Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Saw a great concert last night

at 21st Century Schizoid Music--Downstairs at the Cornelia Street Cafe, featuring ACME (" the American Contemporary Music Ensemble is dedicated to the outstanding performance of contemporary masterworks for chamber ensemble, principally written by American composers. The dynamic ensemble's concerts are a unique blend of intelligent performance and vibrant energy"). I was there in particular for an amazing piece for viola and tape, Keep In Touch, by Nico Muhly; it was played spectacularly well by Nadia Sirota, who's definitely another one to watch. (And Nico's Ta & Clap will have its American premiere on Friday evening at the Tenri Institute.) But the rest of the program was great too: there was an Ives string quartet I could have done without, but also a really excellent and intellectually stringent piece by Charles Wuorinen, Grand Union for cello and percussion (also played very well by Clarice Jensen), and a lovely string quartet by Kevin Volans that I'd never heard before. Very enjoyable.

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