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Alarm Will Sound concert on Friday, February 7
at Missouri Theatre to include works by Varese,
the Beatles, Wuorinen, Nancarrow, and more
Columbia, MO—Alarm Will Sound, the acclaimed chamber orchestra dedicated to contemporary classical music, will return to Columbia to perform at 7:30 p.m., Friday, February 7 at the Missouri Theatre.
The group has served since 2010 as the resident ensemble for the Mizzou International Composers Festival, which takes place each year in July, but this will be their first performance here during the regular academic year. The February 7 concert is presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music, and is free and open to the public.
The concert will feature seven works written or arranged specificially for Alarm Will Sound, including five that will be part of their next album. According to managing director Gavin Chuck, it’s a program that shows off the group’s established ability to translate music between idioms while also exploring human performance of sounds originally made by technology.
Two of the pieces they’ll play - Matt Marks’ arrangement of the Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” heard previously as part of the multi-media show 1969; and Evan Hause’s arrangement of Edgard Varese’s
Poème électronique - use traditional acoustic instruments to realize music originally created using tape machines and electronic manipulation.
A different form of interaction between man and machine is explored in Alarm Will Sound’s renditions of music by Conlon Nancarrow, whose works for player piano are essentially impossible for any human pianist to perform. The February 7 concert at the Missouri Theatre will include Nancarrow’s “Study 2A,” arranged by Gavin Chuck, and “Study 3A,” arranged by Derek Bermel, which were recorded for the group’s 2008 album
a/rhythmia.
The three other works on the program destined for Alarm Will Sound’s next CD are
Big Spinoff, from the esteemed American composer Charles Wuorinen;
Will Sound, from Wolfgang Rihm, one of Germany’s most prolific contemporary composers; and
Zoetrope, written by the young British composer Charlie Piper for the 2012 Mizzou International Composers Festival.
Alarm Will Sound’s performance in Columbia is part of a regional effort that began in 2010 when the group became the resident ensemble at the Mizzou International Composers Festival in Columbia. Through their continuing involvement with the MICF, they forged a relationship with the Festival’s sponsors, philanthropist Jeanne Sinquefield and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation (http://sinquefieldcharitablefoundation.com/) that led to the Foundation’s sponsorship of the group’s performances in Columbia and St. Louis.
A 20-member ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, and recording of today's music, Alarm Will Sound (http://www.alarmwillsound.com/) has established a reputation for performing demanding music with infectious energy and consummate skill. The group was founded in 2001 by former students of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and since then has performed regularly throughout the United States and in Europe.
The New York Times has called Alarm Will Sound “the future of classical music” and “the very model of a modern music chamber band.” ASCAP recognized their contributions to new music with a 2006 Concert Music Award for “the virtuosity, passion and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century.”
Their performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity” by the London
Financial Times and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the
San Francisco Chronicle, while
Time Out New York has declared that Alarm Will Sound are “not just extraordinary musicians but also next-generation thinkers.”
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is the direct result of the generous support of Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. For more information about the Mizzou New Music Initiative, please visit http://mizzounewmusic.missouri.edu/. For more information about the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, please visit http://www.sinquefieldcharitablefoundation.com/.
For more information:
Mizzou New Music Initiative: http://mizzounewmusic.missouri.edu/.
Alarm Will Sound: http://www.alarmwillsound.com/
Sinquefield Charitable Foundation: http://www.sinquefieldcharitablefoundation.com/
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