Program areas at ACO
Concert performances featuring American composersamerican Composers Orchestra featured work by 24 Composers in four concerts, serving over 2,000 live audience in new york city. The welcome back family and friends chamber concert (september 28, 2021) at the dimenna center for classical music highlighted chamber works by Composers who have long been part of the aco community. In october, new canons, a hybrid virtual and in-person performance, presented in partnership with groupmuse foundation, experimented with new possibilities for simultaneous telematic performance with an Orchestra, four string quartets, and seven soloists performing in 10 different locations. Aco returned to zankel hall at carnegie hall in march 2022 and launched new partnerships for the gathering: a collective sonic ring shout in may, co-presented by the apollo theater, co-curated with national black theater.
Music education program in the 2021-22 season, aco directly served 331 students through in-school, after-school, and distance-learning programs for middle and high school students. Programs included sonic spark ensembles, middle and high school direct instrumental and voice instruction; compose yourself, high school composition classes; sonic spark lab, middle and high school composition and creativity classes. Programs included weekly school-based classes and project-based creative capacity building led by teaching artists, and direct music composition instruction with aco's education director. Aco's classes served seven public nyc schools with a population of 85% alaana/bipoc (6% asian, 27% black, 46% latinx, 5% other), 21% with a disability, 6% english language learner, 68% low income.
Earshot: opportunities for emerging Composers American Composers Orchestra's composer advancement initiatives, 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. Aco produced seven virtual professional development webinars on topics including networking, self-publishing, commissioning agreements and consortia, orchestration, fundraising, public speaking, and more, serving 565 individuals. Aco's earshot readings served 19 featured artists via its own june readings in nyc, and three others in partnership with symphony orchestras in houston, tx, portland, or, and tucson, az.