Annenberg Center Live Presents Genre-Defying Film And TV Composer Max Richter

Annenberg Center Live presents genre-defying composer/musician Max Richter, joined by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), on Sunday, October 7, 2018, at 7:00 PM. Inspired equally by The Beatles and Bach, punk rock and ambient electronica, electro-acoustic composer-pianist Max Richter blends baroque beauty with minimalist methodology and classical orchestration with modern technology. His seductively beautiful works, ubiquitous in dance, film, and television, are broadening the audience for contemporary compositions. Richter makes his Philadelphia debut with this performance. Tickets are available at AnnenbergCenter.org or 215.898.3900.

Richter and ACME will perform selections from his work Infra, inspired by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, and selections from the enhanced reissue of his 2004 masterpiece album, The Blue Notebooks. Infra, originally composed for the Royal Ballet, is a piece about traveling and a reaction to the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, a meditation on the political state of the city and the tragedy of those events. The Blue Notebooks is Richter's musical comment on society and an anti-violence record. It is a subtle and peaceful protest against political, social and personal brutality. Originally written in 2003, the canon-defining masterpiece was radical at the time as one of the first to combine classical and electronic elements with a post-rock sensibility.

Hailed as the most influential composer of his generation, electro-acoustic polymath Max Richter is composer, pianist, producer, remixer, and collaborator. One of the most prolific of contemporary musical artists, his sonic world blends a formal classical training (he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, and was a pupil of renowned composer Luciano Berio) with modern technology. Over the years Richter's monumental collaborative output has encompassed concert music, operas, ballets, art and video installations, and multiple film, theatre and television scores.

Richter's work includes scores for over 50 films, among them Ari Folman's award-winning Waltz with Bashir (for which Richter was awarded the European Film Prize) and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. For television, he also scored HBO's The Leftovers. Theatre productions include Alan Cumming's solo version of Macbeth on Broadway, and the National Theatre of Scotland's internationally lauded Black Watch. Ballets include his many collaborative ventures with maverick Royal Ballet resident choreographer Wayne McGregor, with his works also being used by, amongst others, The Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Dans Teatre, Lucinda Childs, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Dutch National Ballet, Dresden Semper Oper, Ballet du Rhin, and Northern Ballet. Max Richter is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist.

Led by Artistic Director Clarice Jensen, ACME is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily the work of American composers. The flexible ensemble presents fresh work by living composers alongside the classics of the contemporary. ACME's dedication to new music extends across genres and has earned them a reputation among both classical and rock crowds. ACME was honored by ASCAP during its 10th anniversary season in 2015 for the "virtuosity, passion, and commitment with which it performs and champions American composers." ACME's instrumentation is flexible, and includes some of New York's most sought-after, engaging musicians. Their first released portrait album on Sono Luminus in 2017, featuring music by members Caroline Shaw, Timo Andres, and Caleb Burhans, plus John Luther Adams. "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," wrote The Strad magazine.

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