American Composers Forum presents concert of world premieres with Chicago’s acclaimed Great Black Music Ensemble, celebrating 55th anniversary of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musici

Premiering newly commissioned works by The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, Adegoke Steve Colson and Rudresh Mahanthappa

 American Composers Forum presents concert of world premieres with Chicago’s acclaimed Great Black Music Ensemble, celebrating 55th anniversary of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Premiering newly commissioned works by The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, Adegoke Steve Colson and Rudresh Mahanthappa

The American Composers Forum (ACF) is proud to announce the culminating event of its two-year partnership with the Chicagobased,
internationally-renowned Association for the Advancement
of Creative Musicians (AACM) and its Great Black Music Ensemble:
a concert celebrating the 55th anniversary of AACM, taking place
at AACM’s long-time partner the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E. 60th Street) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. Tickets are free and available at tickets.uchicago.edu on Friday, Oct. 1.

This is the first time AACM has collaborated with another organization to commission artists; the partnership also supported
a long period of creative and relationship development among
the artists. The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, Adegoke Steve Colson and Rudresh Mahanthappa were selected from over 100 submissions by AACM to collaborate with the Great Black Music Ensemble over the past two years, culminating in three new works to be presented in this captivating performance. The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, a highly sought after new renaissance artist, was recently awarded a 2021- 2022 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship. Colson is a Grammynominated pianist and composer
who has performed internationally as a leader of jazz ensembles
ranging from trios to orchestras. Mahanthappa, a recipient of the
Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist
Award, is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee ‘79 Director of Jazz at
Princeton University and named alto saxophonist of the year
multiple times by Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalists’
Association.

 The Great Black Music Ensemble features some of Chicago’s most
visionary artists of improvisation and creative music. An ensemble ranging in size from three to 30 musicians, the Ensemble carries on the legacy of Chicago’s South Side creative music by expressing the excitement of new sounds and rhythms while invigorating the traditions of Great Black Music.

“ACF’s partnership with the AACM has become a much deeper,
fulfilling partnership than we could have anticipated,” says ACF President & CEO, Vanessa Rose. “It has been our privilege and pleasure to collaborate with this extraordinary ensemble and three commissioned artists as we have navigated the pandemic, organizational changes, and living history together. We are
looking forward to engaging with the greater Chicago community in this upcoming musical event.”

“The AACM is extremely excited about this unique development to
premiere the concert at the Logan Center, a longstanding partner. This creative experience’s impact on the composers and musicians is a great example of creative nurturing spearheaded by the ACF. The possibilities born from this creative synergy are deeply tied to AACM’s mantra, which is ‘A Power Greater Than Itself.’ Our 55th anniversary celebration represents a new chapter, new collaborations, and a renewed impetus amidst a rapidly changing world, surviving and continuing our legacy in creating Great Black
Music,” says Coco Elysses, AACM Chairwoman.

The partnership was initiated through ACF’s commissioning program, ACF | connect, with the aspiration to work with a rotating
ensemble on a national call for scores and year-long development
of new work. Launched in 2017, ACF | connect provides sustained
support for music creators to build relationships with ensembles based in the United States. Through the development of new work, the program intentionally supports a spectrum of voices and music to advance creative musical expression, which we believe is essential to human culture. Other collaborations include the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME), Roomful of Teeth, and Music of the Unsung America.

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