This article appeared in Broadway World on October 31, 2016. You may access the original article here. Illinois Humanities and ICE partnered for two seasons of OpenICE from 2014-2016.
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) continues its OpenICE program with three consecutive days of open-access programming at the Abrons Arts Center from November 10 to 12. In addition to several educational and outreach events which will serve children and adult clients of the Henry Street Settlement and Abrons Arts Center during the November weekend, OpenICE will present three concerts and two workshop events that are free and open to the public.
OpenICE is an international initiative to develop, engage, and sustain diverse 21st-century listeners through an outpouring of artist-driven programming that is free and open to the public. The program aims to serve constituencies with limited access to the art form, working with students of all ages and backgrounds, forming new partnerships with community leaders and cultural organizations in nontraditional venues, and making ICE’s work available through DigitICE, the ensemble’s online library of contemporary music performances. Launched in 2015, OpenICE will yield more than 160 new, free concerts featuring more than 60 newly commissioned works in its first three seasons.
This season, OpenICE is a regular platform for the performance of works discovered through ICEcommons, ICE’s crowd-sourced reference library of new music. The November 12 evening concert will include two new ICEcommons selections by Camilla Agosto and Monte Weber; at 6pm, preceding the show, ICE will host an informal submission session, inviting composers of all ages and backgrounds to learn more about the archive and how to contribute to it.
OpenICE NYC is anchored at the Abrons Arts Center, the performing arts wing of the Henry Street Settlement, and is made possible through leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Howard Gilman Foundation.
PROGRAM INFORMATION
November OpenICE Weekend – Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002
Free reservations are required for Abrons Underground events, and are available at abronsartscenter.org.
November 10, 2016 – 8pm, Abrons Underground
OpenICE Concert: Strange Attractors, curated by ICE violinist Josh Modney
Georges Aperghis: Rasch for viola and saxophone
Natacha Diels: Strange Attractors for piccolo, percussion and sampler
EVan Johnson: L’art de toucher le clavecin for piccolo, violin and percussion
Andrew Greenwald: A Thing is a Hole in a Thing it is Not for violin solo (WORLD PREMIERE)
Guillaume Dufay: Adieu m’amour, adieu ma joie arranged for voice, viola and cello
Mathias Spahlinger: “Adieu m’amour”, Hommage à Guillaume Dufay for violin and cello
November 11, 2016 – 2pm – 5pm, Abrons Underground
Electronic Instrument Workshop
Members of ICE will be joined by members of the community as ICE sound engineer, percussionist and composer Levy Lorenzo begins his OpenICE commission with a workshop on new instruments and a discussion of possibilities for a new, modular piece.
November 11, 2016 – 6pm, Abrons Underground
Lorenzo Workshop Performance
Preview the work, scheduled to be premiered in its entirety in the spring of 2017, and engage in a Q&A with the artists.
November 12, 2016 – 2pm – 4pm, Abrons Underground
OpenICE Commissionee Workshop: Monte Weber
In the first of two process-based workshops, discover the music of young composer Monte Weber, and witness the launch of a year-long collaborative commissioning project. Weber will play samples of his music, discuss instrumentation possibilities and divulge initial sketches or ideas for the new work, scheduled to be premiered upon completion in 2017.
November 12, 2016 – 6pm, Abrons Main Gallery
ICECommons Demo Session and Pizza Party
ICE will host an informal demonstration of the crowd-sourced archiving platform ICEcommons. The event is open to composers and performers who are interested in presenting their works to each other in a casual atmosphere which fosters new relationships and a greater awareness for the works of underrepresented composers around the world. Composers will have the opportunity to describe their work and create entries on the ICEommons archive. Join us for pizza in the lobby before the evening concert.
November 12, 2016 – 8pm, Abrons Underground
OpenICE Concert: Dancing in the Underworld
Monte Weber: Echo for saxophone, percussion and electronics (ICEcommons selection)
Camila Agosto: Listen to me as one listens to the rain for flute, saxophone and percussion (ICEcommons selection) (US Premiere)
Clara Iannotta: Limun for violin, viola and two page turners (US Premiere)
Katherine Young – Underworld (Dancing) for tuba and Wurlitzer
Matthias Kaul: SUNFISH for voice and percussion (US Premiere)
About the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), described by The New York Times as “one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music,” is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. With a modular makeup of 35 leading instrumentalists, performing in forces ranging from solos to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement.
Since its founding in 2001, ICE has premiered over 500 compositions – the majority of these new works by emerging composers – in venues spanning from alternative spaces to concert halls around the world. The ensemble has received the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award for its contributions to the field, the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming, and was most recently named Musical America Worldwide’s Ensemble of the Year in 2013. From 2008 to 2013 ICE was Ensemble-in-Residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. ICE musicians serve as Artists-in-Residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center, curating and performing chamber music programs that juxtapose new and old music. In 2014 ICE began a partnership with the Illinois Humanities Council, the Hideout in Chicago, and the Abrons Art Center in New York to support the OpenICE initiative.
ICE has released acclaimed albums on the Nonesuch, Kairos, Bridge, Naxos, Tzadik, New Focus, New Amsterdam and Mode labels. Since 2012, conductor and percussion soloist Steven Schick has served as ICE’s Artist-in-Residence. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE. Read more at www.iceorg.org.