Marathon Concert by Alarm Will Sound as the finale of John Adams’ In Your Ear Redux Festival at Zankel Hall.

As John Adams’ four year post as the Composer’s Chair of Carnegie Hall comes to an end, his final weekend of concerts includes the 20-member new music band known as Alarm Will Sound. This will be my second time joining the group as a guest performer, and I’m also looking forward to performing with them again in June on their European tour.

The fact that the group’s performances are full of virtuosic ensemble playing is almost a side-note to what captivated me the most when I first heard about them: their taste in projects and repertoire. Almost everyone in the band does something other than their primary instrument, be it composition, arrangement, or electronic music, and this concert (their third feature in Zankel in less than a year), showcases all three. Titled Out of Our Heads, it features works composed or arranged by the members of the group; and the fact that the three-hour marathon concert only begins to explore their output of original projects illustrates the depth of their inspiration and creativity.

Perhaps the most well known of these projects is their acoustic arrangements of the music of electronic composer Aphex Twin, and this concert features five; Prep Gawrlek 3B, Cock / Ver 10, Jynweythek Ylow, 4, and Avril 14th. You can hear all 13 of their arrangements as well as 2 remixes by following this link to the iTunes store: Acoustica.

Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 3:00pm
Out of Our Heads Marathon Concert
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street & 7th Avenue, NY, NY

Caleb Burhans, Amidst Neptune
Gavin Chuck, Seen
Aphex Twin, Jynweythek Ylow arr. John Orfe
Aphex Twin, Avril 14th arr. John Pickford Richards
Autechre, Cfern arr. Dennis DeSantis
John Orfe, Cyclone
John Pickford Richards and Caleb Burhans, violas
Super Marimba
Mansuit
Aphex Twin, Prep Gwarlek 3B arr. Courtney Orlando
John Adams, Scratchband
Payton MacDonald, Cowboy Raga/Cowboy Tabla
Payton MacDonald, percussion
Remixes by Dennis DeSantis
Miles Brown, Q-Ball
Stefan Freund and Nigel Maister, Paper Trails
Aphex Twin, Four arr. Jessica Johnson and Payton MacDonald
Aphex Twin, Cock/Ver 10 arr. Stefan Freund

From Alarm Will Sound’s Biography:

Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member band committed to innovative performances and recordings of today’s music. They have established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic virtuosity. Their performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity” by the London Financial Times and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times says Alarm Will Sound is “the future of classical music.”