American Contemporary Music Ensemble Performs Triple Bill With Clarice Jensen and Carolina Eyck at DROM

On Monday, January 7, 2019 at 8:30pm, German-born composer, vocalist, and internationally renowned theremin virtuosa Carolina Eyck; multi-faceted cellist Clarice Jensen; and the dynamic American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) join forces for a performance at DROM (85 Avenue A), each performing an engaging 30-minute set.

Carolina Eyck's program includes her original compositions for theremin and voice. Eyck creates layers of sound colors by merging the theremin with her own voice and improvising within the classical, jazz, contemporary, and experimental traditions. Watch Eyck perform Delphic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWHrMkdHXes

Clarice Jensen presents selections for solo cello, expanding and confusing the familiar sound of instrument through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops to weave layers of textures and sounds. Watch Jensen perform at Digital in Berlin's 10 Years in Sound Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfFBjBo6Pb4

The evening concludes with American Contemporary Music Ensemble, whose dedication to new music extends across genres and has earned them a reputation among both classical and rock crowds with collaborators including Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Blonde Redhead, Grizzly Bear, Low, Matmos, Jeff Mangum, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Roomful of Teeth, Lionheart, and Theo Bleckmann. Watch ACME and Eyck in Fantasias: https://vimeo.com/196315171

Carolina Eyck is a German-Sorbian vocalist and composer and is largely recognized as the world's best theremin player. As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed concerts all over the world and collaborated with many orchestras, as well as contemporary musicians including rock legend Steve Vai, DJ Jeff Mills and singer-songwriter Gotye. She has an extensive solo career and has released a number of recordings, most notably her two self-composed works on the avant-garde label Butterscotch Records. She has completed a third LP for Butterscotch, which is made up of her own compositions for theremin and voice. A haunting album, out in September 2019, this third LP is a meditation on mortality and loss in which Eyck surprises us with her vocal prowess. Carolina Eyck's performances and masterclasses around the world have helped to promote the theremin, an unusual musical instrument created by León Theremin in 1920, considered one of the first electronic instruments and played without any physical contact. In her concerts, Carolina takes the instrument to a new level. She creates layers of sound colors with her voice and theremin using effect pedals and loopers. The style of the music varies between jazz, contemporary and experimental. While many parts are composed, there is always space for improvisation.

Clarice Jensen, cellist, is the founding artistic director of ACME. A graduate of The Juilliard School, her most recent performances include concerts at The Kings Theatre, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Disney Hall, Benaroya Hall, The Sydney Opera House, Big Ears Festival, Duke Performances, The Kitchen, BAM, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and the Isamu Noguchi Museum. She can be heard on recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon, Kranky, Warp, Matador, Brassland, Domino, Merge, Jagjaguwar, Domino, New World, 4AD and many others. Her many collaborators include Jóhann Jóhannsson, Stars of the Lid, Owen Pallett, Max Richter, and Tyondai Braxton, among others. Jensen's debut solo album, For this from that will be filled, featuring music that she premiered in her first solo show at The Kitchen in New York was released on Miasmah Recordings in April 2018. The album was featured by NPR, which raved, "Jensen's new album shifts us out of our daily routines and into spaces unlike any we know."

In a little more than a decade, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), led by cellist and artistic director Clarice Jensen, has risen to the highest ranks of American new music through a mix of meticulous musicianship, artistic vision, engaging collaborations, and unwavering standards in every regard. The membership of the amorphous collective include some of the brightest young stars in the field, many of whom often cross into indie rock and indie folk realms. They have presented world premieres by the likes of Caroline Shaw, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and metal guitarist Mick Barr, and they recorded Max Richter's eight-hour epic, Sleep. They are what NPRcorrectly dubbed "contemporary music dynamos." ACME's recordings appear on the Deutsche Grammophon, New World, Butterscotch, and New Amsterdam labels. ACME released its first portrait album on Sono Luminus in 2017, featuring music by members Caroline Shaw, Timo Andres, and Caleb Burhans, plus John Luther Adams. The Stradwrote, "Warmth and care are fully evident in the ensemble's immaculate, considered performances - the four composers could hardly wish for more committed, convincing accounts of their music."

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