Conductor, Vocalist, Composer & Instrumentalist Raquel Acevedo Klein Sets Summer/Fall 2023 Engagements

Conductor, vocalist, composer, and instrumentalist Raquel Acevedo Klein has revealed her Summer/Fall 2023 engagements, which includes engagements with The Shed, American Composers Orchestra, and Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Other projects include co-composing a score with Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry to accompany the film Adrian's Castle (for which she will record vocals for the lead actress' role as well as underscoring for the entire film), and a commission by Opera Philadelphia for Acevedo Klein to compose her first opera and star in it as the lead role, to be premiered in a future season.

Experience Acevedo Klein's multichannel electroacoustic vocal motet, Polyphonic Interlace, inside The Shed's recently built Sonic Sphere, a 65-foot-diameter spherical concert hall suspended in air in The Shed's soaring, 115-foot-tall McCourt. This revolutionary new architectural space features immersive, 3D sound and light explorations of music by boundary-pushing artists. Multiple live and or recorded sets will be offered each day, with programming running through July 30, 2023. Polyphonic Interlace can be heard on Wednesday, July 19th at 1:30pm, with Acevedo Klein performing live, singing, improvising, and processing her voice with electronics.

Acevedo Klein joins Brooklyn Botanic Garden for Floresta: Soundbath on Monday, July 24, 2023 at 7:30pm, an evening of unfolding soundscapes using voices, violin, plants, flowers, bells, synths, accordion, water, found objects, and mechanical percussion. An expansion of the SONiC festival set and held at the Cherry Esplanade, Acevedo Klein is one of three musicians on the concert: she acts as both a composer and performer, and joins forces with frequent collaborators Angélica Negrón and Darian Donovan Thomas. With the performance inspired by the underground communication network of trees, this powerful trio of artists will explore a wide range of musical ideas, moving fluidly between dreamy immersive soundscapes and more dynamic, rhythmically driven compositions. Floresta also stars nature itself as a featured performer as MIDI Sprout technology translates biodata from plants into music.

On Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 6:00pm, Acevedo Klein's 40-voice electroacoustic vocal symphony Polyphonic Interlace will be performed at the American Composers Orchestra 2023 Gala and Creative Catalyst Awards. Audience members are invited to participate in the piece by playing pre-recorded tracks of Acevedo Klein's voice from their phones at the same time, following a 3-2-1 countdown. This celebratory event kicks off ACO's 2023-24 season and honors Paquito D'Rivera, Dr. Indira Entwaroo, and Edward Yim, three leaders who exemplify ACO's core values of artistry, creativity, community, and equity.

Of her upcoming season, Raquel Acevedo Klein shares, "I am really excited to be working on projects that integrate my role as a composer and vocalist across genres, and invite me to share deeply personal stories. For my future Opera Philadelphia film commission, I play my mother Alba, at the cusp of motherhood. She is eager to establish a family unit after having been born out of wedlock. When her parents suddenly decide to retreat back to Puerto Rico, she has to decide whether to raise me as a single mom in NYC or to follow her parents back to their home island. Alongside my Opera Philadelphia commission, I am co-composing the score to a theatrical film entitled Adrian's Castle with Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry. I will be recording vocals for the lead actress and incorporating my voice into the underscoring throughout the entire film."

Recently named by The Washington Post as a "classical composer and performer to watch in 2022," Raquel Acevedo Klein is a highly sought after collaborator in the New York City region and surrounding areas, possessing immense versatility as a musician and composer. Last season saw engagements at Lincoln Center (conducting debut) with the New York Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth at David Geffen Hall; Caramoor; the Walk with Amal festival at St. Ann's Warehouse; WNYC's New Sounds at the Greene Space; and Julian Rosefeldt's film Euphoria starring Cate Blanchett and Carlos Esposito. In 2021, she curated a four-week festival to celebrate the opening of Little Island at Pier 55, where she premiered her audience-interactive motet Polyphonic Interlace, made from 40 recorded layers of her voice.

