BAC Salon: AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) features eleven core ensemble members and guests, including GRAMMY Award-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, recent Avery Fisher Grant recipient and flutist Emi Ferguson, and MacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin, pianist and composer. AMOC* artists traverse centuries and landscapes in two unique programs that bring audiences from the summer sunset to theatrical night. The first, at 7PM, includes Cassandra Miller’s About Bach—a patient meditation on melody, memory, and the passage of time at the day’s end—and Andrew McIntosh’s Little Jimmy, which combines field recordings, piano, and percussion to reflect Southern California’s terrifyingly sublime expanse. The second, at 9PM, captures the irreverent eclecticism of AMOC*, featuring the Company’s own members’ original works alongside pieces by Gabriela Ortiz, Fang Man, and Antonio Vivaldi. Influences as varied as ancient Roman history, Peking opera, Mexican folk music, and classical Italian poetry are unified by an attention to the rhythms of speech in song and the grooving rhythm of drums and percussion.
BAC Salon: AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) will feature Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor; Keir GoGwilt, violin; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Carrie Frey*, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Doug Balliett, bass; Emi Ferguson, flute; Conor Hanick, piano; Matthew Aucoin, piano; Jonny Allen, percussion; Clara Warnaar*, percussion; Mary Ellen Stebbins, lighting designer; Julia Bumke, dramaturg (*Guest Artist).
Sunset Program
Wednesday, May 24 at 7PM
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Tickets: $25 at bacnyc.org
Running Time: 60 minutes
This program consists of two substantial works accompanying the summer sunset over the Hudson River. Cassandra Miller’s string quartet, About Bach, is a patient meditation on melody, memory, and the passage of time at the day’s end. Andrew McIntosh’s Little Jimmy takes its name from a campsite on Mt. Islip in the Angeles National Forest, closed in August 2020 after the Bobcat Fire. Through a combination of field recordings, two pianos, and an assortment of percussion instruments, the piece reflects Southern California’s terrifyingly sublime expanse
Cassandra Miller: "About Bach"
Keir GoGwilt, Miranda Cuckson, Carrie Frey*, Coleman Itzkoff
Andrew McIntosh: "Little Jimmy"
Matthew Aucoin, Conor Hanick, Jonny Allen, Clara Warnaar*
Evening Program
Wednesday, May 24 at 9PM
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Tickets: $25 at bacnyc.org
Running Time: 60 minutes
This program captures the irreverent eclecticism of AMOC*, moving between influences as varied as ancient Roman history, Peking opera, Mexican folk music, and classical Italian poetry. The program is unified by an attention to the rhythms of speech in song, and the grooving rhythm of drums and percussion. Featuring AMOC* members’ original works alongside pieces by Gabriela Ortiz, Fang Man, and Antonio Vivaldi, this program is full of exciting performances paired with a signature theatrical attention to lighting and flow.
Doug Balliett: "Honorius" from Rome is Falling
Full ensemble
Gabriela Ortiz: "Denibee"
Emi Ferguson, Doug Balliett, Jonny Allen
Fang Man: "Thirsty Stone I"
Keir GoGwilt, Miranda Cuckson, Jonny Allen
Matthew Aucoin: "This Earth"
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Matthew Aucoin
Antono Vivaldi: “Sol da te"
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Emi Ferguson, Keir GoGwilt, Miranda Cuckson, Coleman Itzkoff, Doug Balliett
AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company)
AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), founded in 2017 by Matthew Aucoin and Zack Winokur, builds and shares a body of collaborative work. As a group of dancers, singers, musicians, writers, directors, composers, choreographers, and producers united by a core set of values, AMOC* artists pool their resources to create new pathways that connect creators and audiences in surprising and visceral ways.