The Groanbox Boys released their new album Gran Bwa at Metropolis Ensemble’s concert, Groanbox at Le Poisson Rouge.
Composer David Bruce shares insights about his new work, Groanbox, featuring Michael Ward-Bergeman on accordion.
We’re pleased to share a new documentary video about Metropolis Ensemble’s world premiere of The Rite Remixed.
Metropolis Ensemble welcomes its 2008-09 Youth Works composer, Ray Lustig. Over the next year, Ray will work with elementary students at PS11 in Manhattan to teach them about composition and music appreciation… which culminates in a concert featuring the students’ work. Ray is a doctoral student at Julliard; his orchestral composition Unstuck won last year’s prestigious Rudolf Nissim Prize from the ASCAP Foundation. Here are a few samples of his recent work:
Youth Works is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the van Otterloo Foundation.
Eliot Van Buskirk mentions The Rite: Remixed on the Wired.com Listening Post blog. Read the article…
Metropolis Ensemble’s The Rite: Remixed helps to celebrate the opening of (Le) Poisson Rouge. Read the article…
WNYC host David Garland discusses the wild re-imagining of Stravinski’s The Rite of Spring with composer Ricardo Romaneiro and music director Andrew Cyr. Read the article…
Metropolis Ensemble and Deerhoof perform a concert from the Wordless Music Series, recorded live by WNYC at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. The concert and interview are hosted by David Garland. Listen to the broadcast…
Hear the Metropolis Ensemble and Deerhoof perform a concert from the Wordless Music Series, recorded live by WNYC at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. Listen on NPR.org starting at 7:30pm EST. An hourlong special about the Wordless Music Series begins at 6:30pm. Tonight’s webcast is produced by WNYC and hosted by David Garland.
Wordless Music Series pairs Metropolis Ensemble led by Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr and indie sensation Deerhoof for a night of music under the stars. Experience The Rite: Remixed and Two-Part Belief with an expected audience of 10,000 at Celebrate Brooklyn. Featuring soprano Hila Plitmann.
Join us in Prospect Park - either in person or online - for a night of music under the stars!
WNYC host John Schaefer discusses The Rite: Remixed with artistic director Andrew Cyr composer Ricardo Romaneiro. Listen to the interview…
Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr and Composer Ricardo Romaneiro will be on WNYC Soundcheck at 2pm EST today to discuss their new composition, The Rite: Remixed and share the secrets of setting Stravinsky’s most famous work to keyboards, laptops, brass and drums. Three ways to listen…
Tune into WNYC FM 93.9 Radio
Listen on iTunes
Click on Radio (top left)
Open the “Public” category
Click on WNYC-FM
Listen Online. Click on the “listen live” box on this page.
UPDATE:
You can now listen to the broadcast
or as a
.
Julie Bloom writes about Metropolis Ensemble’s The Rite: Remixed concert in Prospect Park. Read the article…
Zach Baron writes about Metropolis Ensemble’s The Rite: Remixed and the Celebrate Brooklyn concert with Deerhoof. Read the article…
Composer Avner Dorman talks about his forthcoming studio album with Metropolis Ensemble performing his complete chamber orchestra concerti. Listen to the interview…
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers recently featured
in the ASCAP Audio Portraits series. The interview includes excerpts from the forthcoming studio album with Metropolis Ensemble performing the complete chamber orchestra concerti of Avner Dorman (from our Fall 2007 concert,
). The new album, produced by Grammy-winning
, will be released this fall.
Metropolis Ensemble is pleased to offer a free download of Sports et Divertissements, recorded live at The Times Center in New York City on April 10, 2008. Erik Satie’s twenty-one brilliant thumbnail sketches are presented in a delightful arrangement for chamber orchestra by David Bruce, and featuring our resident funny-man Mike Daisey.
(right-click to download the mp3, ctrl-click on a mac)
David and Mike had the opportunity to sit down and discuss Satie’s work ahead of last month’s concert. The conversation – ranging from challenges of composing and updating this work, to the serious (and not so serious) business of comedy – is available in the
. Be sure to also watch the
Tennis
excerpt and see conductor Andrew Cyr serve up a surprise finale.
And because there should never be lack of razor-sharp wit, Mike Daisey invites you to his latest performance:
, running through June 22 at the Barrow Street Theatre. Dark, honest and hilarious, Daisey seeks answers to essential and dangerous questions about the art we’re making, the legacy we leave to the future, and who it is we believe we’re speaking to. An
is available for Metropolis Ensemble members and fans!
