"NOW... imports a catchy inflection to classical forms... Striking a balance between the old and the new has rarely sounded this good." Seth Colter Walls, Newsweek
“...the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality." Steve Smith, Time Out New York
"The vibrant sound of NOW Ensemble... does something more than offer composers an alternative to the ubiquitous 'Pierrot ensembles plus singer or percussion.' It breathes the air of this planet: the musical air of indie rock, rap, jazz, pop, and minimalism variously synthesized by classically-trained composers and instrumentalists. Three of NOW's founding members are composers, and a community of...like-minded others have responded to the opportunities NOW embodies: to defy specialization, reject alienation, and inspire deft musicians to convey a sense of private amusement that enlivens the music they perform." Jeffrey Edelstein, International Concert Review Press
Rodney Lister, Sequenza21.com "As to the performances, to say that they were completely masterly (and, in some cases masterful) technically and wonderfully powerful and expressive would be to slander them by using faint praise. It was the kind of playing which was so concentrated and focused that it could melt through steel."
Rebecca Epstein, LA City Beat "NOW Ensemble...works experimental, chamber-music miracles with its wide array of instruments and fertile relationship with emerging composers."
Steve Smith, The New York Times "NOW Ensemble offered highly attractive, unabashedly rock-influenced works by Mark Dancigers, Missy Mazzoli and Judd Greenstein."
Alex Ross, The New Yorker "Folk Music...is one of the freshest pieces I've heard so far this year."
Justin Davidson, "The Next New Wave", New York Magazine "The second act was the NOW Ensemble, one of those we-can-play-anything chamber collectives of Yale and Juilliard hotshots whose style molds itself to its repertoire: quick and light, in the case of [Judd] Greenstein's Folk Music, with lots of tricky repetitions and smoothly handled turns."
Richard Allen, The Silent Ballet "NOW Ensemble is a New York collective of classical composers and performers whose collaborative efforts aid each individual member while contributing to the whole...[NOW] is frequently challenging but offers a window into one of the many possible futures of contemporary chamber music."
Ed Montgomery, Context Studios "This is a new voice lifting in the context of a smaller world, suggesting the shape of the sounds that will define art music in the early part of this new century."
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "Celebrating Steve Reich" "[Steve] Reich changed music, and he also changed how music relates to society. In the face of early incomprehension he took a do-it-yourself approach to getting his work before the public....With his namesake ensemble, Reich performed in galleries, clubs, and wherever else he felt welcome. The effects of this paradigm shift can be seen on any day of the week in New York, as composer-led ensembles proliferate. Bang on a Can is the longtime leader, and the NOW Ensemble is a deft young group gaining attention....Post-Reich, composers are evolving into a more mobile, adaptable species." Press For Our Albums
Song From The Uproar, Released November, 2012, New Amsterdam Records:
Seth Colter Walls/Rhapsody #18 on “Top 20 Classical Albums of 2012”
Time Out New York 5/5 Stars, “Splendid”
National Public Radio Featured on “All Things Considered”
Mia Clarke, Time Out Chicago 4/5 Stars
Time Out New York #3 of “The best events of 2012”
WQXR’s Q2 “Album of the Week”
Textura #6 of Ten Best Albums of 2012
“The instrumental support contributed by the Now Ensemble to the recording lends it remarkable distinction. Pianist Michael Mizrahi (who issued his own impressive collection, The Bright Motion, earlier in 2012), clarinetist Sara Budde, and flutist Alexandra Sopp leave especially memorable fingerprints on the recording, though double bassist Logan Coale and guitarist Mark Dancigers make their presence felt, too. In the absence of vocals, “Oblivion Seekers” becomes an impassioned showcase for the ensemble players' versatility. During an instrumental interlude, we hear seagulls, a boat's creaking hull and bells, with clarinet and distant voices providing instrumental colour. Coale also has a powerful solo spotlight that finds him coiling his hypnotic lines around the vocalist's equally entrancing performance. If anything, Song from the Uproar is as much a Now Ensemble showcase as it is one for the vocalists. The vocal dimension of the recording shouldn't be downplayed, however, as Mazzoli composed a score that offers its singers, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer and a vocal quintet, an incredibly fertile playground within which to play. Much of the work's emotional impact rests on Fischer's shoulders, of course, but it's a challenge she more than meets.” Press For Our Albums
Awake, Released April, 2011, New Amsterdam Records:
The Silent Ballet "Album of the Month...an energetic, enthralling showcase of modern chamber music...The real triumph of the album, however, is the personality that the ensemble brings to each of the compositions...Awake solidifies NOW Ensemble's place as a serious player in the field of modern composition."
