PROGRAM:
Jesse Jones – Johnstone Fund Premiere
Susanna Hancock – Johnstone Fund premiere
Aliayta Foon Dancoes – 2nd Story Premiere, Cloud 9 ½
Andrew Burke – 2nd Story Premiere
Touring across Ohio performing Jesse Jones – Quartet for Ye Olde of Tyme, Susanna Hancock, Aliayta Foon Dancoes – Cloud 9 ½, Andrew Burke, Robert McClure – contours snared in warp and weft, Meg Okura – Phantasmagoria, Christian Quiñones – My Eyes Devour the Internet, and Chris Stark’s Fire Ecologies as well as workshopping and recording works by students at Ohio University, Ohio State, and Oberlin.
Unheard-of: “Ohio Premieres”
7:00 pm at the Short North Stage's Green Room
1187 N High St, Columbus, OH 43201
Touring across Ohio performing Jesse Jones – Quartet for Ye Olde of Tyme, Susanna Hancock, Aliayta Foon Dancoes – Cloud 9 ½, Andrew Burke, Robert McClure – contours snared in warp and weft, Meg Okura – Phantasmagoria, Christian Quiñones – My Eyes Devour the Internet, and Chris Stark’s Fire Ecologies as well as workshopping and recording works by students at Ohio University, Ohio State, and Oberlin.
Free admission, no tickets required
Brooklyn-based new music group Unheard-of//Ensemble will be in residency at the Oberlin Conservatory from November 13th through the 14th. A clarinet, violin, cello, and piano quartet specializing in programs that fuse music, multimedia, and interactivity on a number of levels, Unheard-of champions works by contemporary composers, presenting lectures and shows throughout the United States. Their residency will include a workshop and recording sessions of student compositions, a lecture spanning topics from working with composers to integrating technologies into performance, as well as this guest artist recital in Stull Recital Hall that will feature a world premiere by Oberlin composition faculty member Jesse Jones.
Unheard-of teams up with Tribeca New Music to premiere a NYSCA commission from Leila Adu and “best in score” work entwining by Paul Novak
Iva’s duo with saxophonist, guitarist, and composer David Crowell comes to Columbus, Ohio for the first time, performing original works.
Eco|Tonal: “Mythologies”7:00 pm at the Short North Stage's Green Room
1187 N High St, Columbus, OH 43201
PinkNoise will play at The Blanc to close up the Pulsing Sound season
West Coast Premiere
Directed by Peter Sellars
Composed & Conducted by Matthew Aucoin
Texts by Jorie Graham
If you are captivated by the grandeur of orchestral music or the powerful storytelling of opera, Music for New Bodies is an unmissable event. This ambitious work by Matthew Aucoin, with poetry by Jorie Graham and directed by the visionary Peter Sellars, features the American Modern Opera Company creating a dramatic musical experience in the tradition of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.
A “song of the earth” for the present day, Music for New Bodies confronts the most pressing questions of our era: What is the future of humanity? How have we altered our planet? And, in an age dominated by disembodied AI, how can we reclaim the value of a life lived in a mortal, embodied human form? With its stirring symphonic intensity and thought-provoking lyrics, this piece offers a deep and urgent meditation on the challenges we face as a species.
Date: September 27th, 2025, 6:30PM Music, 6PM Canoe Launch
Location: Gowanus Dredgers Bunker, 2 19th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Join Unheard-of Ensemble, the Dredgers, and Christopher Stark for our Fire Ecologies album release party. The ensemble performs the entire album live followed by an afterparty featuring food and drink from some of our favorite Brooklyn breweries and distilleries.
Fire Ecologies is an album length Chamber Music America commission from Rome Prize-winning composer Christopher Stark, exploring America's changing landscapes in the face of climate change. The work incorporates field recordings of the 2020 California wildfires and sounds from Chris's travel across Montana, Oregon, and California as well as parts of Colorado as well as explorations of nature from America’s heartland surrounding Missouri. The album will be released on New Focus Recordings and available in-person at the show.
Location: Martel Recital Hall
Presented by members of the music department faculty.
Unheard-of//Ensemble is hosting the Collaborative Composition Initiative workshop (CCI//Sessions) in San Antonio, Texas between August 8th and 16th, 2025. This CCI, we will be presenting concerts, installations, and creative workshops across the city, from the San Antonio Missions and Confluence Park to coffee shops and community spaces. This year marks a special partnership with German chamber ensemble PART. Both ensembles will workshop new compositions with participants to be recorded using Unheard-of’s cinema cameras and audio setup. After the workshop, Unheard-of and participants will work together to develop an album recording. Participants and the ensembles will collaborate in the development of a performance installation using sound samples and field recordings taken during the week in San Antonio.
