The American Modern Ensemble is a

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

ensemble based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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. 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 was founded in 2005 by American composer Robert Paterson, who serves as the ensemble's Artistic Director, and his wife, Victoria Paterson, a violinist, who also serves as the ensemble's Executive Director.

Instrumentation

Instrumentation for each concert is repertoire/instrumentation-based and is drawn from a sinfonietta-sized group:

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(doubling

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...

and

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

(doubling

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

and

E-flat clarinet The E-flat (E) clarinet is a member of the clarinet family, smaller than the more common B clarinet and pitched a perfect fourth higher. It is typically considered the sopranino or piccolo member of the clarinet family and is a transposing inst ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

(doubling

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

(doubling

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is consi ...

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(C trumpet, B-flat trumpet and piccolo trumpets in E-flat and D),

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(doubling

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

), two

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

violoncello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...

, bass.

Programmed composers

Incomplete list of composers whose works have been programmed by the American Modern Ensemble through the 2014-15 season:

Artists

Performer Members of AME as of the 2015-16 Season: †Denotes current core member.

AME Composition Competition

Since 2006, AME has held an annual composition competition for American composers (North, Central and South America). Through 2011, this competition was for composers ages 18–35. Starting in 2012, awards are now given in three categories: Tier I (Young Artist), ages 22 and under; Tier II (Emerging), ages 18–35, and Tier III (Professional), all ages. Former winners from 2011 and past are now considered Tier II winners. Winners receive cash awards, archival recordings and performances of either their winning work or another work. 2014 Ninth Annual Competition Tier III * Winner: John Fitz Rogers - ''Sehnen'' * Honorable Mention: Max Grafe - ''Kheir'' * Honorable Mention: Nicholas Omiccioli - ''push/pull'' * Honorable Mention: Wayne Oquin - ''In Dreams Awake'' Tier II * Winner: Gabriella Smith - ''Brandenburg Interstices'' * Honorable Mention: Michael Gilbertson - ''who remembers day'' * Honorable Mention: Carolina Heredia - ''Lus in Bello'' * Honorable Mention: Alexander Miller - ''Echoes in the Dark'' Tier I * Winner: Vincent Gover - ''Brook’s Release'' * Honorable Mention: Ryan Lindveit - ''Short Stories'' 2013 Eighth Annual Competition Tier III * Winner: Carl Schimmel - ''Roadshow for Otto'' * Honorable Mention: Nicolas Scherzinger - ''Fractured Mirrors'' * Honorable Mention: Roger Zare - ''Fractal Miniatures'' Tier II * Winner: Nicholas Omiccioli - ''Flourishes'' * Honorable Mention: Paul Frucht - ''Echo in Roger’s Park'' * Honorable Mention: Takuma Itoh - ''Undercurrent'' Tier I * Winner: Katherine Balch - ''Triple Point'' * Honorable Mention: Molly Joyce - ''Parade'' * Honorable Mention: Brendan McMullen - ''Seven Cicadas'' 2012 Seventh Annual Competition Tier III * Winner: Alejandro Rutty - ''Black Box Bossa'' * Honorable Mention: John Liberatore - ''Lennon Scatters and Fleeces His Flock'' Tier II * Winner: Lembit Beecher - ''Frantic Gnarly Still'' * Honorable Mention: Piotr Szewczyk - ''Nimbus'' Tier I * Winner: Hillary Purrington - ''Fixed Mediums'' * Honorable Mention: Loren Loiacono - ''Waking Rhythm'' Past Winners * 2011: Eric Nathan * 2010: Christopher Chandler * 2009: Spencer Topel * 2008: Derrick Wang * 2007: Sean McClowry * 2006: Karim Al-Zand

References

External links

Official Website

American Modern Ensemble Facebook page

American Modern Ensemble MySpace page

American Modern Ensemble Twitter page

American Modern Ensemble YouTube page
{{Authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles Orchestras based in New York City Organizations based in New York City Arts organizations based in New York City Culture of New York City Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in New York City