Alarm Will Sound Announces 2023-2024 Season
“Alarm Will Sound is one of those ensembles that you can simply trust to have put together an interesting and fulfilling concert, whatever it is that they are playing.” – The New York Times
“As modern music moves beyond modernism, the classical community is still scared of the innovations of 75 years ago. Alarm Will Sound tackles those scary sounds and finds new life.” — Pitchfork
New York, NY (August 21, 2023) – Praised for their “virtuosic” (The New Yorker) and “awe-inspiring” (Time Out New York) performances, Alarm Will Sound is a renowned contemporary chamber ensemble known for pushing musical boundaries and their commitment to exploring new sonic landscapes. Comprised of Alan Pierson, Artistic Director, and sixteen instrumentalists, Alarm Will Sound has, since 2001, operated as a nonprofit organization dedicated to moving contemporary music to the foreground in everyday life. As the world continues to evolve, so does the ensemble’s dedication to delivering unparalleled musical experiences that challenge norms and inspire audiences worldwide. Alarm Will Sound is thrilled to announce its highly anticipated 2023-24 Season.
Alarm Will Sound begins the season with two performances of Donnacha Dennehy’s evocative and exciting new work, Land of Winter. The piece suggests the changing of light through the seasons of Dennehy’s home country, Ireland. University of Chicago Presents hosts the North American premiere of Land of Winter on October 6, 2023 at the Logan Center Performance Hall. Webster University in St. Louis will host Alarm Will Sound for a performance of the work on October 8, 2023 at the Community Music School.
On December 2nd, 2023, Alarm Will Sound returns to the Center for the Art of Performance (CAP) at UCLA with special guests Haitian-American artist, performer, composer, and flutist Nathalie Joachim and violinist, vocalist, and composer Alyssa Pyper for music by Joachim, Pyper, and Eartheater (Alex Drewchin). The three works on the concert are each profoundly intimate. Joachim’s ki moun ou ye takes inspiration from her Caribbean home, Alyssa Pyper’s Cradle is a personal reflection on growing up queer and Mormon, and When Fire is Allowed to Finish by Eartheater is a musical expression of the end of an intense romantic relationship.
Alarm Will Sound returns to Carnegie Hall on March 26, 2024 with a program curated by Tania León, Carnegie Hall’s 2023–2024 Debs Composer’s Chair. For this performance, León and Alarm Will Sound chose “self-portraits” by seven composers: Bora Yoon, Felipe Tovar-Henao, Christian Quiñones, Damon Davis, Texu Kim, Chris P. Thompson, and León. Video and audio storytelling merge with the composers’ works to create a seamless performance. This concert will include the world premiere of an excerpt from Damon Davis’s sci-fi opera Ligeia Mare, a piece inspired by Sun Ra that tells the story of Cosmo, a young boy with the gift of astral projection. As Cosmo travels the galaxy night after night, the real and dream worlds blur together. Ligeia Mare is a story of how myths can be a doorway to self-knowledge and reclaiming one’s identity and how we can find power in self-discovery.
In April of 2024, Alarm Will Sound will perform two concerts celebrating the 50th anniversary of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, perhaps the most influential minimalist work of all time. On April 13, they will perform the program, which will also feature Clapping Music, Radio Rewrite, and Vermont Counterpoint, in a concert presented by the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Penn Live Arts will present the same program the following evening, April 14, at the Zellerbach Theatre in Philadelphia.
For their final concerts of the season, Alarm Will Sound will return to the Mizzou International Composers Festival, July 22-27, 2024 at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. They will perform two programs, the first featuring music by Distinguished Guest Composers and the second featuring eight world premieres of music written by the festival’s resident composers. These performances will be live-streamed and available to view from anywhere in the world.
About Alarm Will Sound
Alarm Will Sound is “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene” (The New York Times). A 20-member band committed to innovative performances and recordings of today’s music, they have established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic virtuosity.
With classical skill and unlimited curiosity, Alarm Will Sound takes on music from a wide variety of styles. “Stylistically omnivorous and physically versatile” (The Log Journal), their repertoire comes from around the world, and ranges from the arch-modernist to the pop-influenced. Since its inception, Alarm Will Sound has been associated with composers at the forefront of contemporary music. The group itself includes many composer-performers, which allows for an unusual degree of insight into the creation and performance of new work.
Alarm Will Sound is the resident ensemble at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. Held each July at the University of Missouri in Columbia, the festival features eight world premieres by early-career composers. In 2013-14, Alarm Will Sound served as artists-in-residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Alarm Will Sound may be heard on eighteen recordings, including For George Lewis | Autoshchediasms, their most recent release featuring music of Tyshawn Sorey, and the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Radio Rewrite. Acoustica, their genre-bending, critically-acclaimed album, features live-performance arrangements of music by electronica guru Aphex Twin.
For more information and to join the mailing list, visit Alarm Will Sound’s website at www.alarmwillsound.com.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alarm Will Sound gratefully acknowledges our individual donors and the following foundations for their support of our 2023-24 Season: Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Amphion Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, Cheswatyr Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Sinquefield Charitable Trust.
Additional Support provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Alarm Will Sound’s annual residency at the Mizzou International Composers Festival is supported by the Sinquefield Charitable Trust.
