On Saturday, September 13 ACMP embarked on its first collaboration with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO). Together we organized a Play-In focused entirely on music by twentieth and twenty-first century American composers.

Over the course of three hours, forty-five musicians discovered sixteen pieces or sets of pieces spanning from 1896 through 2025. The repertoire covered an enormous stylistic range, with classics by Charles Ives and Florence Price; composers writing in a more traditional vein (Alan Shulman, John Harbison and Paul Moravec ); minimalists (Philip Glass, Tom Johnson, Terry Riley); rock-inspired music (Zack Browning); folk-inspired music (Valerie Coleman); experimental music (Frederic Rzewski); graphic and instruction scores (Mazz Swift, Pauline Oliveros); improvisation; and modern jazz (Julius Hemphill.)

We were stunned at the level of interest from members of ACMP; within less than 24 hours we had thirty-two reservations. Anticipating fewer players, the ACO had booked only four studios at Opera America in New York City. A few days before the event I managed to secure one more large room for the final hour and a half of the event, and a tiny practice room for the final hour. We tried to get more rooms, but the space was fully booked, so we had to limit reservations to forty-five. It was disappointing to turn people away, but we were encouraged by the subtext behind this problem:

People are interested in exploring new repertoire!

ACMP is committed to making its events open to all instruments and levels, which presents special challenges when organizing a Play-In. For example, what does one do with eleven flute players and only two cellists (one of whom was only available for the last hour)? And then – how does one keep as many players engaged throughout the three-hour period when you have forty-five players and a limited number of rooms?

The combination of these two issues was problematic. Under normal circumstances, I would have tried to recruit more cellists, for example, or hired conservatory student cellists as ringers. But we were already well past the optimum capacity for the available space. Along those lines, the space limitations necessitated that I avoid forming too many small groups if I wanted to provide playing opportunities for the greatest number of people. And then there was the factor of the different sizes of each studio; we had rooms with a maximum capacity of twelve, eight, six and four, respectively. We musicians are supposed to be good at math, but this was quite a puzzle.

This is where open-instrumentation pieces and experimental music come to the rescue!

ACO’s Artistic Director, Curtis Stewart, is a multifaceted violinist, improviser, composer and educator. We parked him in the twelve-person studio for the day, where he led a workshop on improvisation and graphic scores for the first hour and a half, and Terry Riley’s open-instrumentation minimalist classic In C for the remainder of the time. I also guided a group through Philip Glass’ iconic Music in Similar Motion (1969.) I was happy to see that his publisher recently came out with a set of parts for this piece, for both C and B-flat instruments.

In another of the large studios, ACO’s President and CEO Melissa Ngan guided a group of players through some Deep Listening meditations by Pauline Oliveros.

Since Melissa is also an accomplished flutist, she guided a group of eight flutists for another one-hour session, playing flutist/composer Valerie Coleman’s Umoja and Blah by Frederic Rzewski.

ACMP flutist Martha Rabin commented, “I enjoyed both ensembles: the 8 flutes doubling on parts where I got to play bass flute, and the trio for flute, viola, and piano. The trio was a bit of a challenge but happy to rise to it and to play with other such fine musicians.”

As a violist myself, I could not resist putting together another room for six violas.

Given the space limitations and challenging instrumentation, I was unable to place everyone in a more conventional small chamber ensemble, but I tried my best. The biggest setback, of course, was the lack of cello players. (In New York City there is ALWAYS a lack of cello players. Cellists: where are you?)

I was thrilled to find a set of seven septets by the American minimalist innovator Tom Johnson with NO CELLO. These pieces were scored for two flutes, oboe, B-flat clarinet, two violins and viola. Since Tom Johnson passed away in 2024, Gilbert Delor from his publisher Editions 75 scrambled to find me a set of parts. He managed to send me all the parts for five of the pieces. Thank you, Gilbert! Since the rhythms were complex, I called upon the multi-talented George Chung to conduct the reading.

