STAND-UP / GET UP To Be Presented By Composers Concordance at 14th Annual CompCord Festival
The comedy-meets-contemporary-music event will take place at Jim Kempner Fine Arts in NYC.
Composers Concordance continues its 14th Annual CompCord Festival: Comedy with Stand-up / Get Up, an imaginative and genre-defying evening that fuses stand-up comedy with contemporary music.
Blending stand-up and contemporary music, this program features four stand-up comedians performing their routines live, followed by composers presenting newly created works inspired by those routines. These compositions don't simply accompany the comedy—they reinterpret it, refract it, and expand upon it, translating timing, tone, and narrative into musical form. Jokes may become motifs, punchlines may trigger sonic surprises, and comedic rhythms may evolve into complex musical structures. The result is a playful and inventive dialogue between comedians and composers, where humor and music continuously inform and transform one another.
The evening features music by composers Seth Boustead, Dan Cooper, John Clark, Gene Pritsker, Audrey Morse, Eugene McBride, Roger Tréfousse, and Amy Wurtz, performed by the CompCord Ensemble: John Clark (horn), Lish Lindsey (flutes), Seth Boustead (synthesizer), Audrey Morse (violin), Gene Pritsker (guitar), conducted by Charles Coleman.
The lineup of comedians includes Mike Handelman, Jim Kempner, Matt Kempner, and Maggie Lalley, whose distinct comedic voices provide the creative spark for the musical responses.
Taking place at Jim Kempner Fine Arts in Chelsea, Stand-up / Get Up offers audiences a unique, intimate experience where the boundaries between concert music and comedy blur, collide, and ultimately create something entirely new.
The concert will also be live-streamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.
Staying in rotation for 42 years in NYC is a rare feat. In the case of a new music presenting organization, it requires not only diligence and cognizance of achievements of the past but also an ethic of keeping one's ear to the ground for emerging stylistic and technological developments, as well as talented new composers on the scene. Composers Concordance, founded in 1984 by Joseph Pehrson and Patrick Hardish, advised by Otto Luening, strives to present contemporary music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. Directors Gene Pritsker and Dan Cooper co-curate the programs and lead the CompCord Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Big Band. Associate Directors are Milica Paranosic, Peter Jarvis, Debra Kaye, Seth Boustead, and Audrey Morse. Composers Concordance has also created a Naxos-distributed record label: Composers Concordance Records. Composers Concordance's overriding vision is to promote contemporary music, composers, and new works as a rightful and respected part of society. Good music performed and recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.
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