Sequenza 21: An Ecstatic Entourage

Ilona Oltuski profiles Metropolis composer Timothy Andres after the Ecstatic Music Festival for Sequenza 21 on January 21, 2011.

“At the festival, pianist/composer Timo Andres performed his Everything is an Onion from his 2010 composition: It takes a long time to become a good composer, as well as Charles Ive’s The Alcotts from Piano Sonata No.2, at the Marathon. He is one of several performers who studied composition at Yale University. Like many of the festival participants, he is active in a broad spectrum of activities which make for a lifestyle of music. He, like many of his colleagues, likes to share his thoughts, articulated on his blog, as well as in person. We shared a coffee and a conversation in between performances.”

Read the full article…

Denver Post: Classical music series resonates

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.

Chamber Musician Today: Grammy Party

Ilona Oltuski of

GetClassical.org

shares in the excitement of Metropolis Ensemble’s Dec. 16 Grammy Nomination Party at (le) Poisson Rouge.

“It is highly unlikely that anybody in the audience that evening will ever think of the humble mandolin the way they may have thought about it before hearing Avital play; he certainly changed my appreciation for it tremendously.”

Click HERE for the full report at ChamberMusicianToday.com

Sequenza 21: Grammy Nomination Party

Just got a note from Andrew Cyr inviting Sequenza 21 readers (and maybe some other less distinguished people) to a free party at Le Possion Rouge tomorrow night to celebrate the Metropolis Ensemble’s Grammy nomination for its Naxos recording of Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto (Avi Avital (soloist) and Andrew Cyr (conductor) with Metropolis Ensemble). Avi, Andrew and the Metropolis crew will perform a few sets during the evening, including the Mandolin Concerto and, maybe, Andrew says, even “a Balkan music jam.” Not only is admission free but the first two drinks are on the house. The party start @7 and lasts until everyone goes home. What’s not to like?

The Red Possum (as I like to call it) is located at 158 Bleecker Street (a sacred place for those of us old to have caught Thelonious Monk on stage there in a different lifetime.)

Link to Post

The Sparkling City

Metropolis composer Jakub Ciupinski introduces an audience to his interactive electronic system using two theremins and a laptop at a private members event on December 11, 2009 at the apartment of Metropolis board member June Wu, with the shimmering holiday lights of the Upper West Side serving as backdrop. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

A Little Wine, A Little Nosh

Members of the Metropolis community enjoy some light hors d'oeuvres at a private members event on December 11, 2009 at the apartment of Metropolis board member June Wu. Sustaining members are treated to six or more parties and exclusive concerts throughout the year. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

Ryan Francis World Premiere: High Line

[caption id=“attachment_458” align=“alignright” width=“250” caption=“The High Line in New York City, the inspiration for Ryan Francis’ new work. ”][/caption]Metropolis composer Ryan Francis was recently selected as the winner of an exciting commission from the American Composers Orchestra and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on the theme of “A Greener New York City.” Francis’ new work “High Line” draws its inspiration from the popular New York City Park, The High Line, as a reflection on “the city’s industrial past and a more environmentally sustainable future.” The work is drawing praise ahead of its world premiere at Carnegie Hall on December 3, 2010 (7:30pm): “triumphant… fresh and vital… innovative and original.” Renaud Dutreil, chair of LVMH shared his compliments to Francis:

“I was immediately moved by the vibrant work that seemed both familiar and revolutionary, much like the feeling one gets when walking on the unique High Line. Francis’ triumphant sound effectively captures the vibrancy and excitement of this great green public space and, when performed, is a celebration of not only the park and the city, but also of Art de Vivre.”

Francis will be featured at the ACO concert

Orchestra Underground

alongside other composers whose works capture “a time and place” including Charles Ives, Jerome Kitzke, Douglas Cuomo, and Christopher Trapani. Listen to Ryan discuss the inspiration behind his new work:

Experience the world premiere of “High Line” this Friday, December 3 at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall.

Tickets and information…

Update:

Ryan Francis and “High Line” is featured today in

The Wall Street Journal

for his debut of “High Line.” Ryan also curated music selections today on Columbia University’s

WKCR FM

“Morning Classical” program.

Preparing a Masterwork

Pianist Timothy Andres rehearses Brahms’ “Op. 25” on a Steinway baby grand in the stunning Salon Simón Bolivar at Americas Society, as he prepares for that evening’s Metropolis concert “I found it by the sea” on April 5, 2010. Photo by Sabrina Asch.

Music from Air

Composer Jakub Ciupinski performs a live set of minimal house loops and electronica beats at le Poisson Rouge on September 16, 2009. Jakub is using a gesture-controlled system of his design that involves two theremins and a laptop. Photo by Sabrina Asch.

2010-11 Season Preview

Metropolis Ensemble is pleased to announce its upcoming 2010-11 season, featuring 12 world premieres and collaborations with (Le) Poisson Rouge, Meet the Composer, MATA Festival, and a new education initiative at The Teak Fellowship. Here is a preview of the upcoming projects:

Brownstone

October 28, 2010 at 224 Washington Avenue in Brooklyn, NY.

An electo-acoustic installation created and composed by Jakub Ciupinski, placing musicians throughout three floors of an historic Brooklyn brownstone. Co-produced by

Friends of Metropolis

and

On Stellar Rays

.

