About

Overview

Metropolis Ensemble is...

  • A professional chamber orchestra and collective of the finest young artists today.
  • A major commissioner and creator of new works of contemporary classical music.
  • A leading producer of unique, innovative concert experiences.
  • Launching the next generation of outstanding composers and musicians.
  • Transforming the relationships between music, artists, audiences, and arts enthusiasts.
  • Collaborating with leading cultural institutions and venues including the Wordless Music Series, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Carnegie Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge, WNYC Radio, and National Public Radio.
  • A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in New York City.

Metropolis Ensemble is dedicated to...

  • Fostering the commission and creation of outstanding new music by:
    • Providing vital support to leading young composers by facilitating a work's performance, recording, radio and television broadcasting, online video and audio streaming, and digital downloading.
    • Enabling young composers to collaborate with the leading musicians of their generation.
  • Emerging the next generation of leading performing artists by:
    • Offering promotional and career support through performances, recordings, marketing, publicity, and mentoring.
    • Providing access to Metropolis' community of leading composers, musicians, audiences, and arts enthusiasts.
  • Re-imagining the concert experience to inspire and reach new audiences by:
    • Staging performances in non-traditional venues and utilizing innovative formats that promote artistic and social interaction between artists and audiences.
    • Presenting works from diverse musical spheres to give each concert a kaleidoscopic sense of intertwined musical dialogue between artists and genre and between the present and past.
  • Making a difference in our community by:
    • Collaborating with other cultural organizations, non-profit partners, and schools to serve under-resourced communities.
    • Forming fund-raising partnerships to assist other non-profit organizations.

Mission and Vision

Metropolis 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.

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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.


Our Story

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).

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"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;
Principal Conductor, London Philharmonia

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 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 was released internationally in January 2010 on the world's leading classical label, NAXOS. Metropolis Ensemble received a nomination in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards for Avi Avital (soloist) and Andrew Cyr (conductor) with Metropolis Ensemble for Avner Dorman's Mandolin Concerto, part of the album. David Frost also received a Classical Producer of the Year Grammy nomination for his work on five albums, including his recording of Avner Dorman's Concertos.

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.

 


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Our Concerts

Home Stretch
May 20, 2010
Featuring the works of Timo Andres, Anna Clyne, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.



I Found It By The Sea
April 5, 2010
Featuring the interactive works of Timo Andres, Johannes Brahms, and Anna Clyne.



REVERB
November 19-20, 2009
Featuring the works of Jakub Ciupinski, Vivian Fung, Erin Gee, and Cristina Spinei.



New Music 101: Intro to Electronica
September 16, 2009
Featuring the interactive works of Jakub Ciupinski.



Glimpses
May 6, 2009
Featuring the works of Vivian Fung, Jakub Ciupinski, and Cristina Spinei.



Groanbox
January 28, 2009
Featuring the works of David Bruce, Michael Ward-Bergeman, and John Adams.



The Rite: Remixed
July 16-17-18, 2008
Featuring a remix of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring by Ricardo Romaneiro, Ryan Francis, and Leo Leite.



LOOP
April 10, 2008
Featuring the works of Ryan Francis, Maurice Ravel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Erik Satie (arranged by David Bruce).



Digital Sustain
October 11, 2007
Six etudes for piano by Ryan Francis.



On Record
October 11, 2007
The complete chamber orchestra concerti of Avner Dorman.




There and Back Again
May 24, 2007
Featuring the works of Avner Dorman, Béla Bartók, Osvaldo Golijov, and Dmitri Shostakovich.



All About Love
October 19, 2006
Featuring the works of David Schiff, Claudio Monteverdi, and Ryan Gallagher.



Voices of Night
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Featuring the works of David Schiff, Benjamin Britten, and Aaron Copland.

Our Composers

John Adams

Timothy Andres

Brad Balliett

Béla Bartók

Johannes Brahms

Benjamin Britten

David Bruce

Jakub Ciupinski

Anna Clyne

Aaron Copland

John Corigliano

Zachary Detrick

Avner Dorman

John Dowland

Ryan Francis

Vivian Fung

Ryan Gallagher

Erin Gee

Ola Gjeilo

Osvaldo Golijov

Ray Lustig

Claudio Monteverdi

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Andrew Norman

Maurice Ravel

Ricardo Romaneiro

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Erik Satie

David Schiff

Dmitri Shostakovich

Cristina Spinei

Michael Ward-Bergeman


Our Education Programs

Youth Works
Encouraging creativity and self-expression through teaching of the art and craft of music composition to public school children in New York City.

Wet Ink
Nurturing and encouraging the next generation of composers through a multi-faceted young composer's mentorship program.


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