ICE

(INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE)

 

GEORGE LEWIS AND FRIENDS
 

Sunday, February 5, 2012

 

The MCA Stage presents a portrait concert of George Lewis -- the composer/trombonist/scholar and pioneer of computer music who straddles jazz, improvised, and new music -- performed by ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble). Lewis' music is presented along with works by three other composers/musicians who are greatly influenced by him: saxophonist Steve Lehman, flutist Nicole M. Mitchell, and trombonist/percussionist Tyshawn Sorey. Steven Schick is featured as conductor and percussionist in this performance of five Chicago premieres, including Lewis' Will to Adorn, written for ICE in 2011. This is the second ICE concert of the MCA Stage season as part of their three-year ensemble-in-residence, and takes place Sunday, February 5, 2012, at 3 pm.

 

Lewis is a leader in exploring the relationship between music and machines, musicians and their instruments, and improvisation. The performance relates to his long-time membership with the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and his recent book, Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Nicole M. Mitchell is also a member of AACM.

 

The program is ordered as follows: George Lewis's Artificial Life 2007 (2007) for ensemble spreads out on the MCA Stage and features groups of musicians improvising individually and together (15 min); Steve Lehman's Impossible Flow (2010) for ensemble (17 min); Tyshawn Sorey's Ode to Gust Burns (2012) for bassoon, piano, percussion, guitar and trombone (6 min); Nicole M. Mitchell's The Cave of Self-Inception (2012) for two flutes and percussion (7 min);  and George Lewis's Will to Adorn (2011) for ensemble (14 min).
 

 

 FULL MEDIA RELEASE AND HI-RES IMAGES 

 
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
 
George Lewis studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with Dean Hey. A member of AACM since 1971, his work as composer, improviser, performer, and interpreter explores electronic music, computer-based multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated and improvisative forms. Lewis serves as the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music and the Director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, an Alpert Award in the Arts in 1999, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Steve Lehman is a composer, performer, educator, and scholar of experimental music. He studied with George Lewis and performs alto and sopranino saxophone and recorded nationally and internationally with his own ensembles and with those led by Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, Oliver Lake, Meshell Ndegeocello, and High Priest of Anti-Pop Consortium.
 
Nicole M. Mitchell is a creative flutist, composer, bandleader, and founder of the Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings. Her compositions integrate new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African percussion to create a synthesis of "postmodern jazz." She had an artist in residency in 2010 to create the MCA Stage program, Intergalactic Beings. She is the  first woman president of AACM.

Tyshawn Sorey is an influential experimental jazz musician and his compositions defy all boundaries and genres. As a pianist, drummer, and trombonist, Sorey has performed alongside many leading improvisers of our time, including John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, and Anthony Braxton included on recordings from Firehouse 12 and Pi Records.

(ICE) International Contemporary Ensemble was founded in 2001, and has established itself as one of the leading musical ensembles of its generation as well as one of the most innovative young arts organizations in the US. ICE has created a pioneering performer/presenter model that sets a bold new standard for the future of music in the 21st century. They are artists-in-residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center in New York through 2013.

ARTISTS UP CLOSE
Open Doors
Saturday, February 4, 2:30-4:30 pm
MCA Theater
Museum visitors may observe a rehearsal of the works Artificial Life 2007 and Will to Adorn.

 

TICKET INFO 

 

George Lewis and Friends takes place Sunday, February 5, at 3 pm at the MCA Stage, 220 East Chicago Avenue. Tickets are $28 and a limited quantity of $10 student tickets is available. The MCA Box Office is at 312.397.4010 or www.mcachicago.org. Ticket buyers receive one free museum admission with an MCA Stage ticket stub, valid up to seven days after the performance. The final ICE concert at MCA Stage this season is Georges Aperghis and the New Generation (May 26) featuring new music commissioned by three composers now living in Paris: Georges Aperghis, Juan Pablo Carreno, and Patricia Alessandrini. 
 

  
email: ebird@mcachicago.org
voice: 312.397.3828