Sabrina Schroeder and Monte Weber

The New Yorker called them “the gold standard for new music.” Join us as the International Contemporary Ensemble kicks off their residency at National Sawdust for this month’s Classical Sundays. The afternoon features the debut of premieres by electronic-music composers Sabrina Schroeder and Monte Weber, all in the exquisite intimacy only found at National Sawdust.

Sabrina Schroeder and Monte Weber’s performances are made possible in part thanks to the OpenICE and ICELabs commissioning programs, two initiatives by ICE that allow new music to be workshopped with the public for free admission in the world’s finest venues.

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, ICE explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time.

A recipient of the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists in residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

New initiatives include OpenICE, made possible with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which offers free concerts and related programming wherever ICE performs, and enables a working process with composers to unfold in public settings. DigitICE catalogues the ensemble’s performances in a free online streaming video library. ICE’s First Page program is a commissioning consortium that fosters close collaborations between performers, composers, and listeners as new music is developed. EntICE, a side-by-side youth program, places ICE musicians within youth orchestras as they premiere new commissioned works together. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE. Read more at iceorg.org.