American Modern Opera Company (AMOC)
Matthew Aucoin, conductor
Staged by Peter Sellars
Meryl Dominguez, soprano
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano
Paul Appleby, tenor
Matthew AUCOIN Music for New Bodies
(Libretto based on poetry by Jorie Graham, selected by Matthew Aucoin and Peter Sellars)
Matthew Aucoin’s Music for New Bodies (2024) is an uncategorizable work of music-theater: part opera, part song cycle, part vocal symphony. Based on poetry by Jorie Graham, the piece is a portrait of our moment in history as seen through the eyes of a cancer patient undergoing a drastic medical procedure. As the patient experiences the transformation of her own body, she meditates on questions that range from the personal to the cosmic: in a time when life is more and more virtual, what does it mean to have a body? And above all, after our species has poisoned the planet with uncountable toxins, can we still listen to what the earth has to tell us?
System Architecture: Quiñones and Van Zandt Lane
Date: August 1st, 2025, 8PM Music, 7:30PM Boat Launch
System Architecture features the premiere of Eyecandy, a multimedia song-cycle by Christian Quiñones for chamber ensemble and virtual singer (Vocaloid Synthesizer), exploring themes of virtual excess, internet fatigue, and digital humor, drawing from personal experiences with mental health and the online world. Christian Quiñones is a Puerto Rican composer who explores personal and vulnerable stories through the lens of cultural identity. From sampling to auto-tune, interactive multimedia, Christian is interested in interacting with existing music to create intertextual narratives.
We also feature a premiere by Peter Van Zandt Lane for ensemble, electronics, and video triangulating ecological changes and sea level rise. This event takes place at Anable Basin in collaboration with Long Island City Community Boathouse and the Dredgers.
18/7/2025 at 21:00
Trg sv. Ivana/St. John’s square
ENSEMBLE ILLYRICA
MATIEGKA, PIAZZOLLA, VILLA LOBOS, JANJANIN, BAUMAN, CASIAN-LAKOS, TADIĆ
TICKETS
10 euro
RESERVATION
lovran.classic@gmail.com
In case of bad weather the concerts will take place at the Laurus Art Gallery
Free improvisation with Ensemble Illyrica (Nika Bauman-flute, Marko Ferlan-guitar, and Iva Casian-Lakos-cello/voice)
Music for New Bodies
Member Presale: May 8, 2025 – 12pm EDT
Tickets On Sale: May 15, 2025 – 12pm EDT
All tickets are Choose-What-You-Pay.
A New York premiere and first collaboration between AMOC* Co-Founder Matthew Aucoin and director Peter Sellars, this major new work is a “vocal symphony” with music by Aucoin, directed by Sellars, and a libretto based on poems by Jorie Graham, collaboratively assembled by Aucoin and Sellars.
Music for New Bodies is brought to life by five vocalists and an 18-instrument ensemble conducted by Aucoin. Music for New Bodies is inspired by the visionary poetry of Jorie Graham, addressing some of the most urgent questions of our time: In our quest for immortality, what have human beings done to the planet, and what are we doing to ourselves? Music for New Bodies is a portrait of the moment we are living in, a piece that brings together questions of environmental responsibility, scientific progress, and the ethics of humanity’s questionable quest to surpass the human.
The staged version of Music for New Bodies premieres at Lincoln Center as part of Summer for the City’s Run AMOC* Festival, following orchestral performances with DACAMERA/Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and Aspen Music Festival and School. It was developed through an Artistic Innovators Residency at Brown Arts Institute in Fall 2024.
Music for New Bodies
Member Presale: May 8, 2025 – 12pm EDT
Tickets On Sale: May 15, 2025 – 12pm EDT
All tickets are Choose-What-You-Pay.
A New York premiere and first collaboration between AMOC* Co-Founder Matthew Aucoin and director Peter Sellars, this major new work is a “vocal symphony” with music by Aucoin, directed by Sellars, and a libretto based on poems by Jorie Graham, collaboratively assembled by Aucoin and Sellars.
Music for New Bodies is brought to life by five vocalists and an 18-instrument ensemble conducted by Aucoin. Music for New Bodies is inspired by the visionary poetry of Jorie Graham, addressing some of the most urgent questions of our time: In our quest for immortality, what have human beings done to the planet, and what are we doing to ourselves? Music for New Bodies is a portrait of the moment we are living in, a piece that brings together questions of environmental responsibility, scientific progress, and the ethics of humanity’s questionable quest to surpass the human.
The staged version of Music for New Bodies premieres at Lincoln Center as part of Summer for the City’s Run AMOC* Festival, following orchestral performances with DACAMERA/Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and Aspen Music Festival and School. It was developed through an Artistic Innovators Residency at Brown Arts Institute in Fall 2024.
