American Composers Forum

San Francisco Ballet's DIGITAL PROGRAM 03
2021-03-04 - 2021-03-24
Created for 21 dancers, Symphony #9 highlights two lead couples and a solo male set against designer George Tsypin’s backdrop of grays and splashes of red recalling works of Socialist realism. Wooden Dimes – Danielle Rowe’s first mainstage production for SF Ballet – follows her Gala successes and is sure to delight fans of dramatic, contemporary choreography. Closing the program, Yuri Possokhov’s fan-favorite Swimmer brings audiences on a psychedelic multimedia journey through loneliness, love, and 1960s pop culture.
The ballet’s elaborate rehearsal process entailed director of photography Heath Orchard working in person and over Zoom, along with remote collaboration with costume designer Emma Kingsbury, lighting designers Jim French and Matthew Stouppe, and composer James M. Stephenson, who created an original score for the piece.
Stream this show from Thursday, March 4 through Wednesday, March 24.
You can purchase a single stream access ticket for $29 or purchase their digital package to access their whole season.
Learn more and get tickets here.

SFCMP MASTERCLASS series
2021-03-04 - 2021-04-04
In San Francisco Contemporary Music Players’ (SFCMP) ongoing Masterclass series, they interact with some of the most talented Bay Area pre-professional musicians in a live performance and feedback session with one of their renowned ensemble members. Students bring selected works to the stage while being mentored in the techniques, skills, and myriad styles of contemporary music performance. This season’s masterclass focuses on contemporary repertoire for stringed instruments, coached by SFCMP violinist Hrabba Atladottir.
Watch the recorded livestream event here; it is available on Thursday, March 4, 2021 for 30 days on demand.
Program
Bright Sheng, The Stream Flows
Adrian Wu, violin

Philip Glass, Partita for Solo Violin
Solanch Sosa, violin
Béla Bartók, Violin Concerto No. 2, Mvt I
Ryan Cheng, violin
Giacinto Scelsi, Manto
Natalia Badziak, viola

Symphony Thursdays @7pm - Lauridsen & Daugherty
2021-03-04 17:00 - 2021-04-02 23:59 (America/Chicago)
PacificSymphony+ is a new way to experience your Symphony online and on-demand. Enjoy the magic of music whenever and wherever you can.

Symphony Thursdays continues on March 4, 2021 at 5pm CST | 7pm PST with music for brass ensemble:

Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” has become one of the world’s most performed and recorded compositions since its 1994 premiere. Experience the composer’s own brass arrangement of this “quiet song of profound inner joy.”
Michael Daugherty’s (a BandQuest composer) “Asclepius” refers to the Greek God of medicine. This majestic fanfare for brass and percussion celebrates those who devote their lives to medical research and healing.

This performance is available for FREE streaming from March 4 through April 2.

This series is made possible by the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation. We thank them for their generous and ongoing support. Pacific Symphony’s on-line programs are being produced with new state-of-the-art audio, video and lighting equipment purchased through a generous grant from the Janet Curci Family Foundation.
HOW TO WATCH
Symphony Thursdays @7pm will be streamed on Pacific Symphony’s YouTube channel, Facebook page and on our website. Individual events will remain available for online viewing for 30 days.
Livestream FAQs to enhance your virtual concert experience.

FIFTH HOUSE ENSEMBLE IN RESIDENCE
2021-03-08 16:30 - 18:00 (America/Chicago)
AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY MUSIC in collaboration with MACPHAIL CENTER FOR MUSIC invites you to share virtually with the FIFTH HOUSE ENSEMBLE IN RESIDENCE

Deep Listening: 5 consecutive 15-minute sessions; guided meditations, daily rituals, improvised text scores, and movement exercises; Deep Listening provides multiple tools for mindfulness, creativity, and communal music making.
Friday, January 29, 2021 at 10:40AM CST
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021 at 11:30AM CST
Thursday, February 4th, 2021 at 11:30AM CST
Friday, February 5th, 2021 at 10:40AM CST
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Join on Zoom.

WE ARE GOOD: 5 consecutive 90-minute sessions; Deep Listening and story gathering rooted in collective decision making through creative acts. Fosters authentic inquiry among participants of varied social and political back-
grounds, uses Deep Listening to bring strangers together through communal music-making. Each session culminates in a creative act, including the development of new text scores, graphic scores, or other work products.
Mondays, February 8, 22, March 8, 22, April 5, 2021 all sessions 4:30—6:00 p.m. CST
REGISTER AT THIS LINK by February 3rd, 2021.

