - 22:00, 2021-08-08 19:30 - 20:30
Guest composers this year include rising new music stars Nicholas Benavides, Quinn Mason ( a NextNotes creator), Polina Nazaykinskaya, Juri Seo and Joseph Sowa. Their compositions will be performed by the Hausmann Quartet (ensemble in residence at SDSU), soprano Tasha Koontz (frequent soloist with both the San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony), and pianist Peter Walsh, who is highly in demand as a recitalist and pianist for opera companies including the LA Opera and Houston Grand Opera.
Date & Time:

Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT | 5:30 PM PT
Tuesday, august 10, 2021 at 9 PM CT | 7 PM PT

To reserve free tickets for both events, visit their website here.

Summer Festival X - "Beethoven and Friends"
2021-08-10 19:30 - 20:30, 2021-08-07 16:00 - 17:00, 2021-08-05 19:30 - 20:30, 2021-08-03 19:30 - 20:30
Brightmusic returns to Live Concerts with ‘Beethoven and Friends’ – Summer Festival concert series mixes old and new. Join the four days of concerts. See each date and time in the program below:

Program:

Concert No. 1 – Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Concert No. 2 – Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT

Jennifer Higdon (a BandQuest and ChoralQuest composer), Piano Trio

​Concert No. 3 – Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 4 PM CT (reception to follow) The Mae Ruth Swanson Memorial Concert
Concert No. 4 – Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT

Libby Larsen (ACF’s co-founder and a BandQuest composer), Slang for Clarinet, Violin and Piano

Musicians
Gregory Lee, Violin
Katrin Stamatis, Violin
Shaohong “Betty” Yuan, Viola
Jonathan Ruck, Cello
Parthena Owens, Flute
Lisa Harvey-Reed, Oboe
Chad Burrow, Clarinet
Kate Pritchett, Horn
Rodney Ackmann, Bassoon
Amy I-Lin Cheng, Piano
Heather Conner, Piano
Jill Jantzen, Piano

Admission:

$20 per concert (students and active-duty military free with ID)

$50 for a Summer Festival Pass to all concerts – festival passes are not required for 2019-20 subscribers
Learn more and get tickets here.

ACF Music Creator Mixer at New Music Gathering
2021-08-10 15:00 - 16:00 | American Composers Forum Office, 75 West 5th Street, Suite 522, Saint Paul, MN, 55102-1439, United States
It’s been so long since we have had friends in our offices! We’ve seen your faces on our computers screens but nothing beats that face-to-face interaction. In the past year so much has changed for many of us and this is certainly true at ACF. There are new names, new programs, and new initiatives. We will open our doors again as we co-host the 2021 New Music Gathering in downtown Saint Paul at and around our offices in Landmark Center. We invite you to join us on Friday, August 13th at 3 pm CT for a gathering inside the Gathering. You can enjoy snacks and drinks with your fellow creators, learn about what is new at ACF from members of the ACF staff, pick up some ACF, innova recordings, and I CARE IF YOU LISTEN swag, and share with us how we can best support you and advocate for you. Out of concern for all members of our community, masks will be required inside the ACF offices.
We look forward to seeing you!
ACF Music Creator Mixer at New Music Gathering
Friday, August 13th from 3-4 PM
Landmark Center, 75 West 5th Street, Suite 522, Saint Paul, MN, 55102
See the full schedule of events for New Music Gathering in downtown Saint Paul here: New Music Gathering – NMG2021

The Philadelphians in Concert on WRTI
2021-08-09 18:00 - 19:00, 2021-08-08 12:00 - 13:00
Tune in on Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 12 PM CT | 1 PM ET on Philadelphia’s radio station WRTI 90.1, and on Monday, August 9, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM on WRTI HD-2, for a rebroadcast of a concert from The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2014-2015 season.
Carol Jantsch, principal tuba of the orchestra since 2006, stood front and center on the Verizon Hall stage to perform as soloist in a work written for her – Michael Daugherty’s (a BandQuest composer) Reflections on the Mississippi.
Learn more here.

Young Women Composers Camp 2021 - World Premieres Concerts
2021-08-08 13:00 - 14:00, 2021-08-07 18:30 - 19:30
Don’t miss Young Women Composers Camp’s world premieres concerts featuring works composed by the 2021 members of the camp! Their cohort this year spans across the United States, as well as Canada, Asia, Europe, and the UK, all of whom have composed new works for the andPlay Duo, Mazumal Duo, or Peridot Duo. Each concert will feature newly-composed works for each of these three incredible ensembles.
Dates & Times:

Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 1 PM CT | 2 PM ET

The Young Women Composers Camp amplifies the voices of young female and nonbinary composers by providing them with affordable, high-level coursework, resources, mentors, and a supportive community full of like-minded peers. This year, our program featured core composition faculty members inti figgis-vizueta, Flannery Cunningham, Bahar Royaee, and Tonia Ko; as well as guest instructors Natacha Diels, Courtney Bryan, Adam Vidiksis, Dale Trumbore, Angélica Negrón, Jessica Rae Huber, Alexandra Gardner, and Annika Socolofsky.
Can’t make the livestream? Not a problem – the concert videos will be archived on their Facebook and Youtube pages, so you can watch again at a later date.
Read more about our program and values at www.youngwomencomposers.org.

