International Contemporary Ensemble Announces 2022-23 Season

International Contemporary Ensemble celebrates its 20th anniversary season in 2022-2023 with world premiere performances, POLYASPORA: 20th Anniversary Gala, and many other events.

The season includes: a performance at the TIME:SPANS Festival at the DiMenna Center showcasing ICEensemble's newly named Artistic Director, George Lewis (August 20, 2022); world premiere performances of works by Lesley Mok and Chris Ryan Williams at Joe's Pub (September 20, 2022); a collaboration with the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA) and Director Sheila Vand featuring the world premiere performance of C Ce See by Niloufar Nourbakhsh at NYU Skirball (October 15, 2022); a collaboration with Rhythm Method at Target Margin Theater featuring world premieres by Kevin Ramsay and Lewis Nielson (October 28, 2022); a performance of Henry Threadgill's Pathways at the NYU Skirball Center (December 3, 2022); the Ensemble's POLYASPORA: 20th Anniversary Gala at Chelsea Factory (January 23, 2023); two performances as part of the Composer Portraits series at Miller Theatre (February 2 & March 30, 2023); and a performance of Tyshawn Sorey's Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine with the Dutch National Opera (March 9, 11, 12 & 13, 2023).

The 2022-2023 season opens with the Ensemble showcasing the works of composer and newly named ICEensemble Artistic Director George Lewis at the TIME:SPANS Festival at Mary Flagler Cary Hall at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music on Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 7:30pm. The program includes the world premiere performance of Lewis's Melodies for Miles along with his Thistledown and Creative Construction SetTM. Additional works on the program include Black as a Hack for Cyborgification by Jessie Cox, Cult of Electromagnetic Connectivity by Nicole Mitchell, and Delta Blues by Wadada Leo Smith.

The Ensemble then performs the world premieres of new works by Lesley Mok and Chris Ryan Williams at Joe's Pub alongside a solo set by Lesley Mok, and Fay Victor's Flow to the Next on Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 7:00pm. Commissioned by International Contemporary Ensemble as part of their 2021-2022 "Call for __" Commissions Program, the new works include Mok's Stilled leaf-chatter, which explores the sense of narration that can emerge from structural frameworks, and Williams's Odu: vibration 1, which brings together vocalist Fay Victor, bassoonist Rebekah Heller, and cellist Lester St. Louis.

The season continues with the Ensemble and NYU Skirball presenting Peyvand (پیوند) an evening of works by members of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA) on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 7:30pm at NYU Skirball. Peyvand (پیوند), the Persian word for connectivity, features works related to this theme including the world premiere of C Ce See by Niloufar Nourbakhsh. Nourbakhsh founded IFCA along with Anahita Abbasi and Aida Shirazi in 2017 as a platform to support, promote, and celebrate otherwise-unheard musical voices from the Iranian diaspora through concerts, public performances, installations, interdisciplinary collaborations, and workshops.

In her work, with Rome Prize winner Suzanne Farrin as composer mentor, Nourbakhsh expresses the importance of social and artistic connectivity by way of a custom kinetic sculpture, designed by Roxanne Nesbitt, which brings the tones and colors of violins, violas, and cellos into a united sound by a single perpetually moving strand of bow hair. C Ce See marks the first work from Cheswatyr Commissions - the new commissioning and composer mentorship initiative of Composers Now, with support from the Cheswatyr Foundation. The initiative advocates for living composers and commemorates and celebrates Cece Wasserman, arts philanthropist.

The program also features the world premiere performance of Inexorable Passage by Nina Barzegar, the US premiere of within the Hadal and Epi by Anahita Abbasi, the NYC premiere of Crystalline Trees by Aida Shirazi, and additional works by Golfam Khayam, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, Nasim Khorassani, and Bahar Royaee. Iranian-American actress, Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Argo, We the Animals), joins as Director of the program, which is conducted by Steven Shick.

Also at NYU Skirball, on Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 7:30pm, International Contemporary Ensemble joins Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Threadgill and his band Zooid for the New York premiere of his recent 2019 work, Pathways. For over forty years, Threadgill has been celebrated as one of the most forward-thinking composers and multi-instrumentalists in American music.

On Friday, October 28, 2022 at 7:30pm at Target Margin Theater, the Ensemble curates a program together with 2022-23 Artistic Director George Lewis, in collaboration with members of Rhythm Method. The concert features the world premiere of a new work Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra by Lewis Nielson for voice and string quartet performed by flutist, soprano, and sound artist Alice Teyssier and members of Rhythm Method; and the world premiere of a new string quintet A Pin Drops Like a Pungent Oder by Kevin Ramsay as part of the 2021-2022 "Call for __" Commissions Program.

International Contemporary Ensemble is featured in two concerts as part of the Composer Portraits series at Columbia University's Miller Theatre this season. The first concert, on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 8:00pm, features works by Rome Prize-winner and Guggenheim Fellow, Suzanne Farrin, including the world premiere of Their hearts are columns. Following this, on Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 8:00pm the Ensemble joins award-winning composer and flute player, Nicole Mitchell, for a retrospective program of Mitchell's works spanning from 2015 to 2021.

For 20 years, the International Contemporary Ensemble has been a home for experimental new music, the artists who make it, and the community that supports it. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Ensemble presents POLYASPORA: 20th Anniversary Gala, celebrating the community of musicians, composers, collaborators, presenting partners, board, staff, and supporters that have made the Ensemble a vital home for new music and adventurous artists for over two decades. The gala takes place at the Chelsea Factory on Monday, January 23, 2023 at 6:00pm. Honoring Claire Chase and incoming Artistic Director George Lewis, the gala will be the launching pad for George Lewis' and the Ensemble's expanded vision for its third decade and beyond, highlighting the artists, programs, and values that will be at the core of this exciting period of the Ensemble's evolution and featuring performances to be announced.

POLYASPORA: 20th Anniversary Gala also marks a new partnership with Chelsea Factory, where the Ensemble will feature self-produced, artist-driven performances, with programs curated by Artistic Director George Lewis during this season and next.

Additional events in Spring 2023 include: a multi-day residency with the New World Symphony (NWS) where Ensemble members will play side-by-side with NWS Fellows, premiering new works by close collaborators of the Ensemble, Fernanda Navarro and Sofía Rocha; and a performance in Amsterdam as part of the new production of Tyshawn Sorey's Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine with the Dutch National Opera featuring soprano Julia Bullock from March 9-13, 2023.

The International Contemporary Ensemble will also announce performances and events honoring its long-time saxophonist, Ryan Muncy, who passed away in July and who is greatly missed by the community.

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