Musical Philosophy: My compositional aesthetic is mainly influenced by classical and contemporary jazz. I’m constantly looking for new influences from around the world. One important aspect of my development as a composer is the exploration of key relationships through polytonality and weaving through different keys. I play with maintaining a tonal center (at times) without… Read more »

Austin Wulliman (photo by Chelsea Ross) and Katherine Young (photo by Jim Newberry) ACM’s Andrew Tham recently sat down with composer member Katherine Young and violinist Austin Wulliman to talk about their latest collaboration, Dilligence is to Magic as Progress is to Flight.  Using electronic sound installations and an hour’s worth of new music for… Read more »

Ten x Ten is a collaboration with Homeroom in which ten composer members of ACM were paired with ten visual artists, curated by Spudnik Press in Chicago, to create collaborative works of art.  We’ll have the artworks soon to post but in the meantime here are the ten pieces in their final recorded form.  These… Read more »

ACM’s 9th annual High School Composer’s workshop gave five talented young composers the chance to work with a professional composer and musicians to create a new piece of music and hear it rehearsed and then performed and recorded publicly. We had a great group this year and the only thing each of the pieces had… Read more »

Classical music has come a long way from the days of wigs and quill pens. Today’s composers use software to notate their ideas and are inspired by rock, jazz, folk music from around the world and much more: a stunning array of influences that create a rich and fascinating sonic palette. Access Contemporary Music is… Read more »

Recorded July 21, 2013 at Constellation. Our collaboration with Alexandre Lunsqui is off with a bang! In the first installment of his piece, titled Toy, he writes brash, gestural music that explores extremes of registers in with a mesmerizing, lilting rhythmic intensity. Toy, installlment I Of the first installment Mr. Lunsqui has this to say:… Read more »

In 1921 then-Chicago journalist Ben Hecht, later to be known as the “Shakespeare of Hollywood,” wrote a daily column called 1,001 Afternoons in Chicago which was essentially a series of short story masterpieces. ACM has partnered with Strawdog theater company to create a live radio play, with new music by Seth Boustead and Amos Gillespie,… Read more »

ACM’s popular Sound of Silent Film Festival has been a sold out show in Chicago for 8 years. In June of 2013 we took it to New York’s Anthology Film Archives for two memorable nights of shows.  Click on a video below to watch! 06 copyshop from ACM on Vimeo. 08 bigshave from ACM on… Read more »

An evening that featured our violin virtuoso Jeff Yang in several transcendent but highly demanding new works including Wolfgang Rihm’s gorgeous Lichtes Spiel, or Light Games.  Other works performed ranged from soul-searching and starkly beautiful, to the upbeat bluegrass-infused joyous melodies of Evan Chambers. This concert also featured the World Premiere performance of Interstices by… Read more »

Now in its tenth year, ACM’s High School composers summer workshop is an excellent opportunity for young musicians to work with professional composers and write a new piece of music to be performed and recorded by professional musicians. Whether the student is already composing, considering a career in music, or is interested in learning to… Read more »

Videos from ACM’s concert featuring Palomar on 2/12/13 at Architectural Artifacts. We gave the Chicago premiere of Lichtes Spiel by Wolfgang Rihm and the World Premiere of Interstices by Grainne Mulvey among several other wonderful new pieces by composers from around the world.   Lichtes Spiel by Wolfgang Rihm       Interstices by Grainne… Read more »

Homeroom presents: Visual Music 101 With Guest Speaker David Metcalfe Sunday, February 17th 4pm The Annex at Spudnik Press 1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 302 Free On Sunday, February 17th at 3pm at The Annex at Spudnik Press, Homeroom Chicago, Spudnik Press, and Access Contemporary Music present a public seminar exploring the relationship between color and… Read more »