Performances
& Events

In this meeting point of Europe and the United States, contemporary music champions eighth blackbird offer new compositions with influences ranging from Appalachian folk to pop to high modernism, with musical stops in Sweden, France, the Netherlands and the U.S.

A full-day marathon of the musical riches of new music from New York, hosted by the fearless, JACK Quartet. Electric guitars, vibrant winds, sultry saxes, ethereal voices, this program has it all.

One of today’s fastest rising ensembles stretches boundaries with a premiere by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, using two ondes martenots (one of the earliest electronic instruments), plus otherworldly vocalizations, electronic-infused soundscapes, and more.

Rounding-out the festival’s international perspective, the provocative Dutch Ensemble Klang makes a rare U.S. appearance, blending works of quiet, fragile intimacy with the punchy power of big-band through the works of composers from America, Australia and England.

DJs, VJs and electronic composers at work and play. Ryan Lott*, Joshua Ott; Sam Pluta and Jeff Snyder as exclusiveOr; Troy Herion with Alex Tyson and Sarah Lipstate. Plus audience-created music with UrbanRemix and Thicket: SONiC Edition.

An eclectic evening of new music for guitar (and bass) featuring Ryan Brown with James Moore and Taylor Levine; Rafiq Bhatia with Jeremy Viner, Jackson Hill and Alex Ritz; Toby Driver*; Andrew McKenna Lee and Dan Cooper with Daniel Palkowski and Javier Diaz as Erbium.

SONiC launches with a nod to every American composers’ spiritual father: Aaron Copland. Featuring an array of young composers—all participants in Copland House’s CULTIVATE national fellowship program for emerging professional composers—in an eclectic selection of new works for mixed chamber music ensemble.

Some are ironic, quirky and theatrical. Some are educated, high brow art. All are amazing and worth listening. Join us for an evening with young singer/songwriters, Corey Dargel with James Moore and Wil Smith, Kate Soper with Erin Lesser, and Christopher Cerrone performed by Christiana Little, as they blur the lines between pop and art song.

World premiere collaborations between emerging composers and choreographers with orchestration by Argento Ensemble. Choreographers Deborah Lohse, Miro Magloire, Darcy Naganuma, and Rebecca Stenn will team with composers David Fulmer, Michel Galante, Michael Klingbeil, and Konrad Kaczmarek.

Everyone loves a drum solo! An evening of new music by percussionist composers with beats originating from Latin America moving to electronic sounds through Brazilian Berimbau to steel pans. With music by Tyshawn Sorey, Payton Macdonald, Susie Ibarra, Greg Beyer and Andy Akiho with Mariel Roberts.

Music by Mario Diaz de León, Du Yun, Steve Lehman, Phyllis Chen, Nathan Davis and Marcos Balter.

Friday, October 16, 2015, 8 pm - The Winter Garden at Brookfield PlaceACO: New York Stories (New Sounds Live - an all world premiere concert)George Manahan, Music Director & ConductorJACK QuartetDM Stith, vocalsThe Crossing, Donald Nally, directorANGELICA NEGRON: Me He Perdido (I've Gotten Lost) (World Premiere. ACO Commission)ANDY AKIHO: Tarnished Mirrors (World Premiere. ACO/Underwood Commission)ALEX MINCEK: Continuo, Concerto for JACK Quartet (World Premiere. ACO/NYSCA Commission)JUDD GREENSTEIN: My City (World Premiere. ACO Co-Commission)

Installation performances: October 17, 2015, 2 pm - Shapeshifter LabMachine Music: Acoustic & Robotic Instruments[Installation setup: October 15-16]Quince Contemporary Vocal EnsembleALBERT BEHAR (composer and instrument maker): Sound Orb (World Premiere) – tactile speaker system (pre concert and during intermission)RUBY FULTON (composer): Cycle Loops – piano, electronics, bikeFJOLA EVANS (composer) and Merche Blasco (instrument maker): Whirlpool - Three singers and 4 thereminsLEVY LORENZO (composer and instrument maker): Inside Voice - iLophone and 3 singersMOLLY HERRON (composer) and Andy Cavatorta (instrument maker): Stellar Atmospheres (World Premiere)– three singers, viol consort & dervishes

SONiC’s late-night series kicks off with multimedia collaborations between composers, filmmakers, video and digital artists. With music by Paola Prestini ("radiant…amorously evocative" The New York Times), Christopher Cerrone ("a rising star" The New Yorker) and Bora Yoon ("…operatic and intense, genre-scrambling and iconoclastic" Noise Art Magazine).

