American Composers Orchestra Supports Nineteen Emerging Composers In 2022 EarShot Readings

American Composers Orchestra (ACO) continues its commitment to the creation and development of new orchestra music, and to the next generation of composers, through its 2022 ACO EarShot Readings program. This year, nineteen composers will participate in EarShot Readings with ACO, the Houston Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and Tucson Symphony Orchestra. EarShot is a nationwide network of new music readings and composer development programs that provide professional level working experience with orchestras from every region of the country.

For over a generation, EarShot Readings, and their predecessor ACO's New Music Readings, have provided all-important career development and public exposure to the country's most promising emerging composers, with over 250 composers participating. Readings alumni have won every major composition award, including the Pulitzer, Grammy, Grawemeyer, American Academy of Arts & Letters, and Rome Prizes. Orchestras around the globe have commissioned EarShot alumni.

Each EarShot Readings installment includes a series of private readings, feedback sessions, and work with mentor composers. Composers also receive a recording of their work. Feedback sessions with principal players and artistic and music directors provide crucial artistic, technical, and conceptual assistance. In addition, EarShot includes a series of online Professional Development Sessions which covers topics including creative collaboration, self-publishing for composers, fundraising, and orchestral commissions and contracting.

This season, ACO partners with the Houston Symphony for EarShot Readings from March 29-30, 2022, conducted by Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Assistant Conductor Yue Bao. The participating composers are Marina López, José G. Martínez, DM R (Diana M. Rodriguez), and Marco-Adrián Ramos Rodríguez, and they will be mentored by composers Jimmy López Bellido, ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel, and Gabriela Ortiz.

The Oregon Symphony, conducted by Raúl Gómez-Rojas, will read works by composers Andrea Chamizo Alberro, Nicolas Chuaqui, Marisol Gentile, and Horacio Fernández Vázquez for EarShot Readings from April 18-20, 2022. The mentor composers are Andy Akiho, Kenji Bunch, and Andreia Pinto-Correia. An open-to-the-public reading will be held on April 20 at 9:30AM at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (1037 SW Broadway, Portland, OR).

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra, with mentor composers Billy Childs, Michael Torke, and Melinda Wagner, will read works by Chelsea Komschlies, Xavier Muzik, Nathan Nokes, and Steven Sérpa for EarShot Readings from May 17-21, 2022, conducted by Music Director José Luis Gomez. An open-to-the-public reading will be held on May 19, 2022 at 7PM at Leo Rich Theater at Tucson Convention Center (60 S Church Ave, Tucson, AZ).

ACO will hold its own 30th EarShot Readings on June 16 and 17, 2022 in New York City, conducted by ACO Music Director Emeritus George Manahan, with mentor composers ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Jonathan Bailey Holland, and Jessie Montgomery. The participating composers are Tommy Dougherty, Adeliia Faizullina, Patrick Holcomb, Elijah Daniel Smith, Will Stackpole, Yuting Tan, and Yuqin ("Strucky") Yi. Two open-to-the-public events will be held - a working rehearsal on June 16 at 10AM and a public reading of the works on June 17 at 7:30PM at DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th St., NYC).

To date, ACO has partnered with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra (Mexico) through EarShot. ACO EarShot operates in partnership with American Composers Forum, New Music USA, and the League of American Orchestras.

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