DEEP LISTENING JAM SESSION: The residency culminates in a Deep Listening Jam, which includes the creative work and dialogue captured throughout the 5 WE ARE GOOD sessions.
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 4:30—6:00 p.m. CST
REGISTER AT THIS LINK by April 7th, 2021.
ADDITIONAL ONE-TIME WORKSHOPS will be offered in chamber music, entrepreneurship, and music composition between February 15 and May 5. If you are interested in these workshops, please email musicdept@augsburg.edu to be added to the reservation list. You will receive advance information with dates, times, and the Zoom link. Additional information about the Deep Listening and We Are Good experiences is available on the Fifth House

Sergio Barer Performance of McKnight Visiting Composer Work
2021-03-08 21:00 - 22:00 (America/Chicago)
Valley Beth Shalom Member and composer Sergio Barer received a McKnight Visiting Composer Residency in 2019 from the American Composers Forum to conduct interviews with members of the Mexican immigrant community in Minneapolis.
The Immigrants is a moving four-part choral composition based on the experiences of those immigrants as depicted through their powerful interviews.
Valley Beth Shalom, HIAS, and EVERY. LAST. ONE.
https://www.vbs.org/
https://www.hias.org/
https://everylastone.org/
Date & Time: Monday, March 8, 2021 at 9pm CST | 7pm PST
Watch the musical and learn more on their website.

Shawnee, Ohio
2021-03-09 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Chicago)
“Shawnee, Ohio” will have its premiere screening at the Wexner Center for the Arts on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST. It is free, and will run through March 16.
Learn more and get tickets here.
Harnetty‘s “Shawnee, Ohio” — presented here in a newly edited film version — weaves together field and archival recordings, video, images, and newly composed music to critically examine and explore issues of extraction, economy, and ecology in Appalachian Ohio. As with many of his other projects, Harnetty drew from extensive archival recordings as well as regional music and personal testimony to create a transporting portrait that places history in dialogue with our lived experience today.
“Shawnee, Ohio” ​features performances from Harnetty, Paul de Jong (The Books), Anna Roberts-Gevalt (Anna and Elizabeth), and Katie Porter (Red Desert), among other distinguished musicians.
Brian Harnetty is an Ohio-based interdisciplinary artist using sound and listening to foster social change. “Shawnee, Ohio” was given 5/5 stars from MOJO magazine and named their 2019 Underground Album of the Year. It was co-commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts, Duke Performances, and Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, and has received support from Creative Capital, A Blade of Grass, and the Ohio Arts Council.

Professional Development Panel: Entrepreneurship & Ensembles for Composers
2021-03-10 14:00 - 15:15 (America/Chicago)
The following Professional Development Webinar is co-presented by the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and the American Composers Forum (ACF).
How can composers help guide their own careers? What part does creating an ensemble play in that? Frank J. Oteri moderates a panel of innovative ensemble creators to explore topics of entrepreneurship and career advancement as a composer. Q&A with audience will follow. Panelists: Afa Dworkin, Sphinx Organization, Nadia Sirota, yMusic, and Sugar Vendil, The Nouveau Classical Project.
Date & Time: Wednesday, March 10, 2021 @ 2pm CST | 3pm EST
Learn more and get tickets here.
If you require an interpreter, closed-captioning, or any other accommodations to fully engage, please contact ACF’s Laura Krider within 48 hours of the webinar (lkrider@composersforum.org or 612.314.9228).

Gao Hong, pipa & Issam Rafea, oud – Virtual Courtroom Concert
2021-03-11 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
The Issam Rafea and Gao Hong (ACF Board Member) duo performs live improvisations blending Chinese and Arabic techniques. Songlines Magazine in the U.K. called their collaboration “…engaging, deeply contemplative, and culturally resonant.” Each performance is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and audiences have the opportunity to witness singular creations that come to life before their eyes and ears, but are never to be repeated.
This concert will be available to stream on Thursday, March 11, 12:00 pm CT, Schubert Club‘s Youtube page, and on their Facebook page. Please call 651-292-3268 or email ticketing@schubert.org if you have any questions about their virtual concerts.
Additional information on other concerts are available on their website.