A marathon of musical discoveries hosted by the fearless JACK Quartet—alone and in collaboration with some far-flung instrumentalists, vocalists and ensembles.Sunday, October 18, 2015 - Merkin Concert Hall, 3-9 pmJACK Out of the Box: A Marathon EventJACK Quartetwith special guests:So PercussionFace the Music: This Side Up QuartetDuo CortonaandRachel Calloway, mezzo-sopranoCaroline Shaw, vocalsDerek Bermel, clarinetKen Thomson, bass clarinetJason Treuting, percussion

The GRAMMY-winning vocal ensemble continually mines the expressive potential of the human voice, with new musical gems discovered by composers from Brooklyn and beyond. Performed at the city’s newest venue for musical experimentation and discovery.

SONiC’s installment from across the pond, Netherlands’ most innovative musical collective brings a program of Dutch, English and American compositional “finds.”

Thursday, October 22, 2015, at 8 pm - Merkin Concert HallAlarm Will SoundAlan Pierson, conductorCourtney Orlando, a Nubian PrinceCaleb Burhans, a Nubian PrinceMichael Harley, the Engineer

Violinist/composer Curtis Stewart premieres new music with pianist and Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence Aaron Diehl, Harlem Quartet, Mazz Swift, and a chamber orchestra of musicians from The Next Festival of Emerging Artists and Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School, conducted by Peter Askim. Featuring the world premiere of Curtis’s ACO-commissioned work Embrace, the program brings new creative voices to the fore, in part through reinterpreting works from the past. A New Sounds Live co-presentation hosted by John Schaefer.

Music that is guaranteed to move you. World premiere collaborations between emerging composers and choreographers with music by Peter Evans and Sam Pluta, Dana Jessen and Paula Matthusen, and Tyshawn Sorey. New dance by Jacob Slominski, Biba Bell and Abigail Levine.

The New York debut of wild Up—one of the left coast’s hottest young musical collectives. With a program that is a study of west coast experimentalism, pulse music, noise, punk rock, Los Angeles, and tumbleweeds.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 10 pm (doors open 9:30) - DROMSONiC AfterHoursHybridity: Composers Exploring Jazz & Concert MusicOff The CliffEco-Music Big BandMelissa Elledge, accordion: Improv/Arrangements (rep TBD)Off The CliffClarice Assad - bandleaderPersonnel:Clarice Assad - piano, voiceSissy Castrogiovanni - VoiceLara Bello - VoiceKeita Ogawa - Percussion Sergio Krakowsky - Percussion Petros Klampanis - Double bass Matthew Rohde - GuitarAdam Niewood - SaxophoneSue Terry - Clarinet

Composer/singer Kamala Sankaram showcases an ongoing creative project in which the audience becomes integral participants in the music-making process. Celebrating ACO’s commitment to creativity, Sankaram has been developing an app to enable anyone to participate regardless of prior music experience or score reading ability. Come join this ever-evolving game-like work at this lunchtime concert co-presented by Kaufman Music Center. ---Join composer and vocalist Kamala Sankaram for a free, public communal sing-in featuring new works by Sankaram in Merkin Hall. All levels are welcome! Sankaram showcases an ongoing creative project in which the audience becomes integral participants in the music-making process. Sankaram began developing this project as a Kaufman Music Center 2021-22 Artist-In-Residence with the aim of enabling anyone to participate, regardless of prior music experience or score reading ability. Come join this ever-evolving game-like work, and make music with your fellow New Yorkers!

The Next Festival of Emerging Artists celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a program of World Premieres for string orchestra based on the theme of Interactivity, including by Guest Artist and soloist guitarist/composer Yvette Young, 2022 Pulitzer Finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer/violinist (and Festival alum) Che Buford, saxophonist/composer Matthew Evan Taylor, and Peter Askim (The Next Festival’s Artistic Director).

Composer-performers Angélica Negrón and Miguel Zenón curate an afternoon of works performed by a sensational and wide-ranging array of New York musicians highlighting the rich musical traditions of Puerto Rico leading up to the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Featured performers and composers include Ahmed Alom, Raquel Acevedo Klein, Angélica Negrón, Victor Pablo, Darian Thomas, and Miguel Zenón.

