Prestigious concert to feature works by Indian-American Rudresh Mahanthappa, two others

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The American Composers Forum (ACF) announced the premieres of music commissioned through its two-year partnership with the Chicago-based, internationally-renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

The program is supporting the creation of music by Indian-American Rudresh Mahanthappa, The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, and Adegoke Steve Colson.

The concert of world premieres will be performed by the AACM’S iconic Great Black Music Ensemble (GBME) and celebrates the 55th anniversary of the AACM. It takes place at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, on Saturday, October 30, 2021, at 7 p.m. Tickets are free with required reservations, and are currently available at tickets.uchicago.edu.

Mahanthappa is widely known as one of the premier voices in jazz of the 21st century. An alto saxophonist, he has 16 albums to his credit, with the most recent being Hero Trio. Mahanthappa has been named alto saxophonist of the year for nine of the last eleven years running in Downbeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Polls (2011-2013, 2015-2018, 2020-2021), and alto saxophonist of the year in the 2015-2018 & 2020 JazzTimes Critics’ Polls, the press release said. He has also received the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee ’79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University.

At the performance, the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project Renee Baker will conduct Rudresh Mahanthappa’s new work Finding Our Voice, a composition that conveys collective hope and understanding.

Baker will join the GBME in performing three works that are real-time process driven with electronic support: the possibilities before, Strange Loops, and biofeedback. Colson will conduct the GBME in the performance of his new work Incandescence Chapters One – Six.

“Our 55th anniversary celebration represents a new chapter, new collaborations, and a renewed impetus amidst a rapidly changing world, surviving and continuing our legacy in creating Great Black Music,” Coco Elysses, president of AACM is quoted saying in the press release.