Carnegie Hall presents Music Director George Manahan and the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) on Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m., in the first of two concerts in Zankel Hall this season as part of the orchestra's 40th anniversary. The concert, a Halloween-themed program titled Orchestra Underground: Contempo-Scary Music, includes two world premieres: Paul Moravec's "The Overlook Hotel Suite" from The Shining, featuring music from his new opera based on the classic Stephen King horror novel, and Judith Shatin's Black Moon for Orchestra and Conductor-Controlled Electronics, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its 125 Commissions Project. The program also features electrifying music from Bernard Herrmann's Psycho Suite-from Alfred Hitchcock's legendary film-and David Del Tredici's Dracula. Guest artists include soprano and narrator Nancy Lundy and electronic engineer Maxwell Tfirn.
Mr. Manahan and ACO return to Zankel Hall on
Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. for
Orchestra Underground: Past Forward. The orchestra is joined by vocalists Elizabeth Bates, Rachel Calloway, Martha Cluver, and Mellissa Hughes for Steve Reich's thrilling
Tehillim psalms, presented as part of the composer's season-long residency as holder of
Carnegie Hall's Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair. The program also includes three world premieres: David Hertzberg's Symphony, Trevor Weston's
Flying Fish (co-commissioned by
Carnegie Hall for its 125 Commissions Project), and Paola Prestini's
The Hotel That Time Forgot for Video Artist and Orchestra, with video by Kevork Mourad.
About the Artists
Going into his seventh season as Music Director of the American Composers Orchestra, the wide-ranging and versatile
George Manahan has had an esteemed career embracing everything from opera to the concert stage, the traditional to the contemporary. In addition to his work with ACO this season, Manahan continues his commitment to working with young musicians as Director of Orchestral Studies at the Manhattan School of Music as well as guest conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Mr. Manahan was Music Director at New York City Opera for fourteen seasons. There he helped envision the organization's groundbreaking VOX program, a series of workshops and readings that have provided opportunities for numerous composers to hear their new concepts realized, and introduced audiences to exciting new compositional voices. In addition to established composers such as Mark Adamo, David Del Tredici, Lewis Spratlan, Robert X. Rodriguez, Lou Harrison, Bernard Rands, and
Richard Danielpour, Mr. Manahan has introduced works by composers on the rise including
Adam Silverman, Elodie Lauten, Mason Bates, and
David T. Little. Among his many world premieres are Charles Wuorinen's
Haroun and the
Sea of Stories,
David Lang's
Modern Painters, and the New York premiere of
Richard Danielpour's
Margaret Garner.
Entering its 40th season, American Composers Orchestra is the only orchestra in the world dedicated to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers. ACO makes the creation of new opportunities for American composers and new American orchestral music its central purpose. Through concerts at
Carnegie Hall and other venues, recordings, internet and radio broadcasts, educational programs, New Music Readings, and commissions, ACO identifies today's brightest emerging composers, champions prominent established composers as well as those lesser-known, and increases regional, national, and international awareness of the infinite variety of American orchestral music, reflecting geographic, stylistic, and temporal diversity. ACO also serves as an incubator of ideas, research, and talent, as a catalyst for growth and change among orchestras, and as an advocate for American composers and their music. ACO programs seek to innovate and experiment, educate students and the public, and open the orchestra to diverse new influences and audiences.
To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. Among the orchestra's innovative programs have been SONiC: Sounds of a New Century, a nine-day citywide festival in New York of music by more than 100 composers age 40 and under; Sonidos de las Américas, six annual festivals devoted to Latin American composers and their music; Coming to America, a program immersing audiences in the ongoing evolution of American music through the work of immigrant composers; Orchestra Tech, a long-term initiative to integrate new digital technologies in the symphony orchestra; Improvise!, a festival devoted to the exploration of improvisation and the orchestra; coLABoratory: Playing It UNsafe, a new laboratory for the research and development of experimental new works for orchestra; and Orchestra Underground, ACO's entrepreneurial cutting-edge orchestral ensemble that embraces new technology, eclectic instruments, influences, and spatial orientation of the orchestra, new experiments in the concert format, and multimedia and multidisciplinary collaborations.
Among the honors ACO has received are special awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and from BMI recognizing the orchestra's outstanding contribution to American music. ACO is the 2015 recipient of the Champion of New Music Award given by American Composers Forum. ASCAP has awarded its annual prize for adventurous programming to ACO 36 times, singling out ACO as "the orchestra that has done the most for American music in the United States." ACO received the inaugural MetLife Award for Excellence in Community Engagement, and a proclamation from the New York City Council. ACO recordings are available on ARGO, CRI, ECM, Point, Phoenix USA, MusicMasters, Nonesuch, Tzadik, New World Records, InstantEncore.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes. ACO's digital albums include
Playing It UNsafe (March 2011),
Emerging Composers Series: Vol. 1(February 2012),
Orchestra Underground: X10D (June 2012),
Orchestra Underground: Tech & Techno(July 2014), and
SONiC Double Live (July 2016), a collection of premiere performances from its groundbreaking SONiC: Sounds of a New Century festival. ACO has also released
Orchestra Underground: A-V, a groundbreaking album of multimedia works available for free streaming at
vimeo.com/channels/orchestraunderground. More information about American Composers Orchestra is available online at
americancomposers.org.
Program Information
Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
George Manahan, Music Director and Conductor
Nancy Lundy, Soprano and Narrator
Maxwell Tfirn, Electronics Engineer
ORCHESTRA UNDERGROUND: CONTEMPO-SCARY MUSIC
BERNARD HERRMANN
Psycho Suite
PAUL MORAVEC "The Overlook Hotel Suite" from
The Shining (World Premiere)
JUDITH SHATIN
Black Moon for Orchestra and Conductor-Controlled Electronics (World Premiere, co-commissioned by
Carnegie Hall)
DAVID DEL TREDICI
Dracula
Lead support for the 125 Commissions Project is provided by The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Public support for the 125 Commissions Project is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional funding is provided by members of
Carnegie Hall's Composer Club.
Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
George Manahan, Music Director and Conductor
Elizabeth Bates, Vocals
Rachel Calloway, Vocals
Martha Cluver, Vocals
Mellissa Hughes, Vocals
Kevork Mourad, Video
ORCHESTRA UNDERGROUND: PAST FORWARD
STEVE REICH
Tehillim
DAVID HERTZBERG Symphony (World Premiere)
TREVOR WESTON
Flying Fish (World Premiere, co-commissioned by
Carnegie Hall)
PAOLA PRESTINI
The Hotel That Time Forgot for Video Artist and Orchestra (World Premiere)
Lead support for the 125 Commissions Project is provided by The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Public support for the 125 Commissions Project is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional funding is provided by members of
Carnegie Hall's Composer Club.
Steve Reich is the holder of the 2016-2017 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at
Carnegie Hall.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of
Carnegie Hall.
Ticket Information
Tickets, priced $43 and $51, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.
For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change. |