Michael Quinn, The Classical Review "...there's an obvious challenge in the music's mix of old, new and the exotic, and one that is rewarded by repeated listening as its interweaving of superficially contrary elements coalesce into something fresh and vibrant."
David Weininger, The Boston Globe "...an album that offers a lot of engaging new music, as well as one piece [Change] I am sorely tempted to call a masterpiece."
WQXR's Q2 "Album of the Week"
National Public Radio “Change” included in NPR Music’s “100 Favorite Songs of 2011”
Awake featured on NPR’s “Weekend All Things Considered”
The Bangkok Post "music [that] speaks very eloquently for itself"
Scott Morrow, Alarm Press “Throughout Awake, simple and complex repetitions are deftly woven together, forming patterns that engage listeners while urging their ears to dig deeper, layer by layer."
Jerry Bowles, Sequenza 21 "If you're not smiling by the end, try Prozac."
The New Haven Advocate "Ovations [are] sure to greet the release of NOW's forthcoming second album, Awake." Press For Our Albums
NOW (Self Titled), Released January, 2008, New Amsterdam Records:
Time Out New York "...the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality"
Dave Lewis, AllMusic.com "All of this music is bright, engaging, witty and, yes, youthful... NOW Ensemble isn't running any kind of agenda; the music is free and intuitive and they are not afraid to draw on modality, melody, jazz harmonies or even rock rhythms, but the music remains unquestionably classical in terms of its focus and musicianship... NOW is a first-class debut for NOW Ensemble, and, pace George Bernard Shaw, isn't a waste of youth or anything else - more of this is demanded, not requested."
Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago "5 Stars"
Textura "The seven pieces comprising its eponymous debut are splendidly realized... The outfit's relatively small size enables it to interact like a well-oiled machine with instruments playing in unison or counterpoint, playing solo, pairing up, or playing en masse... Taken as a fifty-one-minute whole, NOW shows the group making good on its 'chamber music outfit for the 21st century' claim."
Bradley Bambarger, Newark Star-Ledger "Machine-like minimalist rhythms rub up against pop-song melodies and a lot of fluttering flute. The playing has a charming lightness, and Burke's balletic 'All Together Now' and Greenstein's pensive, lovely 'Sing Along' are memorable compositions."
Molly Sheridan, The Washington Post "Setting up shop closer to the classical camp is the outstanding seven-member NOW Ensemble's debut, NOW. Composers Nico Muhly, Patrick Burke, Mark Dancigers and Judd Greenstein...provide repertoire plenty deep enough to be dredged on multiple passes without crawling up inside its head so far it misplaces its soul." Press For Our Albums
Continued Praise for NOW (Self Titled):
Marc Geelhoed, Time Out Chicago "(Five Star Review) On its first recording, [NOW Ensemble] makes a point of playing happy music with a pop sensibility that's nonetheless pretty rigorous....The melancholy flute line, above bobbing piano chords, of Judd Greenstein's Folk Music is one of the disc's highlights...like a lot of [Nico] Muhly's music, the energetic throb [of How About Now] has a poppish sensibility but takes a crack team of players to pull off easily. And can this group make it sound easy. Flutist Alexandra Sopp and clarinetist Sara Phillips shine as soloists and as ensemble players, and pianist Michael Mizrahi does as well. Greenstein's works open and close the disc, starting and ending it on a clean and pure current."
