American Composers Orchestra Will Host EarShot Readings, CoLABoratory Events, and More

American Composers Orchestra has announced details of its spring 2025 EarShot Readings at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, IN from March 26-28, 2025 and at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI from May 12-13, 2025. In addition, ACO showcases CoLABoratory Workshops on March 5 & 7, 2025 at The DiMenna Center in New York and a special CoLABoratory Event on March 22, 2025 at Esperanza Arts Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Spring 2025 Readings start on March 26-28, 2025, with the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, which welcomes composers Corey Chang, Xinyuan Deng, Natalia Camargo Duarte, Wenxin Li, Alexey Logunov, Gabriel Novak, Laura Pacheco, and Emre Sener, who will participate in workshops aimed toward developing new works that expand the definitions and experiences surrounding American orchestral music. Participants were asked to create sketches to be workshopped with mentor composers David Dzubay, Han Lash, Curtis Stewart, and Augusta Read Thomas. Throughout these workshops, four of the eight composers will be invited to return to the Jacobs School of Music in the fall of 2025 to participate in EarShot Readings, offering participants the opportunity for the works developed during the spring 2025 workshops to be rehearsed, performed, and recorded by Jacobs School of Music musicians.

Next, from May 12-13, 2025, a collaboration between ACO and Lawrence University will workshop scores that fall outside of typical performance and notation standards including graphic scores, scores that engage improvisation, and scores with other components that are non-typical to Western musical notation. Selected works include those for open instrumentation (scores that can be read by any configuration of instruments), compositions that integrate "shape note" notation, and works that require light improvisation. Selected composers include Alicia Castillo, Matthew Mason, Lila Meretzky, and Logan Rutledge. These workshops and mentor composers Marcos Balter, Joanne Metcalf, and Asha Srinivasan provide opportunities for participants to engage in skills outside of traditional Western notation. Selected participants will return to Lawrence University in January 2026 to participate in EarShot Readings where they will develop these compositions for the Lawrence University New Music Ensemble.

EarShot is the first ongoing, systematic program for cultivating relationships between composers and orchestras on the national level, developed by the American Composers Orchestra to ensure a vibrant future for new American orchestral music. Over the last 25 years, these readings have provided more than 250 composers with vital artistic and technical resources, as well as career-accelerating public exposure. EarShot alumni have won every composition award, including the Pulitzer, GRAMMY, Grawemeyer, American Academy of Arts & Letters, and Rome Prizes, to name a few. Critically, composer-orchestra relationships extend beyond the EarShot Readings themselves. Since 2009, more than 25 works have been commissioned by partner orchestras from EarShot participants, and more than half of selected EarShot composers report receiving a commission directly resulting from their participation.

Additionally, ACO will have several CoLABoratory events in March of 2025 that are open to the public. First is a CoLABoratory Workshop on March 5 & 7, 2025 at The DiMenna Center in New York that features Mazz Swift's new ACO commissioned work, developed via EarShot CoLABoratory. The second is a CoLABoratory Special Event on March 22, 2025 at the Esperanza Arts Center in Philadelphia, PA, Harlem Samba/Philly Salsa, featuring Curtis Stewart, Edmar Castañeda, Harlem Samba, and Siempre Salsa Philly. This celebration of Afro-Latin dance and music traditions from Harlem and Philadelphia includes the world premiere of a new duo version of Castañeda's ACO-commissioned work performed with Curtis Stewart.

CoLABoratory Program Information:

March 5 & 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM / 3:30 PM
CoLABoratory Workshop with the American Composers Orchestra
DiMenna Center | New York City, New York
Links: https://secure.givelively.org/event/american-composers-orchestra/colaboratory-workshop-mazz-swift
https://www.americancomposers.org/performances-events/colaboratory-workshop-3

Featured Artists and Works
Mazz Swift, New Work (ACO Commission, developed via EarShot CoLABoratory)

March 22, 2025 at 3 PM
CoLABoratory Special Event with the American Composers Orchestra
Esperanza Arts Center | Philadelphia, PA
Link: https://www.esperanzaartscenter.us/event/harlem-samba-philly-salsa-v/

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