ACO announces full schedule under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel, George Manahan, and Edward Yim 

The American Composers Orchestra (also known as ACO) officially finalized and released its full 2019-2020 season of performances, engagements, guest spots, and more in a press notice released in late September. 

Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Music Director George Manahan, and President Edward Yim will be leading the talented orchestra throughout the 2019-2020 season and are committed to continuing its focus on creation, performance, preservation, and promotion of music by American composers, according to the press release. 

Patrons can expect a similar emphasis on programming that doesn’t just spark musical curiosity, but also that focuses on the “geographic, stylistic, radical, and gender diversity’ of American composers. 

Still, there is room for a few new, surprising twists in the schedule. For example, the ACO concerts at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 2019 and April 2, 2020 will include prominent premieres by 2015 Rome Prize winner Mark Adamo, 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams, 2018 MacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin, 2017 ACO Underwood Commission winner Hilary Purrington, and 2013 ACO Underwood Audience Choice Award winner Nina C. Young. Further, there will be several soloists introduced this season, including (but not limited to) JIJI, guitar; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano; Jeffrey Zeigler, cello; and David Tinervia, baritone.

“ACO’s 2019-2020 Carnegie Hall programs highlight the breadth and depth of American music being composed today,” commented ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel in a recently released press release announcing the 2019-2020 schedule.

“Our audience will have the unique opportunity to experience world premieres of these emerging talents alongside established American voices – brand new music heard for the very first time in New York City.” 

To learn more about the 2019-2020 schedule, please visit americancomposers.org, or, continuing reading below:

New England Echoes on November 13, 2019, at Carnegie Hall features women’s powerful voices raised in song. The world premiere of Hilary Purrington’s concerto for guitar and orchestra, Harp of Nerves, features guitarist JIJI. Celebrated Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton will sing the world premiere of arrangements of songs by Charles Ives, orchestrated by Purrington, Hannah Lash, and Jonathan Bailey Holland. The New York City premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Evidence (2016) completes the program.