Learn more about the concert…

It takes a long time to become a good composer

December 9-10, 2010 at 111 West 67th Street, 34D in New York, NY

An intimate solo piano recital featuring composer/pianist Timothy Andres performing the world premiere of his own new suite paired with Schumann’s youthful masterpiece,

Kreisleriana

. A collaboration with

Friends of Metropolis

.

Hallucinations

January 27-28, 2011 at (le) Poisson Rouge in New York, NY

A mind-bending concert featuring a world-premiere electro-acoustic

remix

by Ricardo Romaneiro of John Corigliano’s

Three Hallucinations

, from his stunning film score of

Altered States

, paired with new works by Du Yun, Gity Razaz, and Ricardo Romaneiro.

Meet the Composer Festival

April 7, 2011 at Symphony Space in New York, NY

Metropolis Ensemble and

Meet the Composer Foundation

collaborate to present new music by rising star composer Kati Agocs.

MATA Festival

May 12, 2011 at (le) Poisson Rouge in New York, NY

Metropolis Ensemble and

MATA Festival

, the new music festival founded by Philip Glass, collaborate to present new works by Ryan Carter (MATA commission) and the world premiere of

The Oracle Hysterical

, a hip-hopera retelling of The Rake’s Progress by Brad Balliett and Elliot Cole (Metropolis commission).

Renderings

May 18, 2011 at  Angel Orensanz Center in New York, NY

Metropolis Ensemble presents three world premieres inspired by the music of J.S. Bach:

Violin Concerto

by Vivian Fung (Kristin Lee, solo violin),

Cantata

by Ray Lustig, based on fragments of a lost Bach cantata, an electro-acoustic arrangement by Jakub Ciupinski of Bach’s

The Musical Offering

, and a performance by

TENET

, one of New York’s preeminent vocal ensembles.

New Education Initiatives and Partnerships

Metropolis Ensemble is thrilled to collaborate with

The Teak Fellowship

, in a newly created partnership with our innovative education program, Youth Works.  The Teak Fellowship helps talented New York City students from low-income families gain admission to and succeed at top high schools and colleges.

Tickets are now on sale

for Brownstone. Additional details about the upcoming projects will be released over the coming months. We look forward to sharing the full concert experience with you!

The Rest Is Noise: Mozart by Andres

Will Robin

reminds me that the Metropolis Ensemble has uploaded audio of its

May 20th concert

at the Angel Orensanz Center, on the Lower East Side. Of particular interest is

Timothy Andres

’s startling performance / recomposition of Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto. The score is missing most of the left-hand piano part (you can follow along in the

New Mozart Edition

, with the solo beginning on p. 9); Andres, in a fine display of creative bravado, decided to fill in the gaps in his own early twentieth-first-century style. I attended the concert, and, to be honest, I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing at first. All manner of odd things have been done in the cadenzas of classical concertos over the years — Schnittke’s

polystylistic fantasias

, Gilles Apap’s

Gyspy-bluegrass improvisations

— but it is much rarer to hear a performer tampering with the main body of a score. A lot of people will cry sacrilege when they hear this. After recovering from the initial shock, I found Andres’s approach mesmerizing, if not always entirely convincing. And it’s a relief to witness a serious young artist treating a canonical masterpiece with something other than passive reverence. On a deeper level, it’s Mozartian in spirit. I also strongly recommend giving a close listen to Anna Clyne’s

Within Her Arms

.

Kiera Duffy and Sappho

Soprano Kiera Duffy and Metropolis musicians performs “Five Images from Sappho” by composer Esa-Pekka Salonen on April 10, 2008 at The Times Center in New York City. This performance was part of the Metropolis concert “LOOP.” Photo by Vern Kousky.

Live at Angel Orensanz

Artistic Director and Conductor Andrew Cyr explains the new left-handed part for Mozart’s Coronation Concerto at Angel Orensanz Center in New York City on May 20, 2010. Composer and solo pianist Timo Andres was commissioned by Metropolis to reimagine the work, as well as an entirely new solo cadenza. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

Portland Press Herald: Spotlight on Andrew Cyr

Bob Keyes of the Portland Press Herald profiled Metropolis Ensemble and Artistic Director / Conductor Andrew Cyr during preparations for the April 5 concert I found it by the sea. The article explores the origins of Metropolis and how Andrew’s dream from rural Northern Maine became a reality in New York City.

“With boldness and vision, Cyr’s Metropolis Ensemble is accomplishing what larger orchestras around the country can merely dream about: commissioning and performing new music for an eager and enthusiastic audience in non-traditional venues… Perhaps what distinguishes the Metropolis the most, though, is its commitment to new music. Cyr embraces the notion that the future of classical music rests in its young composers.”

Read the full article…

Introducing “Take a Seat”

When you arrive at the Home Stretch concert on May 20, you will be handed your chair and given the opportunity to sit anywhere in the Angel Orensanz Center you like! Why not try a different location after intermission?

Looking for a truly unique perspective? Buy one of our VIP tickets and take a seat on the stage, watch the concert from the balcony, or reserve a table for four with a complimentary bottle of wine. Become a member of Metropolis Ensemble and enjoy discounts on all VIP tickets!

Buy tickets now…

Become a member today…