Neave Trio Performs Music by Ravel at the Bard Music Festival - In-Person and Livestreamed Online
2021-08-08 12:00 - 14:00, 2021-08-07 12:00 - 14:00
The Boston-based Neave Trio will perform on two concerts presented as part of Bard Music Festival’s 12-concert series, Nadia Boulanger and Her World. On Program Two, “Contemporaries and Colleagues,” August 7 at 1pm, Neave Trio will perform Ravel’s Piano Trio on a concert which traces Nadia Boulanger’s early musical relationships.
On Saturday, August 7, 2021 and Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 12 PM CT | 1 PM ET, the Boston-based Neave Trio will perform on two concerts presented as part of Bard Music Festival’s 12-concert series, Nadia Boulanger and Her World. The concerts will be performed for a live audience at the Fisher Center’s LUMA Theater at Bard College (Manor Ave.) and livestreamed online.
The Bard Music Festival returns for its 31st season with an exploration of the life and work of Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979), the pioneering Parisian pedagogue, composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and indomitable personality who shaped more than a generation of American musicians. Through a series of themed concert programs, lectures, and panel discussions, Nadia Boulanger and Her World pays tribute to one of the most important female figures in the history of classical music.
On Program Two, “Contemporaries and Colleagues,” August 7 at 1pm, Neave Trio will perform Ravel’s Piano Trio on a concert which traces Nadia Boulanger’s early musical relationships. The program couples songs she wrote in her teens with chamber works by then-preeminent Debussy, her composition teacher Fauré, and renowned classmates George Enescu and Ravel. Ravel composed his only piano trio after nearly six years of sketching and planning. But following the beginning of World War I in 1914, Ravel was motivated to quickly complete the work before enlisting in the French army. In a letter to Igor Stravinsky, he wrote, “The idea that I should be leaving at once made me get through five months’ work in five weeks! My Trio is finished.”
Complete program and ticket information can be found here.

Elizabeth Cree
2021-08-07 22:00 - 23:00, 2021-07-30 22:00 - 23:00, 2021-07-25 19:00 - 20:00
Set in a bawdy Victorian music hall, Elizabeth Cree by Kevin Puts (a BandQuest composer and the Director of the MNOrch Composer Institute) is a psychological thriller in which an abused and impoverished woman finally finds a family in a troupe of misfit performers. The action moves with kaleidoscopic energy and wit as the pulitzer- prize winning creators of Silent Night (seen on Great Performances) collaborate again for this intense new opera.
Learn more on West Edge Opera‘s website.
Performance Dates:
Sunday, July 25, 2021 – 7pm CDT | 5pm PDT
Friday, July 30, 2021 – 10pm CDT | 8pm PDT
Saturday, August 7, 2021 – 10pm CDT | 8pm PDT

The Inception Orchestra Young Composers Celebration
2021-08-07 18:00 - 19:00
Help the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra celebrate their young composers of the March 2020-Aug 2021 class! Meet the composers and their mentors. Showcases, bloopers, behind-the-scenes and most importantly, their music.
Date & Time: Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 6 PM CT | 7 PM ET
Register for free here.

Inception Orchestra Virtual Celebration & Concert
2021-08-07 18:00 - 19:00
Celebrate Inception Orchestra Young Composers of the March 2020-Aug 2021 class! Meet the composers and their mentors. Showcases, bloopers, behind-the-scenes and most importantly, their music.
Spotlights with the professional musicians who worked with our students. Spend time with our partners, ASMAC and the Classical Sax Project.
Sit in on a featured master class which will resonate with everyone — composers or not.
And discover what’s next for Inception and you and your kids can be involved.
Date & Time: Saturday, August 7, 2021, at 6 PM CDT
Register for free here.

Prairie Woods Sound Garden (Premiere)
2021-08-07 12:00 - 16:00
Minneapolis-based Composer / Director JG Everest premieres a new immersive sound installation for one of the scenic hiking areas at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center (PWELC) in Spicer, MN, to be presented on Saturday August 7, 2021. Part of his ongoing series of site-specific “Sound Gardens”, Everest has spent 3 weeks composing and designing a wholly new spatial sound score for this special natural space at Prairie Woods. This self-guided, “concert you can move through” will include live roving musicians and dancers, as well as site-specific photography, poetry, and storytelling, designed to connect us more deeply to this particular place and it’s natural environment. The event is durational and self-guided, meaning that attendees can attend for as little or as long as they like, but the more time spent inside the Sound Garden will result in a deeper connection and more lasting impressions of this place.
The Prairie Woods Sound Garden at PWELC is a family-friendly free outdoor event open to all ages and will take place on Saturday August 7, 2021 at 12 PM CT. The event is rain or shine, unless it is extremely bad weather, in which case it will take place the next day, on Sunday, August 8 at the same time.
The Prairie Woods Sound Garden will feature a temporary sound installation of 50 small, battery-powered remote speakers distributed throughout the park, each playing a different part of the larger piece of music, creating a multi-layered, immersive experience. The sound installation is accompanied live by live roving musicians and dancers, “The Free Range Orchestra”.
Free, but reservations recommended via this link.
Presented by Wavelets Creative in partnership with the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through an Arts Touring grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

