Past Projects
An archive of ideas, performed.
ACE has connected the rock and classical worlds, gone steampunk, let audiences order chamber music from a menu, and asked whether our attention spans are really shrinking. A selection of past projects.
- 01
Project Beck
ACE assembled a list of 20 of the most influential American composers of this generation, each agreeing to “arrange” one of Beck’s new songs from his Song Reader for our ensemble — connecting the rock and classical worlds in both directions.
- 02
For Everything, A Season
Seasons of life explored through music, in a series of concerts inspired by universal themes that unite us all.
- 03
ACE from Beyond the Grave
A Halloween-inspired concert that let the musicians of ACE breathe new life into the music of the dead — and celebrate the living composers they inspired.
- 04
What does it mean to be free?
An exploration of freedom, complete with a “freedom wall” created by concert attendees. Music included David Bruce’s Gumboots, Dana Wilson’s Sing to me of the Night, and Arno Babajanian’s Piano Trio.
- 05
Concert Decision 2012
An election-weekend concert that let guests vote on their concert choices after a series of lively debates between the musicians.
- 06
Seven Years
ACE explores three composers working at the same moment in history but in very different circumstances — each presented a different way, loosely connected to the composer’s own approach and context.
- 07
Three Friends and a Stranger
A collaboration with a visiting artist and sculptor, exploring the connections between visual art and music.
- 08
House Specials
A unique, interactive house concert where the audience orders live chamber music from a pre-fixed menu of musical choices — building their own ideal musical “meal.”
- 09
“reIMAGINEd” — ACE goes Steampunk
Inspired by steampunk and its question “what might have been?”, ACE presented pairs of works, each exploring the re-imagination of some musical or artistic feature.
- 10
MOVE(D)
Brahms’ Horn Trio and the Prokofiev Quintet anchor an evening about how music moves the spirit — performed in collaboration with AMARANTH Contemporary Dance.
- 11
BACH’S LUNCH
A series of live studio lunchtime concerts with ACE and Bobbie Barajas — “tiny treasures” of the chamber music literature, with space strictly limited.
- 12
Exercising our Ear Muscles
Producer Will Rogers joined ACE at WCVE for a one-of-a-kind radio program blending the idea of a radio show with a live radio performance at WE Public Radio.
- 13
Focus
ACE asks whether our attention spans are really shrinking, comparing audiences of the past and present. The program included David Lang’s Sweet Air, Mozart, Milhaud’s Braziliera, the Khachaturian Trio, and the Dvorak Wind Serenade.
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