Sports et Divertissements is commissioned for chamber orchestra by Metropolis Ensemble. Special thanks to audio engineer Ryan Streber, videographer Tim Bakland, and video editor Dan Hayek.
Metropolis Ensemble and Piano Concerto by Ryan Francis are featured in this daily email newsletter, hailing the orchestra as “the hippest classical gang in the city.” Read the article…
Metropolis Ensemble and composer Ryan Francis are delighted to offer the complete live recording of Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra during its world premiere performance at The Times Center in New York City on April 10, 2008. You can download it here, absolutely free.
Ryan Francis: Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra:
(right-click to download the mp3s, ctrl-click on a mac)
You can also watch the entire
Concerto
, featuring pianist Anna Polonsky and the Metropolis Ensemble led by Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr on the
, along with an extensive archive of performances and behind-the-scenes footage.
Looking for more of Ryan Francis? Check out his
, and get ready for this summer’s world premiere of
. Ricardo Romaneiro joins forces with Ryan Francis and Leo Leite to re-conceptualize the most revolutionary work of the 20th Century, Igor Stravinsky’s
The Rite of Spring
, through the lens of the latest sounds and technology from electronica! Three opportunities to experience the revolution (July 16-18)!
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra is co-commission from the Metropolis Ensemble and the
with funds provided by the
. Metropolis Ensemble’s
and
programs are generously funded by the van Otterloo Foundation. Special thanks to audio engineer Ryan Streber, videographer Tim Bakland, and photographer Vern Kousky.
Metropolis Ensemble will be opening for Deerhoof in Prospect Park on July 18, 2008, as part of the
and
.
Metropolis Ensemble led by Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr and Wordless Music co-commissions
The Rite: Remixed
, a collaboration between three composers and live electronics producers, explodes the boundaries of live electro-classical music. Ryan Francis, Leo Leite, and Ricardo Romaneiro re-conceptualize the most revolutionary work of the 20th Century, Igor Stravinsky’s
The Rite of Spring
, through the lens of the latest sounds and technology from electronica. Combined with acoustic forces consisting of huge percussion and brass ensembles, 2 keyboards / 2 laptops, and electric bass, the remixed version will fuse a futuristic, rhythm-inspired sonic tableaux with a hyper-kinetic visual show.
The Metropolis Ensemble and
The Rite: Remixed
appears as part of the
, which puts popular and classical artists together to tear down boundaries between performers and audiences of each. “At the moment, there is no more inventive music series in New York” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker).
The mercurial SF experimentalists
, “the most creative band in indie rock today,” (LA Weekly) forge a distinctive sound out of sophisticated improvisation, fierce dissonance, and weirdly catchy melodies.
World-renowned soprano and leading new music muse Dawn Upshaw, and
have invited Metropolis Ensemble to perform the newly arranged
Three Pieces from Piosenki
by composer
at a gala dinner held in Upshaw’s honor at the Manhattan Penthouse in New York City on May 28, 2008. The annual event organized by Meet the Composer honors a prominent American artist. The benefit committee includes Esa-Pekka Salonen, James Levine, Robert Spano, Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, among others.
Upshaw was involved in the original Carnegie Hall commission of
Piosenki
, and has recently been championing Bruce’s music, commissioning an opera from him for her students on the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College, NY and scheduling performances of
Piosenki
herself in the fall. Other pieces selected for the event are by John Harbison and Tania Leon, both of whom will be in attendance.
During the second semester of Youth Works, Metropolis Ensemble’s 40-week education program teaching music composition and creativity to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at PS 11 School, Cristina Spinei has been concentrating our weekly lessons on rhythm. After learning about different rhythms and making our own percussion instruments, she thought it would be fun for the class to have a recording session.
Students performed rhythms that they composed and notated on instruments which they built themselves the week before. They constructed drums, shakers, and mallets out of everyday objects to better understand the various performance possibilities with percussion. One student even turned an ordinary drum into a maraca and added rubber bands to make it a “guitar.” Everyone loved hearing their own music and performance on CD. At the end of the percussion solos, you will hear excerpts of The Sound Recyclers performing at their first “recording session.”
Stay tuned for news about our year-end concert project this June at Youth Works, where Cristina will create an arrangement of the students’ compositions to be premiered in a concert by the Metropolis Ensemble and offered to the entire PS 11 school community.
The Metropolis Ensemble would like to thank the van Otterloo Foundation for generously supporting our education initiatives, Youth Works and Wet Ink.