Performances
& Events

American Composers Orchestra seeks to identify and celebrate emerging American composers through its EarShot program. Drawing from a national network of advisors and advocates, EarShot works with orchestras around the country to identify and support promising composers in the early stages of their careers. Orchestras have relied on EarShot to identify and connect with composers consistent with their artistic vision, and to advise the orchestra on commissions, competitions, and program design. Managed by the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), EarShot is a partnership between the ACO, League of American Orchestras, American Composers Forum, and New Music USA. Over the past 10 years EarShot has initiated dozens of composer/orchestra/conductor relationships across the country offering opportunities to more than 100 composers. In 2016, ACO launched a composer archive of past EarShot compositions now in the orchestral repertoire. This year, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra participant composers will work closely with mentor composers Robert Beaser, Chen Yi, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, as well as conductor Bradley Thachuk.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra invites you to the EarShot New Music Reading, Wednesday, May 10, 1:30-3:45pm in Symphony Hall.EarShot is the nation’s first ongoing, systematic program for creating relationships between orchestras and composers. Through EarShot New Music Readings at home in NYC and in partnership with orchestras nationwide, the American Composers Orchestra discovers and develops artists whose work expands the definition of American orchestral music.Join us for the final listening and recording session, featuring our selected composers and their mentors. The program will include an onstage discussion and Q&A.

Artis—Naples is pleased to announce its participation in the American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot Readings this spring. The Naples Philharmonic joins American Composers Orchestra, the Atlanta and Dallas symphony orchestras, and The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, among this season’s participating ensembles, with reading sessions at Artis—Naples taking place on May 15 and 16, 2023. Tickets are free, but required, for the EarShot Reading on May 16 at 7pm, and available for reservation now. EarShot is the first ongoing, systematic program for developing relationships between composers and orchestras on the national level. Through orchestral readings, CoLABoratory fellowships, consortium commissions and professional development, EarShot ensures a vibrant musical future by investing in creativity today. EarShot Readings include a series of readings of composer’s works, feedback sessions and work with mentor composers. Composers also receive a recording of their work. Feedback sessions with principal players and artistic leaders provide crucial artistic, technical and conceptual assistance. Created by the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), these sessions are operated in partnership with the American Composers Forum, New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras, providing composers with professional working experiences with orchestras from every region of the country. Each season, ACO plans one EarShot Reading in New York City with its own musicians and multiple readings around the country. Three young female composers will have their works workshopped and performed at Artis— Naples by the Naples Philharmonic, led by Associate Conductor Radu Paponiu, in May: Mengmeng Wang, whose works have been performed around the world, served as composer-in-residence at Atlantic Center of the Arts in 2018. She has also worked with the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente and International Contemporary Ensemble. Her EarShot Reading composition is entitled Onomatopoeia – The Architecture of Sound. Jing Jing Luo is a multifaceted artist whose works span various genres, from classical and film to pop and sound installations. She was a visiting professor in music composition at Oberlin Conservatory and has served on the panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music of America and Ohio Arts Council, as well as taught and lectured throughout the United States and around the world. Her EarShot Reading composition is entitled Hakka. Meilina Tsui writes music that uniquely combines elements of Central and East Asian cultures, and her work has been performed and read across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East by leading soloists, ensembles and orchestras, garnering many accolades, including the 2022 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. Her EarShot Reading composition is entitled Scenes at the Uralsk Fair from Nomadic Trails for Orchestra. The mentors for this reading session with the Naples Philharmonic will be Molly Joyce, a composer and performer whose work focuses on disability as a creative source, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and ACO board member Melinda Wagner. Following the reading session in May, Artis—Naples will commission a new work from one of the three EarShot Readings composers for the Naples Philharmonic to give the world premiere in a subsequent season. This EarShot Readings program at Artis—Naples is made possible by the van Bergen Women Composers Fund, which was a special fund initiated by the Artis—Naples Board of Directors in celebration of CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen’s 10-year anniversary at the organization in September 2021.

