ACME
ACME in World Premiere of Selections from William Brittelle's Future Shock
August 03, 2010
Part of Brittelle’s Television Landscape
Album Release Concert
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 7:30pm (doors 6:30)
(Le) Poisson Rouge | 158 Bleecker Street, NYC
Tickets: $12 in advance; $15 day-of at 212.505.FISH or www.lprnyc.com
New York, NY – On Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 7:30pm (doors 6:30), the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) will give the world premiere of excerpts from composer William Brittelle’s Future Shock, a new electroacoustic work for chamber ensemble, at (Le) Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, NYC). The premiere will be part of Brittelle’s album release concert for Television Landscape, available from New Amsterdam Records on July 27. In addition to Future Shock, Brittelle and his eight-member ensemble will perform selections from Television Landscape, including a never-heard-before extended version of the song “Pegasus in Alcatraz.”
Future Shock juxtaposes the energy and sonic language of pop drum and synth programming with classical forms and instrumentation, resulting in propulsive and visceral music. Each work in the Future Shock project was composed by Brittelle to highlight ACME's renowned rhythmic precision and crystalline tone against a backdrop of his programmed electro landscapes. Future Shock selections to be performed include Future Shock I for viola featuring Nadia Sirota (premiered on New Amsterdam’s Archipelago series last fall), the multi-movement Future Shock II for string quartet (world premiere), and Soft Animal for harp, flute, viola and Caleb Burhans on banjo and vocals (world premiere). The project melds Brittelle's past large-scale art pop projects Mohair Time Warp and Television Landscape with his background in traditional classical composition. More works, including Future Shock III for solo cello, will be added over the next two years, and the complete project will be recorded for release on New Amsterdam Records in 2012.
ACME players for August 3 include Clarice Jensen, artistic director and cello; Caleb Burhans, violin, banjo, and voice; Rob Moose, violin; Nadia Sirota, viola; Kelli Kathman, flute; and Megan Levin, harp.
About Television Landscape: Brittelle’s Television Landscape is a classically-trained composer's ambition to meld his uniquely extensive experience with classical, jazz, and rock music into one genre-bending work. Influences vary from Prince's Purple Rain, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and Radiohead's OK Computer, to the orchestral works of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy and the extended harmonies of Charles Mingus. The album is fully notated – including ornate string arrangements, epic guitar solos by Mark Dancigers, and jazz horn sections. For more information, visit www.newamsterdamrecords.com/#William_Brittelle.
About ACME: ACME is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily the work of American composers. Founded in 2004, the ensemble aims to present cutting-edge contemporary literature by living composers alongside the “classics” of the contemporary. A regular guest of (le) Poisson Rouge and the Wordless Music Series, ACME has also performed in New York at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Tenri Cultural Institute, the Noguchi Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the Flea Theater, Galapagos Art Space, and Columbia University's Miller Theatre, among others.
ACME does not subscribe to one stylistic movement; its concerts present all genres of contemporary music in the same light and with the same conviction. Time Out New York reports, “[Artistic Director Clarice] Jensen has earned a sterling reputation for her fresh, inclusive mix of minimalists, maximalists, eclectics and newcomers.” ACME’s dedication to presenting new music extends across genres – the ensemble has collaborated with bands and artists including Grizzly Bear (in concert and on their best-selling album, Veckatimest, featuring strings by Nico Muhly); electronica duo Matmos (on The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, with strings by Jefferson Friedman); Craig Wedren (former frontman of the avant-rock band Shudder To Think); prepared-pianist Hauschka; composers/performers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, and Dustin O'Halloran, and Micachu & The Shapes.
In addition to a January tour with chart-topping pianist Simone Dinnerstein, 2010 concert highlights include a performance of Gorecki’s String Quartet No. 2 opening for Polish electroacoustic musician Jacaszek in February; a concert of music by John Luther Adams and Kevin Volans in March; the music of Louis Andriessen in April, all at (le) Poisson Rouge; and a performance as part of New Amsterdam Records’ Archipelago series at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space in May. Other recent highlights include ACME’s Carnegie Hall debut performing the world premiere of Timothy Andres’ Senior with the New York Youth Symphony in Stern Auditorium; opening the TriBeCa New Music Festival at the Flea Theater; and a month-long residency at the Whitney Museum presented by the Wordless Music Series, for which ACME tailored a contemporary classical program to complement the indie-rock or electronica performer sharing the concert. For more information, please visit www.acmemusic.org.
About William Brittelle: William Brittelle was raised in the 1980’s in small town North Carolina by his mother, a painter, and his father, a former pro athlete. He has spent the majority of his artistic life attempting to bridge the gap between pop music and New York’s revitalized downtown classical scene. His primary mentors include Mike Longo, longtime pianist/arranger for Dizzy Gillespie, and Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Del Tredici. In 2003, his piece Seven Songs of Zen, Love, and Longing was released on Peacock Records by Anti-Social Music. With his rock band The Blondes, he performed on stages like Irving Plaza on bills with members of The Ramones, Pere Ubu, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Secret Machines. The Blondes' debut album, produced by legendary punk guitar god Richard Lloyd (Television), was noted a number of top-ten lists and received mainstream and indie radio play. In 2004, Brittelle suffered a career ending vocal injury while performing at NYC's Knitting Factory, forcing The Blondes to disband and leading Brittelle to start lip-synching his vocal parts. In 2006, Brittelle received an emerging composer grant from the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation for the creation of Mohair Time Warp, a full-length art-music concept album featuring live musicians, and lip-synched vocals. Brittelle has since been featured on All Things Considered, in Time Out New York, on WNYC's Soundcheck (CD pick of the month) and New Sounds, in Seattle's Icebreaker Festival curated by Alex Ross and Kyle Gann, the Festival Internacional in Chihuahua, Mexico, Pittsburgh's Music on the Edge series, and New Music New College in Sarasota, Florida. In addition to his composing and performing schedule, Brittelle is co-director of New Amsterdam Records.