With so few cellists, I only managed to organize one each of these classic ensembles: string quartet, piano trio, piano quartet and piano quintet. For the piano trio, I chose the piece commissioned by ACMP back in 2020: Paul Moravec’s Omne Trium Perfectum for violin (or B-flat clarinet), cello and piano. The group played the clarinet version with ACMP clarinetist Eun Lee, who is also the Executive Director of a fabulous activist orchestra, The Dream Unfinished.

ACMP pianist Deborah Wythe commented, “As a pianist. I always hesitate to sign up for sight-reading sessions. So many notes! This one was intriguing, though, because of the ACO connection. Pieces you’ve never heard before, new sounds and rhythms…and everybody is in the same boat. Being assigned the Florence Price piano quintet was a treat—it’s a glorious, rich piece. Even with just 3 days of prep, we were able to get through all 4 movements and make some really nice music. A great introduction to Ms. Price! My other piece, Hakka Fusion by Zack Browning, was a wild ride for flute, viola, and piano. All three of us read from the score so that we could put the rhythms together. Crazy and fun.”

Modern jazz was represented with one group of wind and brass players taking on some saxophone quartets by the late Julius Hemphill of the renowned World Saxophone Quartet. Although we had no saxophone players, I chose players based on the transpositions of their instruments, including ACO staff member Steve Alesso on euphonium. Since I knew that flutist Mary Cherney was a professional jazz musician, I asked her to guide the group. Mary said, “I had such a good time! So great to see so many people actively engaged in making music, and many if them in ways that were new for them. It was a great experience. I also enjoyed ‘captaining’ (is that a verb) a group through Hemphill’s sax quartets.”

At the post Play-In reception, sponsored by ACO, I had a chance to chat with many of the participants. The overwhelming response was that people enjoyed exploring all kinds of new repertoire they may not have otherwise played.

Violinist Peter Hua commented, “This was the first time I tried “modern” music. Our host [Curtis Stewart] clearly knew what he was doing, and guided everyone through the steps of how to read music that may not look like music. Very freeing! I’m coming back to the instrument after a long break, so was nice to take a break from the typical obsessive perfectionism.

If you are interested in exploring any of this music yourself, here is a complete list (alphabetical by composer first name) of the music we played, with links for where to access scores and parts.

Pieces with open instrumentation:

Mazz Swift (b. 1975): Memory Five: Freedom Initiate (2025), graphic score/open instrumentation (available through ACO)

Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016): Deep Listening Meditations (various dates), available for purchase

Philip Glass: Music in Similar Motion (1969), open instrumentation, available for purchase

Terry Riley: In C (1964), open instrumentation, parts (in all transpositions), instructions and videos available through Third Coast Percussion

Pieces with specific instrumentation:

Alan Shulman (1915-2002): Two Episodes for Viola Quartet (1978), available for purchase

Charles Ives (1874-1954): String Quartet no. 1 S. 57 (1896), movements 1 and 3, available on IMSLP (non-public domain in the US)                                

Florence Price (1887-1953): Adoration (1951) arranged for 6 violas, available on IMSLP (go to the arrangements tab)

Florence Price (1887-1953): Piano Quintet in A minor (1936), available for purchase

Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021): Blah (2009) for 8 flutes, available on IMSLP (go to the arrangements tab)

John Harbison (b.1938): November 19, 1828 (1988) for piano quartet, available for purchase

Julius Hemphill (1938-1995): Saxophone Quartets Book 3 (1980s), played by instruments with the appropriate transpositions; available for purchase

Paul Moravec (b.1957): Omne Trium Perfectum (2020) for violin or B-flat clarinet, cello and piano (commissioned by ACMP), available for purchase

Philip Glass: String Quartet no. 3 “Mishima” (1985), available for purchase

Tom Johnson (1939-2024): Septets (2010) for 2 flutes, oboe, B-flat clarinet, two violins, viola (for a Play-In, best to conduct), scores are available through Editions 75, contact publisher for parts

Valerie Coleman (b.1970): Umoja (2001) for flute quartet, available for purchase

Zack Browning (b.1953): Hakka Fusion (2009) for flute, viola and piano, contact Zack Browning