Conducting credits include the New York Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Beth Morrison Projects, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has premiered vocal works by John Adams, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and Paola Prestini. Some favorite performance highlights include engagements with Caroline Shaw, Glen Hansard, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Claire Chase, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her rapidly growing career has also taken her onstage at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, The Town Hall, BAM, and on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Concert Information

Sonic Sphere

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 1:30pm
The McCourt at The Shed | 545 W 30th St, between 10th & 11th Avenues | New York, NY
Link: https://theshed.org/program/304-sonic-sphere

RAQUEL ACEVEDO KLEIN: Polyphonic Interlace
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Floresta: Soundbath

Monday, July 24, 2023 at 7:30pm
Rain date Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Cherry Esplanade, Brooklyn Botanic Garden | 990 Washington Ave | Brooklyn, NY
Link: https://www.bbg.org/visit/event/floresta_soundbath_power_of_trees

Artists:
Raquel Acevedo Klein
Angélica Negrón
Darian Donovan Thomas
_________________________________________

American Composers Orchestra 2023 Gala and Creative Catalyst Awards

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 6:00pm
Fogo de Chão | 40 W 53rd St | New York, NY
Link: https://americancomposers.org/events/2023-gala-and-creative-catalyst-awards/

RAQUEL ACEVEDO KLEIN: Polyphonic Interlace

Additional works by PAQUITO D'RIVERA, Chrystal E. Williams, FELIPE HOSTINS, CHRIS KALLMYER and others

About Raquel Acevedo Klein

With her immense versatility as a musician and composer, Raquel is a highly sought after collaborator in the New York City region and surrounding areas.

The upcoming season includes performances with The Shed inside their Sonic Sphere, a 65-foot-diameter spherical concert hall suspended in air that features immersive, 3D sound and light explorations of music (The Shed programs Raquel's multichannel electroacoustic vocal motet, Polyphonic Interlace, which she also performs live); Brooklyn Botanic Garden (as composer and performer alongside frequent collaborators Angélica Negrón and Darian Donovan Thomas); and the American Composer Orchestra 2023 Gala and Creative Catalyst Awards (ACO programs her 40-voice electroacoustic vocal symphony Polyphonic Interlace, which audience members are invited to participate in). Raquel co-composes a score with Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry to accompany the film Adrian's Castle, and will record vocals for the lead actress' role as well as underscoring for the entire film. Opera Philadelphia has also commissioned Raquel to compose her first opera to be premiered in a future season, which she will perform in as the lead role.

Last season, Raquel gave her conducting debut at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth as part of the re-opening of David Geffen Hall. Her trio debut with composers and dear friends Caroline Shaw and Angélica Negrón happened at Caramoor, where the three melded their voices and electroacoustic sounds to create an evening of new music and improvisations. Also at Caramoor, Raquel's multichannel motet Polyphonic Interlace pulled in hundreds of people to hear her voice projected from speakers lining the perimeter of the Spanish Courtyard. She sang modal improvisations with a 3-piece band in an immersive music-theater collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Swoon and Sxip Shirey, for the Walk with Amal festival at St. Ann's Warehouse; appeared on WNYC's New Sounds at the Greene Space, with host John Schaefer and composer Timo Andres, to celebrate the legacy and community surrounding Ingram Marshall by conducting the Metropolis Ensemble; and even recorded vocals and appeared in the film Euphoria by Julian Rosefeldt, starring Cate Blanchett and Carlos Esposito.

In 2021, Raquel curated a four-week festival to celebrate the opening of Little Island at Pier 55, where she premiered her audience-interactive Polyphonic Interlace, made from 40 recorded layers of her voice. Raquel's dynamic compositions and electric performances have captured the attention of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times.

Conducting credits include the New York Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Beth Morrison Projects, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has premiered vocal works by John Adams, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and Paola Prestini. Some favorite performance highlights include engagements with Caroline Shaw, Glen Hansard, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Claire Chase, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her rapidly growing career has also taken her onstage at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, The Town Hall, BAM, and on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Raquel was born and raised in Brooklyn in a Puerto Rican, Colombian, and Jewish family of visual artists. For more information about her work, please visit www.raquelacevedoklein.com.