Bergamot Quartet and special guest Dan Trueman will present a program that pays homage to the intricate array of textures and pitches available on our non-fretted instruments, featuring works that explore “the spaces between the notes”, and backboned by fiddle traditions from around the world.​​

Jazz at Lincoln Center and SONiC co-present a program curated by two of the most innovative artists bridging the boundaries between Latin Jazz and classical music—Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry—at Dizzy’s Club.Jazz at Lincoln Center and SONiC co-present a program curated by two of the most innovative artists bridging the boundaries between Latin Jazz and classical music – Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry – at Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center on Monday, June 5, 2023. At 7:30pm, Grammy Award–nominated composer, pianist, and vocalist Clarice Assad curates a one-hour set featuring Brazilian guitarist João Luiz Rezende, pianists Mariel Mayz and Carolina Calvache, and more.Curated by: Clarice Assad

ACO teams up with the Public Theater for a night of SONiC explorations curated by two of ACO’s recently commissioned composers Paula Matthusen and inti figgis-vizueta. Two events on the same evening: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 7pm, and 9:30pm. The 9:30pm event is curated by Paula Matthusen.

SONIC welcomes a program of Caribbean music entitled Nexus, produced by Puentes Caribeños, an organization dedicated to promoting Caribbean art music since 2013. Featuring Jamaican pianist Paul Shaw, Puerto Rican flutist Nora Lee Garcia with pianist/composers Mariano Morales and Raymond Torres-Santos, and Bahamian ensemble C Force – with Christine Gangelhoff, flute; Christian Justilien, euphonium; and Paul Jones, piano – this performance presents works connected to the Caribbean, including four world premieres.Curated by: Puentes CaribeñosCoordinated by: Christine Gangelhoff

SONiC teams up with Luna Composition Lab and International Contemporary Ensemble to present a concert of brand new works by the 2022–23 Luna Lab Fellows. Founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab provides mentorship and performance opportunities to young composers ages 13–18 who are female, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming. Missy Mazzoli, Ellen Reid, and George Lewis curate this evening of world premieres as well as additional works by Luna Lab mentors.

Yosvany Terry and Atlantic ConnectionsJazz at Lincoln Center and SONiC co-present a program curated by two of the most innovative artists bridging the boundaries between Latin Jazz and classical music—Clarice Assad and Yosvany Terry—at Dizzy’s Club.Atlantic Connections, created by Yosvany Terry and Alicia Hall Moran, is a song cycle inspired by a selection of poets from the African Diaspora, including Maya Angelou, Salgado Maranhão (Brasil), and Silvie Kande (Senegal). The work of these poets served as a launching point for Terry and Hall to explore themes of land, home, motherhood, love, loss, distance, displacement, and water as some of the elements that spiritually connect the peoples of the African Diaspora. Atlantic Connections was originally commissioned by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts.

ACO teams up with the Public Theater for a night of SONiC explorations curated by two of ACO’s recently commissioned composers Paula Matthusen and inti figgis-vizueta. Two events on the same evening: Wednesday, June 7 at 7pm and 9:30pm. The 7pm event curated by inti figgis-vizueta features The Rhythm Method, an ensemble of four composer-performers.

SONiC and Mannes/The New School co-present three new interactive works developed through ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory composer residency program. Inspired by the African-American history of resilience, healing, and awakening post-trauma, Marcus Gilmore’s Pulse, developed with ACO through The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative with mentor Zakir Hussain, is scored for drums, jazz ensemble, spoken word, and orchestra. Trevor New’s Cohere Touch connects artists across continents using the composer’s own augmented reality environment. Mendi and Keith Obadike’s Dream Train is an immersive sound installation and performance that encourages audiences to dream collectively as a means of social transformation.

Music from Copland House presents six world premieres of the new works it commissioned from the 2023 Fellows of its acclaimed annual Emerging Composers Institute: Henry Dorn, Seare Farhat, Oswald Huỳnh, Maya Miro Johnson, Grace Ann Lee, and Max Vinetz. CULTIVATE 2023, directed by Grammy-nominated composer-clarinetist Derek Bermel, is an intensive, creative workshop and mentoring program for gifted American composers of all backgrounds and identities, in the initial stages of their professional careers. Each year, six young composers are awarded fellowships to participate in this immersive, weeklong session, which takes place at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in Westchester County, one hour north of New York City.