Travelogue: 2nd Street Sound Paddle
Date: Sunday, June 29th, 2025, 12PM-6PM Open Paddle (Pop-up performance at 6PM)
Location: Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Unheard-of and music technologist Brian Ellis team up for the second iteration of our sound paddle, this time exploring the upper Gowanus from 2nd street to flushing tunnel. Hear sights, sounds, and stories from the Gowanus at your own pace via headphones or bluetooth speaker during any open paddle. As part of the opening day, members of the ensemble and the Dredgers will be able to guide you as you embark on your journey. There will be mini pop-ups throughout the day and a short live performance at 6PM in the boathouse with drinks to celebrate the opening!
The Composers Institute at Lake George Music Festival brings together some of the most promising young composers from across the country for a week of study and creative exchange. Under the mentorship of composer and Institute Director Alyssa Weinberg, students will attend a variety of seminars, masterclasses and private lessons, while being able to participate in the vibrant musical and social life of the Lake George Music Festival. Each selected composer will be asked to write a new work for string quartet, to be workshopped, performed and recorded by our ensemble-in-residence The Rhythm Method.
More information here
JUN 5—JUN 8, 2025
Zemlinskys Zimmer
Zemlinsky's Room
LOTNY
Experience the Italian Renaissance through the filter of fin-de-siècle Vienna! The little OPERA theatre of ny comes to BAM with the story of a love triangle and a murder.
Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky's Roomis a chamber opera in three parts, with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy, based on a play by Oscar Wilde. German translation by Max Meyerfeld, with poems by Richard Dehmel and Ferdinand Gregorovius. New chamber orchestrations by Roland Freisitzer.
JUN 5—JUN 8, 2025
Zemlinskys Zimmer
Zemlinsky's Room
LOTNY
Experience the Italian Renaissance through the filter of fin-de-siècle Vienna! The little OPERA theatre of ny comes to BAM with the story of a love triangle and a murder.
Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky's Roomis a chamber opera in three parts, with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy, based on a play by Oscar Wilde. German translation by Max Meyerfeld, with poems by Richard Dehmel and Ferdinand Gregorovius. New chamber orchestrations by Roland Freisitzer.
JUN 5—JUN 8, 2025
Zemlinskys Zimmer
Zemlinsky's Room
LOTNY
Experience the Italian Renaissance through the filter of fin-de-siècle Vienna! The little OPERA theatre of ny comes to BAM with the story of a love triangle and a murder.
Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky's Roomis a chamber opera in three parts, with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy, based on a play by Oscar Wilde. German translation by Max Meyerfeld, with poems by Richard Dehmel and Ferdinand Gregorovius. New chamber orchestrations by Roland Freisitzer.
JUN 5—JUN 8, 2025
Zemlinskys Zimmer
Zemlinsky's Room
LOTNY
Experience the Italian Renaissance through the filter of fin-de-siècle Vienna! The little OPERA theatre of ny comes to BAM with the story of a love triangle and a murder.
Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky's Roomis a chamber opera in three parts, with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy, based on a play by Oscar Wilde. German translation by Max Meyerfeld, with poems by Richard Dehmel and Ferdinand Gregorovius. New chamber orchestrations by Roland Freisitzer.
Summoning You: Featuring Leila Adu
Opening: Jessica Ackerley
Date: May 24th, 2025, 8PM Music, 7:30PM Canoe Launch
Location: Gowanus Dredgers Bunker, 2 19th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Electropop, avant-classical singer-songwriter Leila Adu joins Unheard-of to kick off the 2025 Cultural Ecologies season with new and recent arrangements of her music including her Freedom Suite and music from her latest album Moonstone & Tar Sands. Compared to Nina Simone and Joanna Newsome by WNYC, Adu has released five acclaimed albums, and has given visionary solo BBC and WQXR performances.
Hawai’i-based jazz guitarist, composer, and improvisor Jessica Ackerley opens the performance with a set of her original work. Ackerley will be performing selections from their most recent record, "All Of the Colours are Singing" and new music inspired by a summer 2024 residency in Svalbard, Norway. Their music has been featured and reviewed in Pitchfork, Wire Magazine, BBC Radio, Whole Note, MusicWorks Magazine, New York City Jazz Record, and BandCamp’s monthly “Best of” lists.
Two dancers and five musicians lead the audience in various constellations to and through the Great Hall of the Austrian National Library. In their performance, they bring to life the ancient knowledge preserved in the library's books and connect it with new ideas and visions.
Featured artist Cornelia Voglmayr stages the ensemble Synesthetic Project in one of the city's most fascinating locations – a walk-in concert that brings together modern virtues such as trust, compassion, and the relationship between humanity and nature. Justice joins the final virtue: with a view of the whole, which seeks to harmoniously unite the artistic spaces opened up in the performance.
