American Composers Orchestra: Orchestra Underground “Lines on a Point”

Thursday, February 20, 2014, at 7:30 pm

This is an archived event, not part of the current festival.

Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall

881 Seventh Avenue, Manhattan

www.americancomposers.org

Minimalist master Steve Reich's intricate use of lines creates the starting point. Joined by the chamber choir, The Crossing, ACO performs two world premieres. David Lang (Musical America Composer of the Year, Carnegie Hall Debs Composer Chair, Bang on a Can founder) sets a courtroom speech by socialist Eugene Debs denouncing American participation in World War I. Lisa Coons, an experimental composer and sound-artist, charts a progression of lucid gestures to noise in a study on mental illness and dementia -- a portrait of someone lost. Amy Beth Kirsten and videographer Mark DeChiazza create a multimedia meditation on creativity and its relationship to the spirit with voices, orchestra, texts and video. Ted Hearne, explosively combines experimental, rock, and classical sources, providing a haunting a capella setting of text from Iraq War communication logs.

David Lang Lisa Coons