Dreamerfly, and other stories
2021-03-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
An immersive 45-minute work combining multi-screen animation, live camera and contemporary jazz music. It will be developed and presented by visual artist Shiyi Li, British jazz musicians James Owston and Daniel Kemshell and American percussionists Lindsey Eastham and Gloria Yehilevsky.

Date & Time: Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 1pm CST | 8pm MGT (London)
Learn more, register, and get tickets here.

ACF Roundtable: The Artists of Swell
2021-03-12 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Twenty-six artists collaborate to bring you a live, online song cycle called Swell, weaving together ten original, new music compositions by ten composers drawing from their personal histories as immigrants and children of immigrants. Hailing from Mexico, India, Israel, Japan, Trinidad, the Philippines, Russia, and Taiwan, the composers’ unique, surprising, and deeply human stories are expressed through voice, piano, cello, and violin.
On Friday, March 12th at noon Central, ACF invites Melisa Tien, the creator of the Swell project, and composers Justine F. Chen, Or Matias, and Izzi Ramkissoon for a conversation about the project, the stories, and the music, and what it is like creating a collaborative virtual event like this in the time of Covid, moderated by ACF Director of Community and Belonging, Dameun Strange.
Register here.

Great Falls Symphony's 62nd Live Concert Series - 2020-2021 Season
2021-03-12 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver)
Great Falls Symphony announces their 100% FREE concert season this year until May 2021. “All of us at the Great Falls Symphony are fully committed to fulfilling our mission to infuse cultural vibrancy into the Great Falls community through transformative music events and education programs.”
All live performances will be FREE of charge, but need to be picked up in advance at the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts box office. Two performances are offered during each GFSA concert in order to accommodate two smaller, socially distanced live audience. Venue location will vary – detailed information can be found at gfsymphony.org.
All performances will be recorded and broadcast later on the KRTV app so patrons can enjoy a virtual concert experience.
Virtual concerts will be broadcast to the general public one week after each live performance date. See schedule here.
See the upcoming schedule:
Fri OCT 9, 7:00pm “Native Views” Cascade Quartet
Sat NOV 7, 3:00pm “Vistas” *PREVIEW Thu NOV 5
Sat NOV 7, 7:30pm EVOCATIVE MUSIC OF OPEN SPACES
Fri NOV13, 7:00pm “Innovators” Chinook Winds
Sun NOV 22, 3:00pm FallConcert Youth Orchestra AND Sinfonia
Sun DEC 6, 3:00pm “Christmas” *PREVIEW Thu DEC 3
Sun DEC 6, 7:30pm HOLIDAY MUSIC FAVORITES
Sat JAN16, 3:00pm “Virtuoso” *PREVIEW Thu JAN 14
Sat JAN16, 7:30pm FEATURING Dorian Antipa, BASSOON
Fri JAN 29, 7:00pm “ViolaPower” Cascade Quartet
Sat FEB 13, 3:00pm “Heart Strings” *PREVIEW Thu FEB 11
Sat FEB 13, 7:30pm FEATURING Luis Angel Salazar, VIOLIN & Alyssa Roggow, VIOLA
Fri FEB 19, 7:00pm “Greatest Hits” Chinook Winds
Fri MAR 12, 7:00pm “Voices” Cascade Quartet
Sun MAR 28, 3:00pm SpringConcert Youth Orchestra AND Sinfonia
Sat APR 24, 3:00pm “Testament” *PREVIEW Thu, APR 22
Sat APR 24, 7:30pm FEATURING Supaman
Fri MAY14, 7:00pm “Together Again”