American Composers Orchestra holds its 31st EarShot Readings (formerly Underwood New Music Readings) in June 2023 in New York City, conducted by Tito Muñoz.In this initial reading session, hear the works of today’s emerging composers in an open rehearsal with American Composers Orchestra members and artistic staff. Audiences get an immersive view into what happens when an ensemble sits down to read a new work for the first time. Featured artists, venue and more details will be announced in early 2023. The rehearsal is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Capacity is limited.EarShot is a program of the American Composers Orchestra, in partnership with the League of American Orchestras, American Composers Forum, and New Music USA. Over the past 10 years the program has initiated dozens of composer/orchestra/conductor relationships across the country offering opportunities to more than 100 composers. In 2016, ACO launched a composer archive of past EarShot compositions as a resource to the field. Orchestras across the country and around the world rely on EarShot to identify and connect with creative artists, as well as to advise on commissions, competitions, and program design.

American Composers Orchestra holds its 31st EarShot Readings (formerly Underwood New Music Readings) in June 2023 in New York City, conducted by Tito Muñoz. Audiences are invited to experience the full read through of works by six composers. One composer will be selected to receive a $15,000 commission for a new work to be performed by ACO in a future season.EarShot is a program of the American Composers Orchestra, in partnership with the League of American Orchestras, American Composers Forum, and New Music USA. Over the past 10 years the program has initiated dozens of composer/orchestra/conductor relationships across the country offering opportunities to more than 100 composers. In 2016, ACO launched a composer archive of past EarShot compositions as a resource to the field. Orchestras across the country and around the world rely on EarShot to identify and connect with creative artists, as well as to advise on commissions, competitions, and program design.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra hosts EarShot Readings on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 with four featured composers: Moni (Jasmine) Guo, Diallo Banks, Ricardo Ferro, and Iván Enrique Rodríguez. The composers will work throughout the day with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra musicians and Maurice Cohn, Assistant Conductor of DSO, and receive feedback from mentor composers Quinn Mason, a 27-year old Dallas-based composer and conductor; “expert in orchestration” (The New York Times), Jimmy López Bellido; and Xi Wang, recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. At 2:00 that afternoon, the DSO, and Maurice Cohn, Assistant Conductor of DSO, perform all four works at Meyerson Symphony Hall, after which a recording will be provided to the participants.

Audiences are invited to observe a collaborative session with orchestra, composers, and choreographers/dancers.The Next Festival’s 2023 Choreographer, Composer and Performance Fellows premiere new music and dance works, intermingling the world premiere of ACO EarShot compositions with a works-in-progress dance showing. This is the culmination of a week-long workshop, consisting of rehearsals, collaboration and spontaneous creation. ACO’s EarShot is the nation’s first ongoing program for creating relationships between orchestras and composers, in partnership with American Composers Forum, League of American Orchestras and New Music USA. Composer Mentors, the Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis and “strikingly original” (The New York Times) Kamala Sankaram, along with Festival A.D. Peter Askim, will guide ACO’s Earshot Composer Fellows Michael R. Dudley Jr., Emil Ernström, and Akari Komura in the creation of new music. These new pieces will be played by the Festival’s String Performance Fellows. Choreography Mentor Sidra Bell will lead Choreographer Fellows Flora Ferguson, Jay Beardsley, and Ameeya Singh in the development of new dance work, in collaboration with EarShot Composer Fellows and String Performance Fellows.

Whitney Live and the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) present Composers OutFront!, a performance and discussion featuring creative siblings composer Erin Gee and Whitney Live Artist-in-Residence Colin Gee. The evening includes an excerpt from the film/performance work Dakota with live performances by Colin Gee and music by Erin Gee, as well as a preview of the siblings’ work in progress, Mouthpiece XIII: Mathilde of Loci, Part 1, for electronically processed voice, actor, and orchestra, with film. Mouthpiece XIII will be premiered by ACO’s Orchestra Underground at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on November 30. 2009, at 7:30 pm