IPO BRASS QUINTET: AMERICAN COMPOSERS
2021-08-04 19:45 - 21:00, 2021-08-04 18:15 - 19:30
IPO SUMMER @ OLYMPIA FIELDS COUNTRY CLUB
Enjoy small ensemble concerts by our own IPO Musicians and IPO Musician Friends at the beautiful Olympia Fields Country Club. Capacity will be capped according to Restore IL Guidelines.
James Stephenson (a BandQuest composer and former board member) – Fanfare for an Angel
James Stephenson – Fantasia on Semper Paratus
Anthony Barfield – Eclipse
Matt Lee, Trumpet
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 6:15 PM CT
Single Tickets: $37 in advance only
4 Concert Subscription – $140
3 Concert Subscription – $105
Get tickets here.

Jupiter String Quartet presented by Bowdoin International Music Festival on Livestream Concert
2021-08-02 18:30 - 19:30
The Jupiter String Quartet (Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violinists; Liz Freivogel, viola; and Daniel McDonough, cello) returns to the Bowdoin International Music Festival as a faculty ensemble, performing concerts on July 19 and August 2 in Studzinski Recital Hall. The Bowdoin International Music Festival is set to return to Brunswick this summer, gathering world-renowned musicians and students for an intensive schedule of chamber music study and performance. Only Festival students will be permitted inside the recital hall for live concerts, due to campus COVID policies. However, concerts will be livestreamed online from Studzinski Hall, free to community members and viewers around the world. Individuals are encouraged to RSVP in advance at www.bowdoinfestival.org/rsvp, and will receive day-of concert reminder emails with direct viewing links.
On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET, the Jupiter Quartet presents a recently premiered work written for them by Stephen Andrew Taylor, Chaconne/Labyrinth, along with selections from Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80.
Of his new work, Chaconne/Labyrinth, Taylor explains, “‘Chaconne’ is an old-fashioned word for a repeating chord progression, like the 12-bar blues. Here the wonderful Jupiter Quartet plays a chaconne, but at the same time they are lost in a labyrinth. The chords keep returning, only to point in new directions. This is how I’ve felt the past year: stuck in a loop, but at the same time lost in a maze, desperately seeking the way out. At the center of this maze, like the Minotaur of Greek myth, lies a depiction of the coronavirus that has so profoundly changed our world. After this encounter—marked by strange, percussive sounds—the quartet traces their way, like following Ariadne’s thread, back through the labyrinth.” Chaconne/Labyrinth was commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.
Register and learn more here.

American Roots
2021-07-31 19:30 - 21:30
American Roots is the Lakes Area Music Festivals grand opening event of the season that celebrates the American Spirit. Mason Bates‘ kaleidoscopic orchestral fanfare is followed by Jessie Montgomery‘s rhapsody of patriotic anthems, including the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ Peruvian-American composer Jimmy Lopes completes this trilogy of contemporary voices with a musical fiesta! Complementing these works by great younger composers will be Antonin Dvorak’s venerable “New World” Symphony, including the soulful Largo, ‘Going Home.”
Date & Time: Saturday July 31, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Learn more here.

American Roots
2021-07-31 19:30 - 21:00
The grand opening event for the Lakes Area Music 2021 season, that celebrates the American Spirit. American Roots features Mason Bates‘ kaleidoscopic orchestral fanfare followed by Jessie Montgomery‘s rhapsody of patriotic anthems, including the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ Peruvian-American composer Jimmy Lopez completes this trilogy of contemporary voices with a musical fiesta! Complementing these works by great younger composers is Antonin Dvorak‘s venerable “New World” Symphoney, including the soulful Largo, ‘Going Home.’

Date & Time: Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT
Learn more here.

Dialogues: Malang Jobarteh
2021-07-31 19:00 - 20:00
Malang Jobarteh is a master of the kora, a 21-stringed West African harp and instrument of choice for griots, storytellers who chronicle the history and traditions of West Africa. The program features original compositions, arrangements of Western classical pieces and traditional West African music in a boundary-defying recital that unifies these seemingly disparate musical traditions.
This concert will be followed by a reception.
Date & Time: Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Get tickets here.

Pairing other Instruments with the Harp (Session 2 of The Composer's Harp Cohort Masterclass Series)
2021-07-28 12:30 - 13:30
What instruments pair well with the harp? How can composers best approach navigating the different timbral possibilities presented by the harp in chamber contexts? ​
Informed by both her experiences performing on the harp in small ensembles as well as her own compositional successes and learning moments, Amy Nam explores these questions with examples from Debussy, Crumb, Saariaho, and beyond.
Date & Time: Wednesday, July 23, 2021 at 12L30 PM CT | 1:30 PM ET
Learn more and register here.