Steve Smith, Time Out New York "(Five Star Review) [Judd] Greenstein's wistful Folk Music and passionate Sing Along serve as bookends on the eponymous debut recording by NOW Ensemble, a polished, versatile chamber group...Members Patrick Burke and Mark Dancigers contribute two works apiece; rising star Nico Muhly provides How About Now. Despite their diversity, what unites these pieces is the way they combine the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality." Recent Performances
Bang On A Can Marathon, World Financial Center, New University of South Carolina, School of Music, Columbia, York, NY SC
MATA Festival, Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY New Music Collective, Circular Congregational Church, Charleston, SC Ecstatic Music Festival, NOW Ensemble Dan Deacon and the Calder Quartet, Merkin Hall, New York, NY UNC Greensboro School of Music, Greensboro, NC
Undiscovered Islands, Galapagos Art Space,Brooklyn, NY Peak Performances Series, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ NOW Record Release, Joe’s Pub, Public Teater, New York, NY ON LOCation Series, Library Of Congress, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC US/UK Exchange, Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY Sonic Festival, Miller Theater, Columbia University, New Performance Series, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY York, NY
Composers’s Residcency, Princeton University, Taplin Song From the Uproar, Fully Staged Opera, The Kitchen, Auditorium, Princeton, New Jersey New York, NY
Recital, University Of Pittsburgh, Bellefield Hall, Pittsburgh, PA Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, BAM Cafe, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY Corey Dargel Album Release, Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY Nimbus Dance Works, Grace Church, Jersey City, NJ
Chihuahua International Festival, Teatro de Camara, Plan of the City, Williams College, Williamstown, MA Chihuahua, Mexico Residency and Performance, Lawrence University, The Stone, New York, NY Appleton, WI
Peridance/Capezio Theater, Recital and World Premier The Cedar, Minneapolis, MN Dance with Nimbus Dance Theater and Taipei Crossover Dance Company, New York, NY Music Mondays, New York, NY
North River Music Series, Greenwich House, New York, NY Residency and Recital University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA Archipelago Series, Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
New Amsterdam Records CMJ Showcase, Le Poisson Carlsbad Music Festival, Carlsbad, CA Rouge, New York, NY
Evolution Contemporary Music Series, An Die Music, Look And Listen Festival, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Baltimore, MD NY
Corcoran Gallery, Washingon, DC Zoom Up Close Composer Series, Merkin Hall, New York, NY Residency and Performances, New Music New College, Mildred Sainer Pavilion, New College of Florida, Sarasota, University Of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA FL Beinecke Rare Books Library, Yale University, New Haven, Images Festival, Major Works by Greenstein and Mazzoli, CT The Music Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Strathmore Mansion, Bethesda, MD Ethos New Music Society NewSound 11 Festival, Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia, NY Ecstatic Music Festival, with Corey Dargel, Merkin Hall, New York, NY Alexandra Gardner Showcase, Roulette, New York, NY Group Biography
NOW Ensemble is a dynamic group of performers and composers dedicated to making new chamber music for the 21st century. With a unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass, and piano, the ensemble brings a fresh sound and a new perspective to the classical tradition, infused with the musical influences that reflect the diverse backgrounds of its members. Increasingly focusing on work that fearlessly crosses boundaries of musical genre and artistic media, NOW Ensemble’s recent collaborations span work with home-made electronics guru Dan Deacon to multimedia opera with producer Beth Morrison and composer Missy Mazzoli.