MERGE: Penelope Freeh & Alanna Morris-Van Tassel - Livestream
2021-03-12 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
On Friday, March 12, 2021 at 7:30pm CST, Penelope Freeh, alongside collaborator Alanna Morris-Van Tassel, will perform LIVE for an audience of cameras. Their concert can then be accessed on demand through Sunday, March 14.
Please note: Ticket purchasing for Opening Night closes at 5:30pm CST!
This performance was originally slated to happen one year ago. We, in parallel with our venue, the Cowles Center for Dance and Performing Arts in Minneapolis, decided to postpone one week prior to our premiere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are overjoyed to navigate this moment through continuing to create and perform, doing so safely, with no folks in seats, but with cameras rolling. Carrying many weights of responsibility at this time, we understand our privilege in being able to share this work now.
Get tickets here.
The Program:
Opening: Film by Alanna leading into her work Black Light re-Search
Black Light re: Search is a collaborative solo work-in-progress that ventures into the nobility of black-ness; the divinity of the feminine expression/creative energy; and the harnessing of the sensual expression. Alanna has undertaken this journey to unmask herself, influenced by masquerade traditions of the Nagot-Yoruba people (Orisha of Nigeria) and its archive in the Caribbean nations of Trinidad, Tobago, and Grenada. Audiences are invited to engage in a work that exalts mythographies of life and death, birth and creation, and venerates ancestors who have cleared the path. We honor these guiding forces throughout the presentation. She is joined by a cast of 10 collaborators: dancers, musicians, poets, healers, and designers who are prominent practitioners in their respective avenues of contemporary and traditional performance, healing arts, and design. Black Light premieres at The Great Northern Festival as a full-evening, kaleidoscopic, multidisciplinary work in January 2022.
Our duet: Bring it down under your feet
“We’ve connected through the poetry of Rumi, valuing process and output equally, sharing hearts and time in the studio and on Zoom. Researching our lived experiences through the lens of shared and respective grief, we aspire to empower radical transformation from the inside out.” – PF and AMVT
My solo: Penelope – a cabaret
By way of excavating personal mythologies, this work wryly reimagines Penelope of Ancient Greece as a German Weimar-era cabaret performer. Aiming to reclaim hyper-feminine physicalities of a bygone era, the work curates the gaze, controlling what is and isn’t seen. Inspired by the subversive content of cabaret and pre-code film, the objectification yet erasure of women in chorus lines and corps de ballet, and the tensions between onstage and off, it stakes a claim by unraveling deeply personal material through fierce embodiment.
“Mythic material was originally oral, and also local – a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another.” – Margaret Atwood: Introduction to The Penelopiad
Penelope – A Cabaret features live piano accompaniment by Marya Hart, original lighting design by Valerie Oliveiro, and project mentorship by Randy Reyes. Sound design includes the work of composer Jocelyn Hagen (a past McKnight winner).
*This work contains adult content.
Portions of this content were developed upon land originally belonging to the following peoples: Sioux and Wahpekute (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN); Adena, Hopewell, Miami, and Shawandasse Tula (Springfield, OH); Tutelo (Roanoke, VA). Through my dancing and embodiment, I work to honor them.

RENASCENT - A concert to bring us together from darkness to light.
2021-03-12 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
The Grand Forks Master Chorale is presenting a concert, “Renascent,” to bring us together from darkness to light on Friday, March 12, 2021 at 8pm CST at St. Michael’s Church (504 5th Ave N.)
The program also includes “Drei Geistliche Gesange (Three Sacred Hymns),” by Alfred Schnittke; “Elijah Rock,” arranged by Moses Hogan; “O Lux Beatissima (Light Most Blessed),” by Howard Helvey; “Hold On!,” arranged by Jester Hairston, featuring soloist Michael Thompson; and “The Road Home,” by Stephen Paulus (a BQ and CQ composer and ACF’s co-founder), with soloist Lacey Schuler.
Tickets are $20
Get tickets and learn more here.

The Albany Symphony 2020/2021 SEASON RE-IMAGINED!
2021-03-13 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
The Albany Symphony unveiled its reimagined 2020-2021 season, which will include world premieres and concertos with brilliant soloists, as well as iconic masterworks. Curated by conductor David Alan Miller, the season brings to life an array of new and recent works by a panoply of living composers forging new ways to create art reflecting our time and place, with major masterpieces by Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and others, and dazzling solo performances by artists including Inon Barnatan, Melissa White, Karen Hosmer and Grace Shryock.
The newly reimagined season will be presented virtually. As restrictions are lifted, live audiences will be invited back into the concert hall. All concerts will be performed live, in real time, on Capital Region stages, by Albany Symphony musicians conducted by Music Director, David Alan Miller.
The season kicks off on Oct. 24 at 7:30pm EDT, with a program featuring Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. Michael Daugherty is a BandQuest composer.
Performances run through June 2021. Find the schedule here and below.
ROMANTIC BRAHMS – Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Narrator; SIR WILLIAM WALTON: Facade; TYSON DAVIS (a NextNotes creator): (new work) JOHANNES BRAHMS: Serenade No. 1
RACHMANINOFF’S THIRD – Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Inon Barnatan, Piano; OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Trittico Botticelliano; CARLOS BANDERA: (new work); SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 (chamber orchestra version)
HAYDN & SCHUBERT – Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Melissa White, Violin; FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 46; GEORGE TSONTAKIS: Violin Concerto No. 2; TANNER PORTER: (new work) FRANZ SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 5
AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL–TRAILBLAZE! – Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 6:30pm CST | 7:30pm EST
A socially distanced performance for digital stream with Brasil Guitar Duo; NINA SHEKHAR: (new work); CLARICE ASSAD: Folk Tales, Double Guitar Concerto; MOLLY JOYCE/CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS: Songs; ALEXIS LAMB: (new work)
For more information, and to watch the concerts, subscribe and get tickets on their website: www.albanysymphony.com.

