The Blair School of Music’s Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) is a curricular ensemble dedicated to championing music written in the modern and contemporary periods, often featuring underrepresented composers. The performers involved in this group represent some of the most skilled and adventurous students in Blair. They rehearse weekly and regularly work with faculty coaches (including Molly Barth, Ji Hye Jung, and Mariam Adam) and guest artists (such as Claire Chase). Additionally, while the group functions as a single entity, performances also feature chamber group subsets of the full collection of musicians.

Having performed with CME in past semesters as a instrumentalist, Carlos Meyers was asked to conduct the full ensemble this semester for their concert in April. On this program, Carlos will be conducting the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s Workers Union, a “symphonic movement for any loud sounding group of instruments.” The piece features complete indeterminacy in its melodic and harmonic material while providing a very discreet (and at times, technically demanding) rhythmic design. Among musicians, the piece is notoriously taxing to perform due to its length and unyielding dynamic texture.

Recently, the Blair School of Music amended its COVID-19 protocols to allow for performances to be open to public audiences. This performance will take place in the Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall. All concerts, however, will still be live streamed for anyone that is not able to attend in person, and a link to that webpage can be found here. On the day of the concert, the feed will be available under “Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall.”