One of NOW Ensemble's main goals has been to create a musical paradigm in which continuous collaboration between composers and the performers is taken as a given. NOW has worked with over 60 of today's most exciting composers, including Nico Muhly, Timothy Andres, Missy Mazzoli, Judd Greenstein, Kathryn Alexander, Jason Treuting, and Sean Friar. NOW Ensemble's performances have been featured on NPR's “All Things Considered” and live on WNYC, and its sophomore album “Awake” charted at #1 in Amazon's Classical Chamber Music Charts. NOW's collaboration with film maker Joshua Frankel (Plan of the City) was praised in the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and New Yorker critic Alex Ross's blog, where it was hailed as "gorgeous".
Today, NOW Ensemble is well-known as one of the brightest stars on the new music scene in New York City. NOW has performed on some of New York's most prestigious stages, from major concert venues to big-name festivals to clubs and bars and art galleries. Critics and audiences have taken notice, selling out our shows and filling our halls with enthusiastic fans, many of whom are being introduced to new music, or even classical music, for the first time. NOW Ensemble offers a unique combination of elements. We're a chamber ensemble, with no conductor, and with a deep commitment to internalizing the music that we perform. Members
Clarinetist and bass clarinetist SARA BUDDE performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician. Esteemed for her exhilarating performances and dynamic performance style, Sara has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player across the U.S. and Europe. Premiering many works for solo and chamber ensembles including Missy Mazzoli, Kyle Gann, Tristan Perich, and Nico Muhly, Sara focuses primarily on recent and contemporary music, emphasizing newly emerging composers. Sara has made professional appearances with such diverse and dynamic groups as Bang on a Can, So Percussion, The American Composers Orchestra, Sequitur, The National, The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and The American Symphony Orchestra. She has performed at the Bang On A Can Marathon, Look and Listen, MusicNow, MATA festival, Ecstatic Music Festival, New Sounds Live and the Carlsbad Music Festivals among others. Studying with David Shifrin, she received her Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from Yale University. Currently also member of Transit, Sara is a founding member of NOW Ensemble. Pianist MICHAEL MIZRAHI has appeared as concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and teaching artist in major concert halls around the world. A first prize winner in several international competitions, he also performed for many years with the Moët Piano Trio. In addition to appearing as the pianist in NOW Ensemble, Mizrahi recently released The Bright Motion, an album of newly commissioned works for solo piano that Time Out Chicago described as being "packed with effervescent solo-piano selections and adroit performances." He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and religion from the University of Virginia and a doctoral degree in piano performance from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank. He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Lawrence University.
Double bassist LOGAN COALE, is a native of Portland Oregon, now based in Brooklyn, NY. He is a member of New York based groups NOW Ensemble and The Knights Chamber Orchestra, and regularly collaborates with Miami’s Firebird Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, ACME, ICE, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, FLUX Quartet, the American Composer’s Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Recent and upcoming recordings include releases for The Knights, Jonsi Sigursson of Sigur Ros, Nico Muhly, Philip Glass, Sharon Van Etten, David Lang, Luluc, Olga Bell of The Dirty Projectors, Essie Jain, Local Natives, and NOW Ensemble. As a teacher Logan is on faculty at the Mannes College’s prep division and in the summers at The Kinhaven Music School in Vermont. His major teachers include Todd Seeber, Edwin Barker, and Tim Pitts, and he has been a fellow at the Tanglewood, Schlesswig-Holstein, and Moritzburg festivals among others.
