American Composers Orchestra announces schedule and artists for Connecting ACO Community – Volume 2

American Composers Orchestra Announces Schedule and Artists for

Connecting ACO Community – Volume 2 

A solo commissioning initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis
Online world premieres on Sundays at 5pm ET streaming live on YouTube
$5 tickets available through Eventbrite | More information at https://bit.ly/ACOConnect 

New York, NY – In its continuing response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on composers and performers, American Composers Orchestra announces Volume 2 of Connecting ACO Community, an initiative to commission short works for solo instrument or voice. Each composer is offered $500 to write the work, and each performer is offered $500 to perform the work, with the rights to stream for six months. With the six commissions in Volume 2 (June 7 - July 19, 2020), in addition to the seven new works premiered in Volume 1 (April 19 – May 31, 2020), ACO aims to support artists financially; to create new work that will live beyond this crisis; and to provide virtual, interactive performances to ACO’s supporters and the general public.

Premieres of the new works will take place live on Sundays at 5pm ET, streaming privately for ticket-buyers on ACO's YouTube channel. The composer, performer, and a host (ACO President Ed Yim or ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel) will hold an online chat with the attendees after the performance. The recorded sessions will be available on MUSIC on the REBOUND: an online festival for participating in live events as well as a platform for streaming concerts. For information about MUSIC on the REBOUND, contact Raquel Acevedo Klein at raqklein@gmail.com or 347.840.0269.

Yim and Bermel jointly state, “When we began Connecting ACO Community in the early days of quarantine, ACO aimed to support composers, performers, and listeners who want to explore the wealth of musical creativity in the Americas. During this unprecedented crisis, when we cannot gather our orchestra and audiences to fulfill our mission, we felt that it was important to make a creative and forward-looking contribution. We are also firmly committed to paying artists for their work in service of our community. Volume 1 exceeded our expectations by forging new connections between artists, creating new relationships for the ACO community, and putting the spotlight on emerging creative voices and the performers who support them; and so, we are delighted that funding from the New York Community Trust’s Covid-19 Response and Impact Fund has allowed us to continue with Volume 2. Volume 3 will be announced later this summer and begin to feature the individual musicians of American Composers Orchestra as well as special guests.”

Connecting ACO Community Volume 2 Composer-Performer Teams and Schedule of Events                                                     

Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Joseph Pereira & Chester Englander, percussion (register/buy tickets)               

Sunday, June 14, 2020 – OFF 

Sunday, June 21, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Shara Nova & Ahya Simone, harp (register/buy tickets)             

Note: Ahya Simone was unable to appear during the originally scheduled premiere in Volume 1, during which Shara Nova premiered a version for voice and guitar. This installment features Simone performing a second premiere of the work When I Said Let a Change Come for harp.

Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Karena Ingram & Monica Ellis, bassoon (register/buy tickets)      

Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Krists Auznieks & Stephen Gosling, piano (register/buy tickets) 

Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Lembit Beecher & Seth Parker Woods, cello (register/buy tickets)            

Sunday, July 19, 2020 at 5pm ET:

Alejandro Basulto Martinez & Alecia Lawyer, oboe (register/buy tickets)              

Ticketholders will receive a private link to join the performance, and all of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go solely to fund artists involved in this project. If the $5 entrance fee poses a barrier to participation, interested listeners will be asked to fill out an anonymous form at https://bit.ly/ACOConnectComp or email Aiden Feltkamp at aiden@americancomposers.org to request a fee waiver.

About American Composers Orchestra

American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is dedicated to the creation, celebration, performance, and promotion of orchestral music by American composers. With commitment to diversity, disruption and discovery, ACO produces concerts, K-12 education programs, and emerging composer development programs to foster a community of creators, audience, performers, collaborators, and funders. 

ACO identifies and develops talent, performs established composers, champions those who are lesser-known, and increases regional, national, and international awareness of the infinite variety of American orchestral music, reflecting gender, ethnic, geographic, stylistic, and age diversity. To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including over 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. ACO recordings are available on ARGO, CRI, ECM, Point, Phoenix USA, MusicMasters, Nonesuch, Tzadik, New World Records, InstantEncore.com, Amazon.com and iTunes.

In addition to the Underwood New Music Readings in NYC, EarShot enables orchestras across the country to identify talented young composers. With guidance from ACO, partner orchestras – such as the Detroit Symphony, the Sarasota (FL) Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra – undertake readings, residencies, performances and composer-development programs that speak directly to their communities and leverage local resources.

For nearly two decades, ACO has brought composers and musical teaching artists into New York City public schools through Music Factory. Students in Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan and Queens, work directly with professional composers to create and perform original music. ACO also offers the intensive Compose Yourself seminars, during which high school composers will participate in hands-on composition classes, culminating in a performance of student compositions played by ACO’s professional musicians.

More information about American Composers Orchestra is available online at www.americancomposers.org.

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Connecting ACO Community is supported by a lead gifts from Augusta Gross and Leslie Samuels and the NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust.

This press release is available online at www.americancomposers.org/press-media

American Composers Orchestra

Derek Bermel, Artistic Director | George Manahan, Music Director | Edward Yim, President

Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor Laureate | Robert Beaser, Artistic Director Laureate

494 8th Avenue, Suite 503 | New York, NY 10001

Phone: 212.977.8495 | Web: www.americancomposers.org