Face The Music: Kaufman Center's Youth Ensemble
Face the Music is an ensemble of astonishingly talented teenagers performing works by today's most compelling and creative new music composers. In residence at Kaufman Center, Face the Music breaks the boundaries of classical music education and performance, featuring today's music presented by the emerging artistic voices of tomorrow. Allan Kozinn of The New York Times recently lauded Face the Music's “knockout performance” at Merkin Hall.
Founded by Kaufman's Jenny Undercofler and composer Huang Ruo, Face the Music provides an unparalleled performance and education experience for the next generation of musical leaders. The group burst onto the scene in 2005, performing works by such new-music mainstays as Michael Gordon, Phil Kline and John Adams.
Says Undercofler: “In traditional music education, many talented kids put down their instruments after a certain age. Their training and their worlds simply have diverged; they stop relating to classical curriculum and works created decades or even hundreds of years ago.”
“Our goal is to re-capture their excitement and interest with a conception of classical music that is much broader and colored by recognizable sounds from their daily lives. In turn, these young performers create an amazingly energizing and rewarding experience for their audiences,” she concludes.
Since their debut, Face the Music has played across New York City at venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, The Queens Museum of Art, Roulette and Hudson View Gardens. Over the past year, the ensemble has performed on the live broadcast opening of WNYC’s Greene Space and gave the U.S. premiere performance of Gérard Grisey¹s “Manifestations” in Kaufman's Merkin Hall.
Face the Music features 20 classically trained musicians ranging from 6th to 12th grade. The group's mission is to engage talented teenage musicians from across the city to represent a diverse range of backgrounds and talents. The performers primarily are students or alumni of Kaufman's own Special Music School, the only public school in New York City that integrates pre-conservatory musical training with academic education.
For more information about Face the Music, please call 212 501 3390.
2009-10 Performance Highlights
November 9, 2009 – Le Poisson Rouge, 7:30 pm
158 Bleecker St., NYC, lepoissonrouge.org
November 19, 2009, 10:30 am & November 21, 2009, 3 pm – El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St., NYC, elmuseo.org
December 4, 2009, 6pm and 7pm – Apple Store
67th and Broadway, NYC
February 7, 2010 – Queens Museum of Art, 1:30 & 3 pm
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, queensmuseum.org
Works by Marcelo Zarvos, Miguel del Aguila, Graham Fitkin and Francis Schwartz
March 21, 2010 – Hudson View Gardens, 2 pm
116 Pinehurst Ave., NYC, hudsonviewgardens.com
Works by Marcelo Zarvos, Miguel del Aguila, Paul Desenne, Nico Muhly and JacobTV
April 15, 2010 – P.S. 321 in Brooklyn, 7 pm
180 7th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn
Premiere of Liquid Timepieces plus works by Graham Fitkin and others
May 9, 2010 – Look and Listen Festival, location TBA, 3 pm
Works by Marcelo Zarvos and Dan Visconti
May 12, 2010 – Brooklyn Lyceum, 8 pm
4th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn
Works by Joe Phillips, Nico Muhly, Graham Fitkin and Paul Desenne
May 27, 2010 – Merkin Concert Hall Upper Lobby, 6:30 pm
Works by Nico Muhly, Paul Desenne and Joe Phillips. Pre-concert performance before the SIGNAL ensemble’s gives the world premiere of a new work by Muhly and American premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Corridor in Merkin Hall.
Check out these videos and audio recordings:
Face the Music video of El Museo del Barrio performance on Nov 21, 2009
Face the Music performed at El Museo del Barrio on Nov 19, 2009:
Face the Music rehearsal at El Museo del Barrio
Face the Music performed Phil Kline’s “Exquisite Corpses” in a live broadcast from WNYC’s Greene Space on April 30, 2009:
Cannibal Caliban by Francis Schwartz performed by Face the Music:
US Premiere of Gerard Grisey's "Manifestations: at Merkin Hall last May
More information and photos are available online at www.myspace.com/smsfacethemusic.