Fresno Philharmonic presents their Digital Masterworks Series.
2021-03-13 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
For 2021, the Fresno Philharmonic is presenting a series of online performances in their Digital Masterworks Series. Each concert will premier on YouTube, and will later be broadcast on Valley Public Radio on the 2nd Tuesday following each YouTube premier. Join host David Aus and conductor Rei Hotoda for this series of special broadcasts.
Intersections of Past and Present: Hailstork and Haydn
On Valley Public Radio, KVPR FM89: Tuesday January 26th at 10PM CST | 8PM PST
American composer William Bolcom‘s Commedia is a witty commentary on the classical symphonic style of Haydn. The music of Adolphus Hailstork (a BQ composer), hailed as the dean of African-American composers, is also steeped in the classical tradition.
American Visions: Copland Appalachian Spring
Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 7:30pm CST | 5:30pm PST
The varieties of American music are on display in this program combining new voices with Aaron Copland‘s popular ballet score Appalachian Spring. Joan Tower‘s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman sets the stage for our musical exploration of American identity featuring recent works by Jessie Montgomery and Chickasaw Nation composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (a ChoralQuest composer).
Vive la France: Ibert Divertissement
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 7:30pm CST | 5:30pm PST
Alons-y! This program is a Francophile’s delight culminating in the charming insouciance of Jacques Ibert‘s Divertissement. Our season-long exploration of contemporary African-American composers continues with Jasmine Barnes‘ timely Resistance Brass Quintet.
Bach to the Future: Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 7:30pm CST | 5:30pm PST
The Masterworks Series concludes with a celebration of the influence of Baroque music across five centuries. Gabrieli’s music written for St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice was an important for the turn from the Renaissance to the Baroque musical style. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 exemplifies the high Baroque style, while works by Beethoven, Villa-Lobos and Kevin Day testify to the Baroque’s lingering inspiration down to the present.
Check out their YouTube page on these dates and times to listen to each program.

Breathe in Hope
2021-03-13 21:30 - 22:30 (America/Chicago)
The Cal Poly Choirs will present “Breathe in Hope,” a virtual winter concert that will feature a variety of selections on the theme of perseverance and hope
Date & Time: Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 9:30pm CST | 7:30pm PST
PolyPhonics will perform music by Camille Saint-Saëns and influential African American composer Adolphus Hailstork (a BandQuest composer).
The University Singers will present music by André Thomas, plus Ernst Toch’s celebrated “Geographical Fugue.”
Dale Trumbore’s “Breathe in Hope” will be performed by the Cal Poly Women’s Chorus. The piece is based on a Facebook post in response to the killing of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling.
The Cal Poly Chamber Choir will present a special mass with movements from a variety of Renaissance composers that showcase the development of the genres in that period.
Scott Glysson conducts the Cal Poly Choirs, which are accompanied by Paul Woodring.
Tickets to the concert are $10 and can be purchased online from the Performing Arts Center.

Composers Concordance Presents Low-Key Chamber Concert Series
2021-03-14 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Low-Key Chamber Concert Series
An eclectic concert series, ensemble, record label, and presenting organization for music with a 34-year history of premiering good music that is pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.

Saturdays, February 6 through March 14, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
Live-streamed on the Composers Concordance Facebook page.

Event listing:
Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
TAP: Milica Paranosic and Brian DuFord, music, voice, guitar
FACEBOOK EVENT

Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
Max Pollak, dancer
Gene Pritsker, electric guitar
FACEBOOK EVENT

Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
Sean Satin, classical guitar
Gene Pritsker, electric guitar
FACEBOOK EVENT

Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
Jay Rodriguez, saxophone, flute, and clarinet
Gene Pritsker, electric guitar
FACEBOOK EVENT

Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 4pm CST | 5pm EST
Charles Coleman, voice
Gene Pritsker, electric guitar
FACEBOOK EVENT
