ACME celebrates its 15th anniversary with three concerts at Tenri Cultural Institute in 2020 - January 17, March 13, and May 29.

"such soul, passion, and excellent command" - NPR

"the ensemble gave the punchy, intricate score a tight, viscerally powerful performance" - The New York Times

ACME explores music of the English composer Gavin Bryars in celebration of his 77th birthday, which falls on January 16. Of the program, ACME Artistic Director Clarice Jensen says, “The Sinking of the Titanic and Bryars’ String Quartet No. 1 ‘Between the National and the Bristol’ are unique works of minimalism that are incredibly strange and beautiful, and not often performed.” The Sinking of the Titanic was inspired by the band on the ship that continued to play as it sank. “The music goes through a number of different states, reflecting an implied slow descent to the ocean bed which give a range of echo and deflection phenomena, allied to considerable high frequency reduction,” Bryars writes. Of his String Quartet No. 1, he states, “One night in 1906, unknown to each of them, the three most famous dancers of the period were staying in Vienna. Maud Allan was at the National, Mata Hari was at the Hotel Bristol, and Isadora Duncan, another reference within the quartet, was staying in a hotel ‘somewhere between the National and the Bristol.’” The piece was written in 1985 for the Arditti Quartet.

Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic

Gavin Bryars: String Quartet No. 1 ("Between the National and the Bristol")

ACME players for this concert include Laura Lutzke and Ravenna Lipchik, violins; Hannah Selin; viola; Clarice Jensen, cello; Chihiro Shibayama, percussion; Grey Mcmurray, electric guitar; and Qasim Naqvi, modular synths.

Over the past 15 years, led by Clarice Jensen, ACME has risen to the highest ranks of American new music through a mix of meticulous musicianship, artistic vision, engaging collaborations, and unwavering standards in every regard. The membership of the amorphous collective includes some of the brightest young stars in the field. NPR calls them “contemporary music dynamos,” and Strings reports, “ACME’s absorbing playing pulsed with warm energy. . . Shared glances and inhales triggered transitions in a flow so seamless it seemed learned in a Jedi temple.” ACME was honored by ASCAP during its 10th anniversary season in 2015 for the “virtuosity, passion, and commitment with which it performs and champions American composers.