This is the American Modern Ensemble's second release and features the music of American composer Robert Paterson. This album contains seven of his award-winning chamber works and are all world premiere recordings. The sessions were recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, and produced by multi-Grammy winner Adam Abeshouse. Here are a few words about each track... 1. The track begins with police whistles and is inspired by a criminal running scared from the police, and traveling on old Route 66. 2. The track is icy and cold-sounding, but also inspired by Arcosanti, a prototype 'arcology' in the middle of the Arizona desert. 3. Star Crossing evokes the feeling of what it would feel like to travel across the galaxy. 4. Embracing the Wind evokes the image of an Olympic athlete running against the wind. 5. Elegy is inspired by J. S. Bach's cello suites, and contains embedded quotes of Bach's music. 6. Skylights is inspired by the skylights at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, and is a study in contrast between light and dark. 7. Quintus, is a rock-and-roll inspired, groove-oriented, hyper-intense joy ride for instrumental quintet. All of the tracks are for various combinations of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano, with the exception of one of the tracks, Embracing the Wind, for flute, viola and harp, and Elegy for two bassoons and piano. Info. On Robert Paterson... Cited by the press as "one of the major contenders in American music" and writing "exuberant and rhythmically vital music marked by energy and a wonderful sense of color," his music continues to be in demand by audiences and musicians alike. Paterson's music has been played by numerous ensembles, including the Louisville Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New York New Music Ensemble, Da Capo Chamber Players, California EAR Unit, and at the June in Buffalo festival. Recent performances include Embracing the Wind by the Aureole Trio and New York Harp Trio, Wind Quintet by the Philharmonia Quintet (Cracow), The Essence of Gravity, commissioned for the San Francisco-based Volti choir, and the world premiere of Crimson Earth with the University of Connecticut Wind Ensemble conducted by Jeffrey Renshaw. Upcoming projects include scenes and workshops with librettist David Cote for their new opera A Child Possessed (achildpossessed. Com) and a collaboration with the MAYA ensemble and a dance company on a nine-movement, thirty-minute commissioned work entitled The Book of Goddesses. He was also commissioned to write a new choral work for conductor Nicol Matt and the European Amadeus-Chor. For the next three years, Paterson is the Music Alive composer-in-residence with the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, sponsored by Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras. This residency will culminate in a major commission for a twenty-minute work for orchestra and chorus. Awards include the Brian Israel Prize, Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition, ASCAP Young Composer Awards and grants from Meet The Composer, the American Music Center, the American Composers Forum and ASCAP, as well as fellowships to Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, Aspen Music Festival, and Atlantic Center for the Arts. He received degrees from Cornell University (DMA), Indiana University (MM) and the Eastman School of Music (BM). He resides in New York City with his wife, Victoria, a violinist, and their son, Dylan.

Powerhouse Pianists is the American Modern Ensemble's first recording on the AMR label and highlights two of it's members, pianists Blair McMillen and Stephen Gosling. Hailed by critics as 'Brilliant young stars... The dynamic duo of contemporary pianists' (The New York Times), this recording contains a selection of contemporary masterpieces by a few of America's greatest composers. Of special note on this recording is a work by Annie Gosfield in which Mr. McMillen plays the piano with a baseball mitt and baseballs. REVIEW FROM THE JUILLIARD JOURNAL: An eclectic program... McMillen offers a rarity right off the bat, with Chester Biscardi's softly glittering Piano Sonata, then completely changes direction with Lee Hyla's stark Basic Training and Eric Moe's Where Branched Thoughts Murmur in the Wind, a brief, delicate essay. He ends with Brooklyn, October 5, 1941, Annie Gosfield's striking tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers (played with baseballs and a mitt), in an unusual set delivered with tautness and finesse. Gosling begins with George Tsontakis's enigmatic Bagatelle, which at one point hovers over some very Brahmsian chords, followed by the darkly mysterious Episodes for Piano by Perry Townsend. Then Conlon Nancarrow bubbles into the mix with Tango?, brimming with wit. The cascade of notes continues with Joan Tower's Or Like a... an Engine, it's stammering title from a John Ashbery poem, and Gosling really floors the gas pedal for E-Machines, a hyperactive jolt by David Rakowski. Finally comes Five �tudes for Piano by Mischa Zupko, clearly influenced by Ligeti, and Gosling gives them a scientific accuracy, as if surveying their intricacies with a microscope. Engineer John Yannelli, capturing both pianists in the hall at Sarah Lawrence College, has given these dynamic artists a clear soundstage against which even the minutest details register in sharp focus. ��� The American Modern Ensemble (AME) is based in New York City and was formed in 2005 with the goal of premiering, performing and recording and commissioning the widest possible repertoire written by American composers. The focus is to celebrate and showcase American music and especially works written by living composers. Each season, we choose one American composer to feature on a program devoted to his or her music. AME is also dedicated to education and outreach programs that expose communities to American music, and particularly to new music written by living composers.

