Fuse: Questlove’s Electrifying ‘Shuffle Culture’ Concert
“Questlove spent most of the 75-minute set sitting quietly behind his drum set, a pick sticking out of his Afro as his head swayed to the strings of the Metropolis Ensemble… the highlights were uniquely electrifying. Deerhoof’s fanciful noise-rock paired surprisingly well with orchestral strings.”
Village Voice: Questlove Puts The World On Shuffle At BAM
“On one level, the premise was anticipatory, predicting a future where concertgoers won’t have the time or patience for a low-concept, single-band show. On the other, one could see the evening’s roots: …

A review of Metropolis Ensemble’s performance at The Armory Show on March 7, 2012 by Art in America’s Paul David Young:

The program got off to a firm start on Wednesday at the VIP preview with an unusual composition by Icelandic artist Örn Alexander Ámundason, “Kreppa: A symphonic poem about the financial situation in Iceland,” superbly performed by the Metropolis Ensemble, a New York chamber orchestra that specializes in new music and contemporary composition.
The result strangely and rather convincingly resembled a piece of early 12-tone music of the Viennese variety, perhaps …

A review of Metropolis Ensemble’s August 12, 2011 concert, Martial Arts Trilogy, by Steve Smith for The New York Times.
The Chinese composer Tan Dun… drew an overflow crowd to Damrosch Park on Friday night for a performance of his “Martial Arts Trilogy,” a splashy multimedia event derived from three popular film scores. Performed by the Metropolis Ensemble and presented by Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the project linked quasi-concerto suites from Mr. Tan’s music for “Hero,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Banquet” into an evening-length sequence, with scenes from …

John Heuertz of the Kansas City Star reviews the Kansas City Symphony’s premiere of Metropolis composer Avner Dorman’s Frozen in Time on April 30, 2011 with percussion soloist Martin Grubinger.
“Creation stories formed the backdrop of the Kansas City Symphony’s inventive concert Friday at the Lyric Theatre… Dorman, a rising young Israeli composer, scored this three-movement work for full orchestra and 23 different percussion instruments, principally marimba and vibraphone. All 23 of which Grubinger played with breathtaking mastery… The audience got so wound up it applauded after every movement, and kept …

Patrick Neas of the Kansas City Star previews Kansas City Symphony’s premiere of Avner Dorman’s Frozen in Time on April 30, 2011.
The Symphony also will perform the U.S. premiere of Avner Dorman’s percussion concerto Frozen in Time. According to Dorman, the work was inspired by Earth’s geology.
“It’s divided into three movements: Indoafrica, Eurasia, and The Americas,” he said. “The percussionist Martin Grubinger asked me to write a concerto for him. He knew my music well and felt that my style was very global, and he thought that reflected our generation’s …

Allan Kozinn profiled Metropolis composer Avner Dorman for the New York Times, after the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed the U.S. premiere of his Azerbaijani Dance at Carnegie Hall on February 22, 2011.
“Avner Dorman’s music works its magic by melding far-flung influences and making them sound natural together. Depending on the score, an inviting neo-Romantic fabric may bear touches of modernist acerbity; vigorous, complex rhythms; themes built on Middle Eastern and Indian modes; Baroque figuration; or the accents of pop and jazz. Extramusical notions often animate the music as well. Mirage, …

The Star-Ledger’s Ronni Reich followed Metropolis conductor Andrew Cyr during a recent rehearsal for the Hallucinations concerts and profiled the ensemble ahead of the 53rd Grammy Awards, for which Cyr and Metropolis are nominated.
Cyr’s Metropolis Ensemble spends all day rehearsing electronic-orchestral hybrids in a Gramercy church so cold a piccolo freezes up. Their dedication to Cyr’s vision — and that vision itself — is exactly why the young orchestra has had such success and why Cyr can be considered a conductor in a new mold.
Metropolis records all of its performances …

On Thursday night the Metropolis Ensemble, a resourceful pocket orchestra led by Andrew Cyr, presented “Hallucinations,” a program devoted to works in which acoustics and electronics shared roughly equal status.

Andrew Cyr was quoted in Kyle MacMillan’s recent Denver Post Article.
Andrew Cyr, artistic director of the Metropolis Ensemble in New York City, agreed.
“It’s very cool,” he wrote, “that writers like yourself are catching on to the many ways musicians and composers are building our own new audiences (and community) for the future, with venues like Le Poisson Rouge as bridges and onramps.”
Click HERE to read the full article.

“With the success of the Metropolis Ensemble and now a Grammy nomination, Cyr stands at the apex of the classical music scene in New York.” – Bob Keyes, Portland Press Herald