An evening full of overwhelming artistic impressions in the spirit of respect and empathy.
A Jeunesse production
Two dancers and five musicians lead the audience in various constellations to and through the Great Hall of the Austrian National Library. In their performance, they bring to life the ancient knowledge preserved in the library's books and connect it with new ideas and visions.
Featured artist Cornelia Voglmayr stages the ensemble Synesthetic Project in one of the city's most fascinating locations – a walk-in concert that brings together modern virtues such as trust, compassion, and the relationship between humanity and nature. Justice joins the final virtue: with a view of the whole, which seeks to harmoniously unite the artistic spaces opened up in the performance.
An evening full of overwhelming artistic impressions in the spirit of respect and empathy.
A Jeunesse production
Join Unheard-of for our next Dialogues Concert on April 27th, 7PM at Opera America's Rehearsal Hall, 330 7th Ave 7th Floor. We perform music by Leah Reid, Seare Ahmad Farhat, Nicolas Chuaqui, Meg Okura, and Peter Kramer. In this Dialogues show, we pair two 30x30x30 collaborations from our partnership with Soli, Cloud Burst by Leah Reid and Seare Ahmad Farhat's Muzzahaimat. The two works explore shape and gestural memory with fracturing, cascading effect. We also premiere Turba by Peter Kramer and a new work for clarinet and electronics by Nicolas Chuaqui. Also featured is an honorable mention work from our 2nd Story Initaitive, Meg Okura's Phantasmagoria.
MASTERCLASS FOR COMPOSERS 2025
Music Biennale Zagreb presents a new edition of its masterclass for composers. The goal is to enable participants to enhance their creative understanding and refine their compositional skills through individual work with distinguished composers and open rehearsals with the festival ensemble.
The new edition of the MBZ Masterclass will take place from April 6 to 10, 2025, in Zagreb, Croatia. The mentor-composers will be some of the most productive and original composers of the 21st century: Liza Lim (Australia), Pierre Jodlowski (France/Poland), Mauro Lanza (Italy/Germany), and George Lewis (USA).
The resident ensemble will be the PinkNoise Ensemble from New York.
April 3, 2025 8:00pm
Kultbau, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Jessie Cox - Black as a Hack for Cyborgification
Victoria Cheah - Regarding those objects of study
Corie Rose Soumah - States of Intermeshing IV-VI
Simon Kanzler - Stereo for violin and electronics
Hannah Kendall - Processional for solo piano
Ukrainian Tone Poems
Performers include: PinkNoise, Ukrainian Music Initiative
Leonid HRABOVSKY (1935–), Bucolic Strophes for organ (1975)**
Inspired by “The Eve of Ivan Kupala” by Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol
Adrian MOCANU (1989–), Les chevaux de feu (2022)**
Inspired by Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
Alla ZAHAYKEVYCH (1966–), TERCET for clarinet, violin, and cello (2010)**
Inspired by Taras Prokhasko’s Necropolis
Alex VOYTENKO (1981–): Homo Fugens (Running Man) (2018)*
After the novel by Stephen King
Renata SOKACHYK (1991–), The Desert Breathes (2024)**
Inspired by Lesia Ukrainka
Alisa ZAIKA (2001–). “he only dreamed of places now…” (2022)**
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man And The Sea
Lena SIEROVA (1981–), The Last Leaf (2010-11)**
After the short story by O. Henry
Yurii PIKUSH (1998–), Be a Cycle (2023)**
Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land
*world premiere
**U.S. premiere
TICKET RESERVATIONS TBA
Join Unheard-of at Greenwich House Music School’s recital hall for a collaboration with the Association for the Promotion of New Music as we perform premieres and recent works from APNM’s call for scores to their membership.
PinkNoise//for PinkNoise
Tobias Fandel - burnishing*
Itzá García - términos*
Victoria Cheah - Regarding those objects of study**
Corie Rose Soumah - States of Intermeshing IV-VI**
*US premiere
**World premiere
free admission
Join us for the opening BQE of our 2025 season on Thursday, 2/27, featuring the multifaceted cellist Iva Casián-Lakoš! Our joint set will also include cellist Najette Swain on a lower strings sextet by Jonathan Bingham, commissioned by Ballet Collective that we premiered in Fall 2024.
Venue: Cutelab, Brooklyn. (RSVP for address)
Doors at 7:30pm, Music at 8:00pm
Tickets: $15 on eventbrite, $18 at door
TICKET RESERVATIONS TBA
Unheard-of visits University of Miami’s Frost School of Music to perform new premieres by the composition studio, supported by the Society of Composers chapter at UofM.
