International Contemporary Ensemble Joins The Rhythm Method For A PIN DROPS At Target Margin Theater, October 28

International Contemporary Ensemble joins contemporary string quartet The Rhythm Method on a free program titled A Pin Drops premiering new works by composers Kevin Ramsay and Lewis Nielson at Target Margin Theater on Friday, October 28, 2022 at 7:30pm.

A Pin Drops Like a Pungent Odor for string quartet and contrabass, commissioned and performed by the Ensemble as part of their "Call for ____" program, "focuses primarily on theoretical and practical aspects of sound deconstruction and reassembly with the exploratory themes of rhythm and auditory phenomena," said composer Kevin Ramsay.

The second half of the program features The Rhythm Method, joined by flutist, soprano and sound artist Alice Teyssier, in Lewis Nielson's Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra. Inspired by the work of two Spanish poets, Antonio Machado and Pablo Neruda, as well as the Canticles of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra calls on all performers to play and to sing for each other as the audience overhears their interaction.

The Ensemble's season continues on Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 7:30pm at NYU Skirball in a concert featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Threadgill's newest work, Pathways, performed by members of International Contemporary Ensemble alongside the composer and his band Zooid.

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Program Information
A Pin Drops
International Contemporary Ensemble
The Rhythm Method
Alice Tyssier, vocals
Friday, October 28, 2022 at 7:30pm
Target Margin Theater | 232 52nd Street | Brooklyn, NY 11220
Tickets: Free
Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-pin-drops-tickets-399515370227

Please Note: Proof of vaccination will be required to attend. All attendees must show CDC, WHO, Excelsior Pass, or similar official documentation of vaccination and booster status plus matching photo ID upon entering the building. Masks must be worn at all times inside the building.

Program
Kevin Ramsay - A Pin Drops Like a Pungent Odor (World Premiere)
Josh Modney, violin
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Carrie Frey, viola
Meaghan Burke, cello
Randall Zigler, bass
Lewis Nielson - Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra (World Premiere)
Alice Teyssier, voice
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Leah Asher, violin
Carrie Frey, viola
Meaghan Burke, cello

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About International Contemporary Ensemble
With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble - as a commissioner and performer at the highest level - amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble's 39 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble's programming since its founding in 2001, and the group's recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music's present.

Described as "America's foremost new-music group" (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble's composer-collaborators-many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration-have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble's founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.

A recipient of the American Music Center's Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the International Contemporary Ensemble was also named Musical America's Ensemble of the Year in 2014. The group has served as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival (2008-2020), Ojai Music Festival (2015-17), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2010-2015). In addition, the Ensemble has presented and performed at festivals in the U.S. such as Big Ears Festival and Opera Omaha's ONE Festival, as well as abroad, including GMEM-Centre National de Création Musicale (CNCM) de Marseille, Vértice at Cultura UNAM, Warsaw Autumn, International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, and Cité de la Musique in Paris. Other performance stages have included the Park Avenue Armory, ice floes at Greenland's Diskotek Sessions, Brooklyn warehouses, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and boats on the Amazon River.

The International Contemporary Ensemble advances music technology and digital communications as an empowering tool for artists from all backgrounds. Digitice provides high-quality video documentation for artist-collaborators and provides access to an in-depth archive of composers' workshops and performances. The Ensemble regularly engages new listeners through free concerts and interactive, educational programming with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Curricular activities include a partnership at The New School's College of Performing Arts (CoPA), along with a summer intensive program, called Ensemble Evolution, where topics of equity, diversity, and inclusion build new bridges and pathways for the future of creative sound practices. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the Ensemble. Read more at www.iceorg.org and watch over 350 videos of live performances and documentaries at www.digitice.org.

Kevin Ramsay is a composer, producer, recording/mixing/mastering/sound engineer, and musician on several critically acclaimed international albums. Brooklyn-born and based, Ramsay's work focuses primarily on theoretical, practical aspects of sound recording/ reproduction with unpredictable pairings of acoustic and electronic instruments. Kevin's current works explore new ways to capture, mix, and process immersive audio for playback, on multichannel sound systems. In addition, he continues to collaborate with a variety of International Artists committed to using sound as their main creative medium. Kevin has worked with notable artist such as Michael Byron, Henry Threadgil, Art Jones, Joan Jonas, Pauline Kim-Harris and Conrad Harris (String Noise), Anne Tardos, Danilio Correale, Maria Grand, Prince Harvey, Emilio Vavarella, Malik Ameer Crumpler, Daniel Belquer, Jon-Carlos Evans, and many others. Read more at https://www.kevinramsaysound.com/

Lewis Nielson studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, Clark University in Massachusetts and the University of Iowa. His works have been performed throughout North and South America, and in Europe.

He served for 21 years as Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Georgia while directing the University of Georgia Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

In 2000, he joined the composition faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he was Professor of Composition and chair of the Composition Department until 2015. Read more at https://www.lewisnielson.com/about/

The Rhythm Method strives to reimagine the string quartet in a contemporary, feminist context. The four performer-composers of The Rhythm Method continually expand their sonic and expressive palette through the use of improvisation, vocalization, graphic notation, songwriting, and theater. Read more at http://www.therhythmmethod.nyc/

Flutist and vocalist Alice Teyssier brings "something new, something fresh, but also something uncommonly beautiful" to her performances. A uniquely gifted advocate for new music, Alice has given residencies for composers and performers of new music at such universities as Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Huddersfield, Oberlin and University of Michigan. She has premiered dozens of works and appeared at the Ojai, Mostly Mozart, June in Buffalo, Resonant Bodies and Huddersfield Contemporary Music festivals. Equally devoted to historically-informed and technically sound performances of early music, she performs regularly with Baroque ensembles around the country and is co-founder of the chamber ensemble La Perla Bizzarra. Alice enjoys an international performance schedule as a professional flutist as well as a singer, with more recent experiments in her own sound art and composition. She holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (B.M., M.M.), the Conservatoire de Strasbourg (Specialization Diploma) and the University of California-San Diego (D.M.A.). Alice is a core member of the International Contemporary Ensemble and founding member of the interdisciplinary troupe The Atelier, and serves as Assistant Professor of Performance in the Music Department at New York University. http://www.aliceteyssier.com/

The International Contemporary Ensemble's performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of many individuals as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA's Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Casement Fund, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018 - 2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.