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About
Overview"Andrew Cyr and his virtuosic Metropolis Ensemble are the future of what we know as classical music. Their approach is fresh, and so is their music making. New ideas on presenting older music are combined with definitive performances of music by today's younger composers." —John Corigliano, Pulitzer Prize Winning Composer "Metropolis Ensemble is a great addition to the U.S. music scene." —Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor Laureate, LA Philharmonic;
Metropolis Ensemble is a professional chamber orchestra based in New York City. Dedicated to emerging a new generation of composers and performers, Metropolis Ensemble has quickly established a reputation for presenting "new music played with the same kind of panache and bravura we usually experience only in performances of standard repertoire" (Esa-Pekka Salonen). Comprised of the finest young artists now performing, Metropolis Ensemble concerts feature major commissions from the freshest voices in composition. Metropolis Ensemble's unique vision enables emerging composers to engage their artistry with a top-notch flexible musical ensemble composed of musicians of their generation. Led by Artistic Director and Conductor Andrew Cyr, Metropolis Ensemble performs to capacity crowds, attracting diverse urban audiences by promoting an atmosphere of openness, discovery, and excitement about the process of creating and performing new music. Metropolis Ensemble has appeared with the Wordless Music Series, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn!, (Le) Poisson Rouge, and in broadcasts by WNYC Radio and National Public Radio. Founded in 2006 by conductor Andrew Cyr, Metropolis Ensemble has commissioned and performed new music from the next generation of composers, including Timothy Andres, David Bruce, Jakub Ciupinski, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, Ryan Francis, Vivian Fung, Ryan Gallagher, Ray Lustig, Ricardo Romaneiro, Adam Schoenberg, Cristina Spinei, and Michael Ward-Bergeman, alongside imaginative and unorthodox masterpieces of the 20th Century and beyond that illustrate and embrace the fluid state of contemporary music from composers such as John Adams, Bela Bartok, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Osvaldo Golijov, Gyorgy Ligeti, Claudio Monteverdi, W.A. Mozart, Maurice Ravel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Erik Satie, David Schiff, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky, and Kurt Weill, illustrating and embracing the fluid state of contemporary music. The musicians of Metropolis Ensemble represent some of the most sought-after young artists now performing. These musicians include recent national and international competition winners and finalists, as well as current participants in the most prestigious young artist programs and new music ensembles, such as Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two, The Academy of Carnegie Hall, Marlboro, Alarm Will Sound, The Silk Road Ensemble, ICE, Concert Artists Guild and others. The enthusiasm and skill of these young musicians ensure concerts that are vital with artistic energy. In recent highlights, as part of the acclaimed Wordless Music Series and the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, Metropolis Ensemble was paired with the forward-thinking indie-rock sensation Deerhoof, and performed a new version of Stravinsky's epochal The Rite of Spring for a live audience of 10,000 people. This concert was also featured in broadcasts by WNYC Radio and National Public Radio. Metropolis Ensemble also recorded its debut studio album with the Grammy-winner Classical Producer of the Year (2005) David Frost, featuring the chamber orchestra concerti of composer Avner Dorman (b. 1975). The album is set for international release in January of 2010 on the world's leading classical label, NAXOS. Metropolis Ensemble has been invited to appear at (Le) Poisson Rouge, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Wordless Music Series, Prospect Park's Celebrate Brooklyn!, The Times Center, The Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, Trinity Wall Street, Americas Society, Chelsea Art Museum, Scandinavia House, and Manhattan Penthouse. Metropolis Ensemble was also recently invited to perform at a Meet-the-Composer Foundation concert-gala, in honor of soprano Dawn Upshaw. In addition to its active concert schedule, Metropolis Ensemble runs Youth Works, a 40-week after-school education program at Public School 11, teaching music composition and creativity to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Mission and VisionMetropolis Ensemble is dedicated to sharing artistic connections between emerging composers and performers with audiences in settings meant to inspire a new generation of music lovers. Metropolis Ensemble is rooted in the conception of music as a living art-form, continuously refreshed and renewed. New works by emerging composers provide the focal point of each concert and marketing initiative, while the associations and ramifications from sources that inspire new works are also explored in Metropolis' programming. By closely working with young composers whose points of inspiration come from diverse musical spheres - pop, electronica, jazz, world, rock, classical, modern and folk - each concert promises to display a kaleidoscopic sense of intertwined musical collaboration between artists and genres present and past. Metropolis Ensemble provides vital support to the next generation of composers by fostering the commission, creation, recording, radio and television broadcasting, online video and audio streaming, free digital downloads, and live performances of new music. Recognizing that New York City's cultural organizations have the enormous potential to make a special contribution to the quality of life of the city's school children, Metropolis Ensemble is equally devoted to educating a new generation of composers, musicians and listeners.
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