by Andrew Frisicano

ACME...outdoors in warmer times

Tonight (12/17) at the Tank, American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) perform music from Phil Kline and John Cage (two earlier works, String Quartet in Four Parts and Credo In Us). Kline's annual Unsilent Night event just happened in NYC on December 12th (and is still to come in other cities). His piece Exquisite Corpses, on the program for ACME, also prominently features boomboxes. He's also put together a new acoustic arrangement of his string quartet The Blue Room and Other Stories (originally written for Ethel whose version is below), which ACME will be debuting. Tickets are on sale.

Kicking off tonight and running through this weekend, the Tank heads to Brooklyn to present the Blip Festival at the Bell House. If you can't be there, you can listen on WFMU.

Across town and also tonight (12/17), the New York Philharmonic will be launching its Contact! new music series at Symphony Space (95th and Broadway). Four composers - Arlene Sierra, Lei Liang, Marc-André Dalbavie & Arthur Kampela - will be debuting very different compositions with the group. Video and audio previews of those are below. Tickets are on sale. An encore performance (to borrow a phrase) takes place Saturday, December 19th at Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The second Contact! program - with new music from Sean Shepherd, Nico Muhly and Matthias Pintscher - comes April 16th at Symphony Space and April 17th at Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Videos and more info are below...

Continue reading "NY Philharmonic launches Contact! series tonight & ACME performs @ The Tank ++ other dates & videos"

The Tank, a non-profit venue that has been providing a creative, collaborative home for emerging artists for the past five years, is about to need a new home of its own. But for this young company that moved 3 times in its first 3 years, this is familiar, if undesirable, territory.

Forced to leave its current home by July 31st, The Tank will continue presenting in this period of transition. But by August, this collective of performing arts and public affairs will move into a temporary space, while it searches for a more stable, long-term venue for 2009. As of now, neither the transitional venue nor the next home are determined.

Damage caused by massive plumbing problems, compounded by irreconcilable issues with the building's owner, has created a costly, unwelcome and untenable situation at 279 Church Street in Tribeca, where The Tank had made its home with the performing arts presenters Collective: Unconscious (C:U) since January, 2006. At this time, C:U also intends to continue presenting, although is unsure where.

Continue reading "The Tank loses its Tribeca home"