American Modern Ensemble

The American Modern Ensemble is a contemporary classical music ensemble based in the United States in New York City and was founded in 2005 with the goal of premiering, performing and recording and commissioning the widest possible repertoire written by American composers. The group's focus is to celebrate and showcase American music and especially works written by living composers. Each season, AME chooses one American composer to feature on a program devoted to his or her music. AME is also dedicated to education and outreach programs that expose communities to American music, and particularly to new music written by living composers. AME's founder and current Artistic Director is the American composer Robert Paterson [http://www.robpaterson.com] .

Instrumentation

Instrumentation for each concert is drawn from a sinfonietta-sized group: flute (doubling alto flute and piccolo), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet and E-flat clarinet), oboe (doubling english horn), bassoon (doubling contrabassoon), horn, trumpet (C trumpet, B-flat trumpet and piccolo trumpets in E-flat and D), trombone, percussion, piano (doubling synthesizer), two violins, viola, violoncello, bass .

Programmed composers

Composers whose works have been performed by the American Modern Ensemble through the 2005-06 season include:

* Karim Al-Zand [http://www.alzand.com/]
* Milton Babbitt
* Christopher Berg
* Derek Bermel
* Leonard Bernstein
* Chester Biscardi [http://www.chesterbiscardi.com/]
* William Bolcom
* John Cage
* George Chadwick
* Theodore Chanler
* Celius Dougherty
* Jacob Druckman
* Stephen Foster
* Annie Gosfield
* Daron Hagen
* Lee Hyla
* Tom Lehrer
* James Matheson
* Eric Moe [http://www.ericmoe.net/]
* Paul Moravec
* Conlon Nancarrow
* Ethelbert Nevin
* Robert Paterson [http://www.robpaterson.com]
* Joseph Pehrson
* David Rakowski
* Alex Shapiro
* Adam Silverman
* Steven Stucky
* Joan Tower
* Perry Townsend
* David Del Tredici
* George Tsontakis
* Melinda Wagner
* Mischa Zupko

Artists

Performers who have worked with AME as guest artists or who are part of the core membership include:

* Sharon Quattrin, soprano
* Anna Tonna, [http://www.annatonna.com/] mezzo-soprano
* Paul Sperry [http://www.paulsperry.net] , tenor
* Sato Moughalian [http://www.satomoughalian.com] , flutes
* Erin Lesser [http://www.erinlesser.com] , flutes
* Meighan Stoops, clarinets
* Curtis Macomber, violin
* Victoria Paterson [http://www.victoriapaterson.com] , violin
* Junah Chung, viola
* Dave Eggar, cello
* Sean McClowry, double bass
* Tom Kolor, percussion
* Robert Paterson [http://www.robpaterson.com] , conductor, percussion
* Stephen Gosling, piano
* Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
* Blair McMillen [http://www.blairmcmillen.com] , piano
* Molly Morkoski, piano

Featured Composers

* 2007-2008: Steven Mackey
* 2006-2007: Chen Yi & Zhou Long
* 2005-2006: Steven Stucky
* 2004-2005: Robert Paterson [http://www.robpaterson.com]

Winners of AME Composition Competition

* 2007: Sean McClowry
* 2006: Karim Al Zand [http://www.alzand.com]

External links

* [http://www.americanmodernensemble.org/ Official Website of the American Modern Ensemble]
* [http://www.myspace.com/americanmodernensemble American Modern Ensemble MySpace page]