ACME and A Winged Victory for the Sullen to tour

ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) will join A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN (Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, Dustin O’Halloran) for a North American tour from October 29 through November 15, 2011. The group will perform music from A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s self-titled debut album, which was released on Erased Tapes/Kranky to great critical acclaim on September 14, 2011.

A Winged Victory For the Sullen is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars of the Lid founder Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and composer Dustin O’Halloran. The duo agreed to leave their home studios to develop this album, favoring large acoustic spaces. These new works feature string quartet, French horn, and bassoon juxtaposed with the sound of drifting guitar-washed melodies. The recording process began in the famed Grunewald Church in West Berlin on a 1950s imperial Boesendorfer piano. Further sessions took place at the East Berlin DDR radio studios along the River Spree and in a private studio deep in the Northern cusp of Italy on a handmade Fazioli piano. Final mixes were done in a 17th century villa near Ferrara, Italy with the assistance of Francesco Donadello. All songs were processed completely analogue straight to magnetic tape.

The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic replicating ingemination. Of the 13 minute track “Symphony Pathétique”, Wiltzie says “after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing”. Notable guest musicians include Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and violinist Peter Broderick.

Lauded by Time Out New York as “one of New York’s brightest new music indie-bands,” ACME is dedicated to the outstanding performance of American composers’ masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries. Known for their previous work with the Wordless Music Series as well as indie music icons such as Grizzly Bear, ACME’s commitment to contemporary literature extends across various genres, and has earned them a reputation among both classical and rock crowds. The ensemble has collaborated with bands and artists including Grizzly Bear (in concert and on their best-selling album, Veckatimest, featuring strings by Nico Muhly); electronica duo Matmos (on The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, with strings by Jefferson Friedman); Craig Wedren (former frontman of the avant-rock band Shudder To Think); prepared-pianist Hauschka; composers/performers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, and Dustin O'Halloran, and Micachu & The Shapes.

Other recent highlights include ACME’s Carnegie Hall debut performing the world premiere of Timothy Andres’ Senior with the New York Youth Symphony in Stern Auditorium; opening the TriBeCa New Music Festival at the Flea Theater performing works by young American composers Jefferson Friedman, Caleb Burhans, Ryan Streber and Nico Muhly; and a month-long residency at the Whitney Museum presented by the Wordless Music Series, for which ACME tailored a contemporary classical program to complement the indie-rock or electronica performer sharing the concert.

ACME has planned an exciting and ambitious season in 2011-2012. The season opens in September, with performances presented by the Wordless Music Series in Boston at Jordan Hall and at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, opening two sold-out concerts by American rock singer and guitarist Jeff Mangum with performances of Gavin Bryars’ Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet and music by Erik Satie. In October, ACME performs works by American composers John Luther Adams, Jacob Druckman and Alex Freeman in Columbia, South Carolina at the University of South Carolina. Later that month, ACME will perform at Joe’s Pub in New York, presenting a concert featuring music by 12 American composers selected through the Sequenza21 and the Manhattan New Music Project Call for Scores. In March 2012 presented by Stanford Lively Arts, ACME will give the world premiere of a new work commissioned from Ingram Marshall for ACME with acclaimed male a cappella group Lionheart, paired with Phil Kline’s beloved Zippo Songs. That same month, ACME will also perform Zippo Songs and Phil Kline’s The Blue Room and Other Stories in a new arrangement written for ACME at The Flynn Performing Arts Center in Burlington, VT.

COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

October 29 at 8pm
Philadelphia, PA: St Mary's Hamilton Village , 3916 Locust Walk
Tickets: www.ticketweb.com

Sunday, October 30 at 7pm
NYC: West Park Presbyterian Church , 165 W 86th Street, Manhattan
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com

Monday, October 31 at 8:30pm
Montreal, QC: Casa del Popolo , 4873 St. Laurent
Tickets: www.liftticketsysem.com or call 514.284.3804

Tuesday, November 1 at 8pm
Toronto, ON: Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen W
Tickets: www.thedrakehotel.ca or call 416.531.5042

Wednesday, November 2 at 8pm
Pittsburgh, PA: The Warhol at Carnegie Museum of Art , 4400 Forbes Avenue
Tickets: www.ticketweb.com or call 412.237.8300

Thursday, November 3 at 9pm
Cincinnati, OH: Southgate House (Newport, KY) , 24 East 3rd Street
Tickets: www.ticketfly.com or call 859.431.2201

Saturday, November 5 at 6:30pm
St. Louis, MO: Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue
Tickets: www.ticketweb.com or call 314.773.3363

Sunday, November 6 at 8pm
Chicago, IL: Lincoln Hall , 2424 North Lincoln Avenue
Tickets: www.lincolnhallchicago.com or call 773.525.2501

Monday, November 7 at 7:30pm
Minneapolis, MN: Cedar Cultural Center , 416 Cedar Avenue South
Tickets: www.ticketweb.com or call 612.338.2674

Thursday, November 10 at 7:30pm
Seattle, WA: The Triple Door, 216 Union Street
Tickets: www.thetripledoor.net or call 206.838.4333

Saturday, November 12 at 6pm
Portland, OR: Holocene , 1001 Southeast Morrison
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com or call 503.239.7639

Monday, November 14 at 8pm
San Francisco, CA: The Independent , 628 Divisadero
Tickets: www.ticketfly.com or call 415.771.1421

Tuesday, November 15 at 9pm
Los Angeles, CA: The Satellite, 1717 Silverlake Boulevard
Tickets: www.tickefly.com or call 323.661.4380