Face the Music (music ensemble)
Encyclopedia
Face the Music is an ensemble comprising 45 students from Kaufman Center
's Special Music School
and Lucy Moses School
, ages 11–17, who focus on performing works from contemporary new music composers. One of the few American youth ensembles that is dedicated to contemporary music, they have been called "polished, exuberant" and one of “New York’s favorite contemporary-classical ensembles”
The group has given world premieres of commissioned works by Joe Phillips and Frances Schwartz, as well as the U.S. premieres of works by Gérard Grisey
and Anton Batagov
. They have also performed works by Nico Muhly
, Terry Riley
, Tristan Perich
and Steve Reich
. In residence at Kaufman Center, they have performed numerous times at Merkin Concert Hall
, as well as Brooklyn Lyceum, BAMCafe, Le Poisson Rouge
, Queens Museum of Art
, El Museo del Barrio
, The Tank and Poets House
. They have also participated in Make Music New York, Look and Listen Festival, Bang On A Can Marathon and Ecstatic Music Festival.
Kaufman Center
Kaufman Center is a notable performing arts complex in New York City that houses Lucy Moses School, the Special Music School, and Merkin Concert Hall. Originally known as the Hebrew Arts School, it was founded in 1952 and is currently located on West 67th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam...
's Special Music School
Special Music School
The Special Music School , or SMS, is a unique New York public school for musically gifted children. The school is run as a public/private partnership between the New York City Department of Education and Kaufman Center, a not-for-profit, multi-arts organization...
and Lucy Moses School
Lucy Moses School
Kaufman Center's Lucy Moses School is a community arts school located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1952 as The Hebrew Arts School for Music and Dance, it is now part of Kaufman Center, a performing arts complex that houses the Special Music School and Merkin...
, ages 11–17, who focus on performing works from contemporary new music composers. One of the few American youth ensembles that is dedicated to contemporary music, they have been called "polished, exuberant" and one of “New York’s favorite contemporary-classical ensembles”
The group has given world premieres of commissioned works by Joe Phillips and Frances Schwartz, as well as the U.S. premieres of works by Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
and Anton Batagov
Anton Batagov
Anton Batagov is a Russian pianist and post-minimalist composer.A graduate of the Gnessin School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition , among other competitions, Batagov was the first...
. They have also performed works by Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...
, Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, Tristan Perich
Tristan Perich
Tristan Perich is a contemporary composer and sound artist from New York City focused on electronic one bit sound.Perich composed a series of compositions as well as sound art installations with 1 bit electronics, which Perich describes as being music that never has more than one bit of information...
and Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
. In residence at Kaufman Center, they have performed numerous times at Merkin Concert Hall
Merkin Concert Hall
Merkin Concert Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Special Music School , a New York City public school for...
, as well as Brooklyn Lyceum, BAMCafe, Le Poisson Rouge
(Le) Poisson Rouge
Poisson Rouge is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of The Village Gate. The performance space was designed and engineered by John Storyk/WSDG...
, Queens Museum of Art
Queens Museum of Art
The Queens Museum of Art is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States.-Overview:...
, El Museo del Barrio
El Museo del Barrio
El Museo del Barrio, New York’s leading Latino visual arts cultural institution, is located in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, United States, also known as El Barrio. The museum welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of the Latino, Caribbean, and...
, The Tank and Poets House
Poets House
Founded in 1985 by the late Stanley Kunitz, two-time poet laureate of the United States, and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray, Poets House is a national literary center and poetry library based in New York City. With more than 50,000 volumes of poetry, the library is the premier independent poetry...
. They have also participated in Make Music New York, Look and Listen Festival, Bang On A Can Marathon and Ecstatic Music Festival.