The Contemporary Music Ensemble

The University of Alabama Contemporary Music Ensemble is committed to performing the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, including masterworks by established composers, music by emerging composers, and the music of the University of Alabama student and faculty composers.

Striving to present this body of art at an exceptionally high level, the ensemble aims to endow student performers with a strong foundation of knowledge for this canon of musical literature, to enlarge the audience for contemporary art music and to generate new opportunities for its performance.  The ensemble is dedicated to encouraging and nurturing the music and careers of the composers and performers of today.

What have we Done?

recently programmed repertoire (fall 2013 - Spring 2015)

Milton Babbitt ­- Philomel
Samuel Barber ­- Sonata for Piano, Op. 26
Luciano Berio ­- Sequenza I
Alban Berg ­- Sieben frühe Lieder
Benjamin Britten ­- Nocturnal; Canticles I ­ V
Elliott Carter ­- Shard
*Sir Peter Maxwell Davies ­- Eight Songs for a Mad King
Henri Dutilleux ­- Piano Sonata, Op. 1
Ēriks Ešenvalds -­ Northern Lights
*Lou Harrison ­- Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra
Stephen Hartke ­- Meanwhile
Hans Werner Henze -­ Drei Tentos
Paul Hindemith ­- Ludus Tonalis
Peter Hope ­- Four Sketches
Michael Kallstrom -­ Starflame
Ernst Krenek ­- Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 92/4
*Everette Minchew -­ Open Piece No. 1; Gakka
Olivier Messiaen ­- Interstellar Call; Transports de joie
Arvo Pärt ­- Spiegel Im Spiegel
Dave Sampson -­ Breakaway
Mark Schultz ­- Dragons in the Sky
Karlheinz Stockhausen -­ Harlekin
Igor Stravinsky -­ Berceuses du chat
*Joan Tower -­ Breakfast Rhythms I
Anton Webern -­ Drei kleine Stücke
Iannis Xenakis ­- Okho
Amir Zaheri ­- Kandinsky’s ‘Blue’ (world premiere); a priori for solo violin (world premiere); Two Girls and a Boy; *Simple Music No. 1 (world premiere); Interstellar Responses: music to [be shuffled] (world premiere) 

PROGRAMMED MUSIC COMPOSED BY UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA STUDENT COMPOSERS 

Nawar Ahmed ­- The War on Terror (world premiere)
Max Dolensky ­- Composite Indifference (world premiere)
Matthew Alan Edwards - ­ Fantasy for Organ in C (world premiere)
*Tyler Entelisano ­- Out of the Void (world premiere); Upon Whom the Pale Moon Gleams (world premiere) 
*Derek Holden -­ untitled (world premiere)
*J.M. Smith ­- Anti­-Counter for Antiphonal Ensembles (world premiere); What One Once Was 
Jared Bradley Tubbs ­ The Soul of the Eyes (world premiere); Psycho Horse in the Barnyard (world premiere)
Thomas L. Wilson ­- Burning Mirrors (world premiere); Radiance Swells

*conducted by Amir Zaheri

HEAR AND SEE THE ENSEMBLE. JUST A FEW SAMPLES.

Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King was performed November 25, 2013, by members of the Contemporary Music Ensemble of the University of Alabama, featuring baritone Paul Houghtaling, under the direction of Amir Zaheri.