5BMF Presents ICE And UpBeat NYC In Collaborative Program With Nicole Mitchell At Pregones Theater

Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) presents South-Bronx music education non-profit UpBeat NYC and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 8:00 p.m., part of the Pregones Theater's "March is Music" week. Under the auspices of the EntICE educational initiative, instrumentalists from ICE collaborate with youth musicians from UpBeat NYC's free, community programs for a concert of exciting new classical works. The first half of the program includes Georges Aperghis' Rasch for viola and soprano saxophone; Clara Ionnatta's Limun for violin, viola, and two page turners; Zach Sheets' from the Silhouette Quarry for violin and bassoon; and Pauline Oliveros' Thirteen Changes. The second half of the evening features the centerpiece of the program, the New York premiere of Nicole Mitchell's Inescapable Spiral (2016), performed by ICE and UpBeat NYC side-by-side. UpBeat NYC students will also present the premiere of a graphic score and older students will lead the ensemble in an improvised conducted soundpainting.

The International Contemporary Ensemble commissioned Mitchell's Inescapable Spiral in 2016 and premiered it at the Ojai Music Festival in 2017. The piece uses a variable ensemble and open instrumentation and can be performed by musicians of varying levels. Through the opportunity to work with contemporary female composer Nicole Mitchell, this project is intended to encourage the students to rethink their understanding of who and what a composer can be, as well as to become composers themselves.

Introduced in 2015, EntICE unites leading composers with youth ensembles in new works to be performed side-by-side with members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. ICE's musicians take young people - and their schools, families and communities - through the entire collaborative process of bringing premiere pieces to life. Inaugural EntICE partners include Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and The People's Music School in Chicago. Summer activities include Ensemble Evolution at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, in which young professionals perform with ICE and attend workshops on topics from interpretation to concert production. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE.

Program Information
UPBEAT NYC AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
Pregones Theater | 571-575 Walton Avenue | Bronx, NY
Tickets: $15 - 50
Link: http://pregonesprtt.org/events/ice-upbeat-nyc-at-pregones-march-is-music-2018-series/

Performers:
Alice Teyssier, flute/voice
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Ryan Muncy, saxophone
Josh Modney, violin
Wendy Richman, viola

Program:
Georges Aperghis: Rasch for viola and soprano saxophone
Clara Ionnatta: Limun for violin, viola, and two page turners
Zach Sheets: from the Silhouette Quarry for violin and bassoon
Pauline Oliveros: Thirteen Changes

Intermission

Nicole Mitchell: Inescapable Spiral (New York Premiere)

UpBeat NYC is a nonprofit organization that employs the beauty and challenges of music making to ignite a sense of possibility for children living in the South Bronx. Liza Austria and Richard Miller founded UpBeat in 2009 to address the lack of performing arts opportunities for New York City children, especially those residing in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx. The program serves children and families who have limited access to high quality arts education by providing immersive year-round music instruction during after school hours. As more and more children became consistent participants, they were able to form an ensemble that began performing in the neighborhood and around the city. The ensemble, now called the UpBeat Youth Orchestra, gave over 20 public performances in NYC last season, in venues such as El Museo del Barrio, the Hostos Center for Culture and the Arts, the Cinco de Mayo Festival in Flushing Meadow Park, the Lincoln Hospital, the New York City Marathon, the Longwood Arts Festival, Mott Haven Library's Summer Reading Kick-off, International Worker's Day, South Bronx Unite's Waterfront Celebration and the Queens Museum of Art. UpBeat now also boasts a Jazz and Latin Big Band, a Children's Orchestra, and a Children and Parent's Choir.

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, ICE explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The ensemble's 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored ICE's programming since its founding in 2001, and the group's recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music's present. A recipient of the American Music Center's Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. ICE has been featured at the Ojai Music Festival since 2015, and has appeared at festivals abroad such as Acht Brücken Cologne and Musica nova Helsinki.

Five Boroughs Music Festival's mission is to enrich communities and cultivate new audiences by bringing world-class, affordable chamber music to all corners of New York City. 5BMF collaborates with local cultural institutions to present up-and-coming artists alongside the genre's most distinguished performers, and challenges the standard definition of 'chamber music' by presenting a broad range of musical styles, from early music to contemporary works, world music and other non-classical forms.

Led by founders Jesse Blumberg and Donna Breitzer since 2007, 5BMF has presented over 50 traditional and contemporary chamber music programs in ten complete cycles around NYC. Described as "imaginative" by The New York Times and "vital" by WQXR's Operavore blog, 5BMF's commitment to musical outreach and diverse programming has attracted positive attention from the NYC arts community from its earliest days. 5BMF's artist roster is comprised of diverse, talented emerging artists and distinguished musicians alike. Its venues are just as eclectic, and have included historic NYC landmarks such as Federal Hall, the University Church at Fordham University, Flushing Town Hall, King Manor Museum, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, among many others.

To mark its fifth season in 2011-2012, 5BMF commissioned 20 composers to create the Five Borough Songbook, a collection of 20 unique songs inspired by New York City places, themes and poetry. Throughout the course of the season, the Songbook premiered in every borough of NYC, and was released as a double-CD studio album in 2011 by Roven Records. Following the success of the original Songbook, 5BMF commissioned a second volume of 20 new works for its 10th anniversary; the resulting Songbook, Volume II will premiere in all five boroughs of NYC throughout 2017.

5BMF's programming is rooted in familiar classical music traditions, but is inclusive of a broad range of styles; art song recitals, early music, new music and other non-classical forms are all represented. By employing a broad definition of chamber music and sustaining a commitment to artistic outreach by bringing world class programs to neighborhoods all over the city, 5BMF offers an affordable, intimate concert experience to a wide variety of New York City audiences.

Please visit www.5bmf.org or email info@5bmf.org for more information.