MARK DANCIGERS is a composer and electric guitarist from Virginia Beach, Virginia. His music seeks to move listeners through a combination of innovative timbres and melodic grace. As the guitarist for NOW Ensemble, he has premiered dozens of works and performed across the US. He studied composition at the Yale School of Music and Princeton University, and currently is Visiting Assistant Professor of music theory and composition at the New College of Florida. Mark Dancigers' music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Miller Theater, Symphony Space, Merkin Hall, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, and numerous other venues by such groups as the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York Youth Symphony. His music has been described in the New York Times as "entrancing" and "rich in beguiling timbres", and in The Classical Review as "fresh and vibrant." 2013 will see performances of his work by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, NOW Ensemble, and others. Mark is the Artistic Director and Manager of NOW Ensemble. As a producer, his credits include Michael Mizrahi's "The Bright Motion", which made the Top Ten Best Classical Releases of 2012 in both Time Out New York and Time Out Chicago. Textura states his piece on the album contained the "loveliest moments...Stately trills repeat operatically throughout, creating wave-like effects whose lulling motions impart a dream-like, incantatory feeling to the material—bright motion, indeed.” Members
JUDD GREENSTEIN was born and raised in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, where he began his compositional life by writing hip hop beats as a teenager. His concert works reflect those origins, as well as his traditional piano background, combining an urban, beat-oriented sensibility with a late Romantic classical harmonic language. A passionate advocate for the indie classical community in New York, much of Judd’s work is written for the virtuosic ensembles and solo performers who make up that community, and is tailored to their specific talents and abilities. Judd has attracted attention through his close collaboration with many of the best young solo musicians in New York and beyond, including violist Nadia Sirota, soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, percussionist Samuel Solomon, violinist Colin Jacobsen, pianists Michael Mizrahi and Blair McMillan, and flutist Alex Sopp. He has also received performances by and commissions from a wide array of ensembles around the country, including yMusic, Present Music, the Seattle Chamber Players, the University of Texas at Austin New Music Ensemble, and the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, as well as many prominent ensembles in New York, including Carnegie Hall, the Kaufman Center, Newspeak, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Knights Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Youth Symphony. Central to his compositional output is his work for NOW Ensemble.
Patrick Burke works as a composer and educator in Pittsburgh. He draws inspiration from his background as a classical pianist, an amateur rock and folk guitarist, and a performer in a gamelan ensemble. Formally tight, narrative structures are balanced with lyricism and expounded with a dream-like logic that is often inspired by film. Patrick was commissioned this year to compose a piece for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, to be performed in February of 2014. Patrick has also been commissioned by the Albany Symphony, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, IonSound Project, and others. As a founding member of NOW Ensemble, Patrick contributed the title track to their second album, Awake, which was released last year on New Amsterdam Records, reaching the #2 position on Amazon’s classical album charts, and #1 on iTunes. Patrick’s music continues to be performed increasingly throughout North America by ensembles such as eighth blackbird, the Minnesota Orchestra, Present Music, Citywater Ensemble, and others. His recent music has been called “indie-classical at its finest” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), and “glittering fun…at once very sophisticated and instantly accessible” (Third Coast Digest). Patrick currently serves as Assistant Professor of Musicianship and Music Technology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.
New York-based flutist ALEX SOPP performs in varied genres of music and was recently called “outstanding” and “an admired new music mainstay” by Time Out New York. The New York Times has praised her performances as being “beautifully nuanced” and “exquisite”. Alex is a member of The Knights, NOW Ensemble, yMusic, ACME, and performs regularly with The New York Philharmonic, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Wind Soloists of New York, counter)induction, Metropolis Ensemble, The Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble, Gotham City Orchestra, and Continuum. Alex has commissioned, premiered, and recorded with some of the most exciting composers and song-writers of our time, including Björk, Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens, The National, Philip Glass, Jonsí of Sigur Ros, Martha Wainwright, Gabriel Kahane, Bryce Dessner, and St. Vincent. Also a composer and improvisor, Alex will soon debut her first solo recording on New Amsterdam Records. A regular performer both in the US and abroad, she has performed at the BBC Proms, Bang On A Can Marathon, Bargemusic, Lucerne Festival, Dumbarton Oaks, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Look and Listen Festival, MATA Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Festival WhyNote Dijon, Carlsbad Music Festival, and the Bowdoin Festival. A native of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, Alex completed both her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School where she was a student of Carol Wincenc and Robert Langevin. Contact
For Booking Inquiries and Press:
NOW Ensemble c/o New Amsterdam Records 98A Van Dyke St. Brooklyn, NY 11231
(203) 927 0742
www.nowensemble.com