The New School's College of Performing Arts Will Host MACE Concert

On Monday, November 25, 2024, 7:30pm, the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE) of the The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, begins its 2024-2025 season with its fall 2024 concert, led by MACE Ensemble director, composer, and curator David Fulmer. For its first performance of the season, MACE gives the world premiere of Short Story No. 1 – a new work by Mannes student Ryan Brideau, alongside Treibstoff by Carola Bauckholt, Of Being is a Bird by Augusta Read Thomas, Enclosed Position by Matthew Ricketts, Shadowgraph 5 (for sextet) by George Lewis, and Dérive by Pierre Boulez. This event is open to the public and free with registration.

Founded in 2012 by composer Lowell Liebermann, MACE presents works by iconic American composers, such as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, as well as works by young, and up-and-coming composers. Conductor and composer David Fulmer has been directing the Ensemble since 2016, presenting a kaleidoscopic lens of different aesthetics and styles, while exploring diverse musical programs of established 20th and 21st century masterpieces, together with presentations of newly commissioned works and premieres.

This season's artistic curation and programming includes four innovative initiatives for the Ensemble; a two-year composer-in-focus workshop, collaboration and integration with the Vocal Performance Department, student composer commissioning projects, and collaborations with some of the world's most renowned and trailblazing composers and performers. In MACE, students work closely with composers, developing an understanding of their style and aesthetic.Through the examination of a composer's catalog, they learn the microscopy of their notation, their musical symbols, and their sonic design. This special student-composer process creates the rare opportunity for students to engage in close collaboration and commissioning, which will be a hallmark of their professional careers.

Ryan Brideau's new work, Short Story No. 1, opens the concert. Scored for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, this new quartet marks a new direction in Brideau's work. Pierre Boulez' iconic Derive, has been a recurring theme within Fulmer's curation. MACE dives into Boulez while exploring the intricate colors and timbres of this important work. Carola Bauckholt's Treibstoff marks the first work by this composer that will kickoff a two-year exploration of Bauckholt's work. This motoric, highly energized piece is sure to stun audiences in its brilliance and unique sound world. The music of George Lewis returns to MACE in this highly anticipated performance of Shadowgraph 5. Matthew Rickett's Enclosed Position is built on fine lines, gorgeously homogenous textures, and extraordinary detail of phrase structure. The program will end with Augusta Read Thomas' Of Being is a Bird (Emily Dickinson Settings), featuring soprano Brooke Jones. This exquisite score is as detailed as all other of Thomas' work, bringing the listener to a heightened sense of structural and formal awareness, while carving intensely dramatic phrases and polyphonic gestures.

Fulmer says of MACE and its programming, "I'm intrigued by diverse programs that represent a wide-ranging collection of musical ideas and stylistic innovation. As an ensemble, we embrace a broad view of the vital landscape of American contemporary music, and contemporary music of the world abroad. As artists, we are responsible for, and should take care of the musical trends of tomorrow – we need to share this unique work as if the ink on the page has been dried for several hundred years...to craft, assemble, and refine a performance so that the canon continues in exponential dimensions. Each performance is malleable, and should chart new territory of performance practice and artistic expression. This is what we do here in MACE."

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

To post a comment, you must register and login.