Duo Scorpio, the world's finest harp duo, continues to set the standard for harp duo repertoire now and into the future with Two Bridges, their groundbreaking second release on the American Modern Recordings (AMR) label. This album follows their highly successful first album, Scorpion Tales, a "diverse mix of new and recent compositions that push the limits of what can be done with the instrument" (Lucid Culture), and an album described as "likely to leave music makers and fans inspired to seek out more" (NewMusicBox). Two Bridges includes a diverse collection of brand new works for two harps by an exciting and diverse group of composers, including Andy Akiho, Ferdinando DeSena, Christopher Dietz, Nico Muhly, Paul Patterson and Giovanni Piacentini. The entire album was produced from start to finish by Grammy winning producer and recording engineer Adam Abeshouse. The formation of Duo Scorpio is as fascinating as the album: harpists Kathryn Andrews and Kristi Shade were born on exactly the same day, November 5, 1982, making them both Scorpios; they both moved to New York City after undergraduate school, completed their Master's Degrees at The Manhattan School of Music and studied with harp legend Susan Jolles. Scorpios are known for their determination, hard work and love of a challenge, which is definitely exemplified in this exciting second release.

Spheres

In Real Life is a new album that combines three witty, contemporary pieces for solo singer and ensemble: In Real Life I (for soprano), In Real Life II (for baritone), and Extraordinary, an operatic scene for soprano and baritone. The beloved musicians on this album are Marnie Breckenridge, soprano, Jorell Williams, baritone, and American Modern Ensemble, one of America’s most admired new music ensembles, conducted by Steven Osgood. In Real Life was originally conceived by composer Robert Paterson and lyricist and librettist David Cote as a set of dating app songs for a soprano and piano called In Real Life (retitled In Real Life I), commissioned by Austin Chamber Ensemble Artistic Director Martha Mortensen Ahern, in honor of its 35th season. Getting into the heads (and hearts) of five different women looking for romance was so fun, Paterson and Cote wondered, what would a similar cycle for baritone sound like? The result was In Real Life II, songs that dramatize the romantic quests of five different men. As a full program, In Real Life consists of these two song cycles (interwoven for variety) and Extraordinary, an operatic “date” for soprano and baritone. Mingling comedy with pathos through a lively range of character types, In Real Life is a chance for a soprano and a baritone to show off their versatility, and for an audience to enjoy a delicious, theatrical revue about love, romance, and second chances. In Real Life was produced by Grammy® winning producer and engineer Adam Abeshouse, and recorded live at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music’s Mary Flagler Cary Hall in NYC.

Tracks

In Real Life I
Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano
1. 1. A Regular Woman
2. 2. Late Bloomer
3. 3. Anastasia
4. 4. Collateral
5. 5. Rewind

In Real Life II
Jorell Williams, Baritone
6. 1. Ain’t No Frog
7. 2. Sola Fide
8. 3. Die With Me
9. 4. Still Vamping
10 5. Nice-Plus

11. Extraordinary
Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano; Jorell Williams, Baritone

TOTAL TIME: 60’30”