Earplay; Fireworks New Music Ensemble

EARPLAY
(Taken from their web site)
For more than two decades in San Francisco, Earplay's passionate group of performers and composers has been dedicated to creating new chamber music, nurturing both emerging and well-known composers, and seeking out exciting new works.

Earplay's music is lyrical and ferocious, modern and Romantic, finely honed and accessible. Subscribe to Earplay's 21st season to hear all new music. Every piece on every concert is a World, U.S., West Coast, or Bay Area premiere. For each season subscription you purchase, receive a complimentary ticket to our post-concert receptions. For more information go to http://www.earplay.org.


FIREWORKS NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
(Taken from their web site)
Hailed as “the hottest new classical band in New York,” Fireworks – Jennifer Grim (flute), Michael Ibrahim (saxophone), Oren Fader (guitar), Jennifer Choi (violin), Leigh Stuart (cello), James Johnston (keyboards), Brian Coughlin (bass), and Eric Poland (percussion) – combines the subtlety and depth of classical chamber music with the freedom of jazz and the power and energy of rock.

Rooted in the classical tradition, Fireworks embraces great music from all cultures, periods, and styles as dialects of a single musical language, and as vital, living art. Fireworks' mission is to help masterworks from across the musical spectrum find new and larger audiences, and to create and nurture a canon of great new music by today's composers.

Cultivating the most diverse repertoire of any contemporary music ensemble, Fireworks is at home with any audience in any musical setting. The ensemble's remarkable arrangements and interpretations of music by composers from around the world, ranging from Bach to Ellington to Aphex Twin to Piazolla, provide a contemporary and unbiased entrée into these masterpieces for new listeners, and a fresh perspective on time-honored classics for established audiences.

A strong voice for today's composers, Fireworks actively commissions and fearlessly champions new works. Since its inception in 2000, the ensemble has premiered over 50 pieces by both established and emerging composers including Glenn Branca, Robert Carl, and Nick Didkovsky. Fireworks' flexible instrumentation, openness to music in all of its diverse forms, and dedication to presenting contemporary works at the highest level provides today's composers with the greatest freedom of expression for their ideas.

They are represented by MCM Artists. For more information go to http://www.fireworks-ensemble.org/main.htm